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 help 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 a definite exit.
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 presence. Bad actors from your web team being replaced can make your business’s digital front a living hell. Therefore, ensure that you have or are working towards full ownership of the following, especially the critical level threat items:
1. Website & Server Access
- CMS Credentials (WordPress, Shopify, etc.)
- Your content management system (CMS) is the gateway to your website. It houses all the text, video, and images content. Without CMS access, you have no way of updating website content.
- Critical threat level
- SSH Security Keys
- Allows access to your web server and is critical for your web development team to make manual updates on it. The issue with an SSH key is that with it, your old web team can use it to access your server at any time. This is a big no-no.
- Critical threat level
- Allows access to your web server and is critical for your web development team to make manual updates on it. The issue with an SSH key is that with it, your old web team can use it to access your server at any time. This is a big no-no.
- Cloud Credentials (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, etc.)
- The cloud houses all of your hosting, domain, and CDN configurations. It’s imperative that don’t lost the credentials.
- Critical threat level
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 harder. Fortunately, you can partner with a web team, like Uplancer, to enrich your decision making with industry data.
- Medium threat level
- Google Tag Manager
- Google Tag Manager sends event data to third party services. If access to it is lost, it can be set up fairly easily.
- Minor threat level
3. Digital Advertising Accounts
- Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and More
- Losing access means losing campaign data and historical benchmarks for future ads. Although losing data is painful, a good digital marketing team can help you set it up again.
- Medium threat level
4. Social Media Accounts
- Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok
- A disgruntled web team may 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 them and reclaim them.
- Critical threat level
5. Business Listings & Local SEO
- Google Business Profile (Google My Business)
- It is critical for local search rankings, 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 level
- Yelp, Clutch, Yellow Pages, Chamber Listings
- Similar to social media and Google, you’ll want to maintain a consistent image for your brand. Reclaim these as soon as you can.
- Critical threat level
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 contact leads that need followup.
- Critical threat level
- Email Admin Access (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, etc.)
- Prevent unauthorized changes or deletions of company emails. Email is the core communication channel for so many businesses so don’t give up administrator access to this. Otherwise, it will be a tough fight with email service providers, such as Microsoft and Google.
- Critical threat level
7. Plugins & Third-Party Services
- Paid Plugins & Software Licenses
- Ensure they are registered under your business, not the web team. You can always purchase another license so this should not be on the top of your priority list.
- Minor threat level
- Form & Compliance Tools (JotForms, CookieYes, Microsoft Clarity)
- If tied to the old team, access could be revoked unexpectedly. You may put your business at risk for non-compliance for local laws, so make sure to replace them immediately.
- Medium threat level
- Payment Processing Accounts (Stripe, PayPal, Square)
- Unauthorized changes could result in financial loss. This is an obvious huge issue and can involve the federal government. You’ll likely recover the account but it will likely be messy.
- Critical threat level
As you can see, there are a good number of critical components of your digital services. For items with a critical threat level, you’ll need to fight tooth and nail to gain ownership. Start reclaiming ownership of what’s yours today to prevent future business disruptions from occuring.
Step 3: Conduct a Proper Walkthrough and Handover with Your Replacement Team
If you’ve ever worked in software development, then you know that a structured handover is essential. As such, once you’ve tracked everything down, walk your new web team through all the services above. Ensure that your new team understands where everything is located and how to keep systems running smoothly. Note, a well-documented transition reduces downtime and prevents surprises, and can be used for future transitions.
For cloud services like AWS, make sure to create new IAM users with the appropriate permissions rather than sharing your root credentials. If you aren’t sure how, reach out to us for some help!
Step 4: Final Resolutions if Your Web Team Won’t Cooperate
Calculate the True Cost of Terminating a Contract
Ending an engagement isn’t just about cutting ties, it comes with some hidden costs. Therefore, be rational and take the least amount of resources path with the following considerations:
- Legal Fees: If disputes arise over digital asset ownership, you may need legal intervention.
- Termination Fees: Some contracts require you to pay out the remaining balance or invoke some 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 may be necessary, which usually isn’t cheap.
Your Last Options
If your existing web team team still refuses to hand over access, you have two levers to pull:
- Legal Action: If you’ve paid for digital assets or services, you may have legal grounds to reclaim them. A formal notice from a lawyer demanding access may be enough. However, litigation can be expensive and time-consuming.
- 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 from the old accounts to a secure environment within weeks. The new setup ensures that ownership remains firmly in your hands. As a plus, you have this 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 track but they are 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 properties today.
Need Help?
Uplancer specializes in digital security and web migrations. We can help transition your old web team out or be that replacement! Contact us for a free consultation and ensure your online presence remains in safe hands.
