IT Takeover & Remediation
Inherited an IT setup nobody fully understands?
A provider you've outgrown. An IT person who left with the passwords in their head. A setup that grew one quick fix at a time. We audit what's really there, secure the risks first, and take over cleanly, with everything documented and owned by you. No judgement, no big-bang cutover, no lock-in.
Sound Familiar
Three ways every business ends up here
You're switching provider
Response times slipped, Macs were always an afterthought, or the relationship just ran its course. Now you need to move without breaking anything, and without knowing exactly what they set up.
Your IT person left
One person held it all: the passwords, the renewals, the reasons behind every decision. They've gone, and the documentation turned out to be in their head.
It grew organically
Every tool was a sensible decision at the time. Five years later there are three file stores, shared logins, a NAS someone set up one weekend, and nobody who can draw the whole picture.
What We Check First
The five things that decide how risky your setup really is
Inherited environments fail in predictable places. The audit starts with the five that matter most, because they decide whether a bad day is an inconvenience or a catastrophe.
Ready for a rebuild rather than a rescue? See our project work and infrastructure architecture.
A backup you can restore from
Sync tools mirror deletions and a backup on the same volume as the data is not a backup. We check what would survive a bad day, and prove it with a test restore.
Who holds the keys
Which accounts have admin rights, where credentials live, and what still belongs to a previous provider or a person who left. Access is the first thing we secure.
How devices are managed
Whether Macs are enrolled in Apple Business Manager and MDM, or every laptop is a law unto itself. Unmanaged devices are where security promises quietly fail.
Updates and end-of-life kit
What has silently stopped updating, and which hardware or software is past support. Both are fine until the day they very much are not.
What your business owns
Domains, DNS, licences, and key accounts registered to your business rather than to an individual or an old supplier. Ownership gaps surface at the worst moments, like renewals and departures.
How Takeover Works
Stabilise first, change second
The name is the method. Nothing gets rebuilt until the risks are closed and everything is documented.
Free audit
We map what you have: devices, accounts, backups, licences, and risks. You get a written report in plain English covering what's working, what needs fixing, and why. Free, confidential, no obligation.
Secure the risks
Before anything else changes: working backups, admin access under your control, expiring services caught. The failure modes get closed first, quietly and without drama.
Clean takeover
Handover from the outgoing provider handled directly, devices brought under management, documentation built as we go. Staged changes in planned windows, zero downtime.
Run properly
Managed support with named engineers who now know your setup better than anyone. 30-day rolling contract, so we keep earning it every month.
Why Clients Stay
“Alan and Dustin have been instrumental in the curation of our company's growth. The knowledge and dedication of the Stabilise team has meant that we've felt fully supported at all stages of consultation and implementation.”
Charlotte Ellis, Studio Director, Fin DAC Studio
Read more client reviews100%
client retention across managed services clients
95%
of issues resolved the same day
300+
devices under management
30-day
rolling contracts, no lock-in
FAQ
Taking over, answered
Our previous provider set everything up. Can you still take over?
Yes, this is the normal case, not the exception. Device enrolment can be migrated, domains, DNS, and licences move to accounts your business controls, and we document everything as we go. Where a previous provider held things in their own systems, we rebuild those pieces cleanly rather than leaving you dependent on goodwill. Our contracts are 30-day rolling in both directions, so you are never trading one lock-in for another.
Do we need to tell our current provider before you look at anything?
No. The free audit is read-only and works from what you can already access. Most businesses get the audit report first, decide with full information, and only then start the handover conversation. When you do switch, we handle the technical handover directly with the outgoing provider so you don't referee it.
We have no documentation at all. Is that a problem?
It's the starting point we expect. Most inherited environments come with no asset list, no account register, and passwords in someone's head or an old spreadsheet. The audit produces the documentation: every device, account, licence, and renewal, written down and owned by you. From then on it stays current because keeping it current is part of the service.
What if the audit finds something embarrassing?
It almost always finds something, and it is never a judgement. Nearly every inherited setup has the same handful of gaps: a backup that hasn't been tested, an old admin account still active, updates that quietly stopped. They accumulate in every business that has been busy doing its real job. The report is confidential, written in plain English, and focused on what to do next rather than how it got there.
Will switching cause downtime?
No. Takeovers are staged: we secure access and backups first, keep everything running as-is, and make changes in planned windows with rollback plans. Your team keeps working throughout. The riskiest way to switch provider is a big-bang cutover, so we don't do those.
Our provider relationship has already ended. How fast can you step in?
Same week, and faster for genuine emergencies. The first visit secures the essentials: admin access, backups, and anything about to expire or break. Stabilising an unmanaged environment comes first; the full audit and remediation plan follow once the immediate risk is handled.
Find out what you've inherited
A free 30-minute audit and a written report: what you have, what's at risk, and what we'd do first. Confidential, no obligation, no sales pitch.