What We Find Taking Over a New IT Client

The hidden issues you probably didn’t know.

Every time we take on a new client, we start the same way: a careful look at their current systems. Accounts, backups, devices, email, security settings, everything. What we see most, and why.

And almost every time, we find something that’s been sitting there for months.

It’s rarely what they called about

Clients usually reach out for an everyday reason. The computers are slow. The Wi-Fi drops. Their current provider takes days to call back.

Then we look under the hood and find the bigger issue.

What we find most often

Accounts for people who left long ago. A former employee left over a year ago, and their account is still active, with access to everything: email, files, the accounting system. Nobody turned it off. If that password was ever reused or leaked, anyone could still walk in.

Backups stopped quietly. We set up the backup years ago, and everyone assumed it was running. It stopped weeks or months ago, and nobody noticed. A backup you haven’t tested isn’t a backup. It’s a hope.

Two-step login turned on for some people, not all. The owner has it. Half the team doesn’t. Attackers only need one unprotected account.

Old devices nobody’s patching. A computer in the back office or a server in a closet that hasn’t had a security update in a long time.

Admin access handed out too widely. Everyone has full admin rights “because it was easier.” That means one clicked phishing link can do far more damage.

Their old provider wasn’t lazy

This is the important part. In most cases, the previous IT provider wasn’t careless or bad at their job. They answered when called. They fixed what they were asked to fix.

They just weren’t looking.

There’s a real difference between someone who answers when you call and someone who’s proactively watching. Reactive IT fixes the problem in front of you. Proactive IT finds the problems you don’t know about yet, before they turn into a breach, a lost file, or a very bad week.

Questions worth asking your current provider

• When was the last time our backups were tested with a real restore?
• How do we know accounts are turned off when someone leaves?
• Is two-step login on for every single person?
• What did you find on your own last month, without us asking?

If the answers are vague, that tells you something.

We start every relationship with a real look at where things stand, so nothing is sitting there waiting to be found by the wrong person.

See how we start with new clients.