Ending an engagement with any web design and development team is more than just a formality; it’s a high-risk transition! When your relationship with one sours, the consequences can be severe because your digital services – your website, data, and online presence – are vulnerable to loss, disruption, and unwanted changes. Many business owners don’t realize the danger that they’re in until it’s already too late.
More so, an unhappy or disgruntled web team with unrestricted access to your business accounts can potentially delete your business website, disrupt your hosting services, wipe valuable CRM records, or even hijack your paid and social media accounts. These actions can ruin your brand and bring your business operations to a halt.
If you already have full ownership of all your digital service accounts and delegated the necessary access to developers, then you’re way ahead of the curve. Otherwise, you must act fast and use the checklist below to reclaim your digital properties.
Step 1: Review Your Contracts
First and foremost, start by examining your Master Services Agreement (MSA) and Statement of Work (SOW). Many contracts contain an exit clause specifying a notice period before the termination. There’s other legalities that you’ll need to follow, such as the notice type and reasons for termination. On the other hand, if you have a good relationship with your web team, you may be able to negotiate a clean exit. However, legal counsel is recommended to ensure that you abide by contract terms.
Step 2: Secure Your Access Credentials
Your digital presence is built on multiple platforms and services, each requiring unique credentials. Without them, you risk losing total control of your online brand. Bad actors from your previous web team can do a number on it. Therefore, ensure that you have or are working towards full ownership of the below seven items, especially the critical threat items.
Note, we’ve indicated threat level of each item, which is briefly explained:
Critical threat – replacing it is a huge lift. Abuse of it will hurt your digital brand.
Medium threat – it can be replaced but requires a bit of effort. Abuse of it can hurt your digital brand.
Minor threat – it can be easily replaced. Abuse of it will do little to no damage to your digital brand.
1. Website & Server Access
- CMS Credentials (WordPress, Shopify, etc.)
- Your content management system (CMS) is the gateway to your website. It houses all your text, video, and image content. Without CMS access, you have no way of managing what people see on your website.
- Critical threat
- SSH Security Keys
- Allows access to your web server and is critical when your web development team needs to make updates on it. The issue with an SSH key is that it can be shared and with it, your previous web team can use it to access your server at any time. This is a big red flag.
- Critical threat
- Allows access to your web server and is critical when your web development team needs to make updates on it. The issue with an SSH key is that it can be shared and with it, your previous web team can use it to access your server at any time. This is a big red flag.
- Cloud Credentials (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, etc.)
- The cloud houses all of your digital brand: hosting, files, domain, and CDN configurations. It’s imperative that have these credentials.
- Critical threat
2. Analytics & Tracking
- Google Analytics
- Retain ownership to access historical data and ensure tracking continuity. If you lose access, it’s not the end of the world. It just makes data-driven decisions challenging. Fortunately, you can partner with a web team, like Uplancer, to enrich your decision-making with industry data.
- Medium threat
- Google Tag Manager
- Google Tag Manager (GTM) sends event data to third party services. If access is lost, GTM can be reinstalled fairly easily.
- Minor threat
3. Digital Advertising Accounts
- Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and More
- Losing access means losing campaign data and benchmarking for future ads. Although losing data is painful, a good digital marketing team can help you set up your ads again. You’ll just need to be patient through the ads’ learning phases, which can take days to months, to complete.
- Medium threat
4. Social Media Accounts
- Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok
- A disgruntled web team can delete content, engage with customers maliciously, change passwords, or disrupt customer engagement. If you lose access to your social media accounts, there are steps that you can do on the respective platforms to disable and reclaim them.
- Critical threat
5. Business Listings & Local SEO
- Google Business Profile (Google My Business)
- This is critical for all businesses since over 90% of searches happen on Google – so ensure that you are the primary owner. Otherwise, you’ll need to reach out to Google to reclaim the account and prevent abuse of it.
- Critical threat
- Yelp, Clutch, Yellow Pages, Chamber Listings
- Similar to social media and Google, you’ll want to prevent abuse of your brand. Reclaim these accounts as soon as you can.
- Critical threat
6. CRM & Email Systems
- CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.)
- Losing access to you Customer Relationship Management software could mean losing leads, customer data, and crucial communications. You’ve spent time, energy, and resources setting up a sales process and acquiring leads. If your CRM is the only source of truth, that means you may not have a way to follow up with leads.
- Critical threat
- Email Admin Access (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, etc.)
- Email is the core communication channel for many businesses, so don’t give up administrator access to it. Otherwise, it will be a tough fight with email service providers, such as Microsoft and Google, to regain control. Additionally, the previous web team can delete your email inboxes, disable emailing completely, and forward and respond to your emails.
- Critical threat
7. Plugins & Third-Party Services
- Paid Plugins & Software Licenses
- Ensure they are registered under your business, not your web team. If not, you can always purchase another license.
- Minor threat
- Form & Compliance Tools (JotForms, CookieYes, Microsoft Clarity)
- If tied to your old team, these services could be revoked unexpectedly. As a result, your business may be at risk for non-compliance according to local laws (GDPR, PIPEDA, and equivalent), so make sure to replace them immediately.
- Medium threat
- Payment Processing Accounts (Stripe, PayPal, Square)
- Unauthorized changes could result in financial loss. This is obviously a major issue and can be escalated to the federal level. You’ll likely recover the account but it will likely be a messy process.
- Critical threat
As you can see, there are number of critical threats to your digital brand. For these critical threats, you must fight tooth and nail to gain ownership. Need help reclaiming ownership of what’s yours to prevent future business disruptions from occurring? Reach out to Uplancer for a free consultation!
Step 3: Conduct a Proper Walkthrough and Handover with Your New Team
Once you have access to all of your accounts, walk your new web team through them. Ensure that your new team understands where everything’s located and what they do. Note, a well-documented transition reduces downtime and prevents surprises, and can be used for future transitions.
For cloud services like AWS, remember to delegate access with the appropriate permissions rather than sharing your root or primary account credentials. If you’re unsure of how, we can help!
Step 4: Final Resolutions if Your Web Team Doesn’t Cooperate
If you’ve reached this stage, we are sorry about your experience. It’s not right and we’ve seen similar situations unwind numerous times. The good thing is it’s not over yet. What you’ll need to do first is weigh your options.
1. Calculate the True Cost of Contract Termination
Ending an engagement isn’t just about cutting ties, it comes with hidden costs. Therefore, be rational and take the path with the least resource commitment while considering the following:
- Legal Fees: If these disputes can’t be resolved mutually, you may need legal intervention.
- Termination Fees: Some contracts require payment for the remaining balance or termination fee.
- Business Downtime: A poorly managed transition can lead to lost revenue and halt your business operations.
- Rebuilding Costs: If access is lost, a complete website rebuild and migration may be necessary, which usually isn’t cheap.
2. Your Pick
If your existing web team team still refuses to hand over access, you have two options:
- Legal Action: You may have legal grounds to reclaim your digital accounts. A formal notice from your lawyer may be enough. On the other hand, litigation will cost thousands of dollars and may take years to litigate.
- Lift-and-Shift / Rebuild: If all else fails, rebuilding may be the only solution and is something that you’d want to start immediately. We’ve assisted many businesses in this situation, helping them migrate their websites and digital assets to a secure environment within weeks. The new setup ensures that ownership remains firmly in your hands. As a plus, you can use checklist to confirm that we’ve done things the right way!
Final Takeaway: Ownership Is Key
The number one rule: never let your web team have full control of your digital services and assets. Maintain ownership of all key accounts and grant only necessary permissions. Additionally, the larger your business, the more complex your digital ecosystem becomes, often with 30+ interconnected services. There’s more to manage but managing them is a must.
By keeping control, you protect your business from potential sabotage, financial loss, and unnecessary headaches. Don’t wait until it’s too late – secure your digital brand today.
Need Help?
Uplancer specializes in doing web design and web development the right way. We can help your transition away from your web team or be their replacement! Contact us for a free consultation and ensure your online presence is safeguarded.
