Vendors & DPAs
Pass-through risk, customer-supplied paperwork, and what happens when a vendor goes down.
Blog Why MSPs Shouldn’t Sign a Customer DPA Without Reviewing the Risk
Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) are often treated as boilerplate, but they’re not. A customer-supplied DPA can silently shift significant liability onto your business if you don’t know what to look for. This is the step many MSPs skip during onboarding. A new customer sends over a stack of documents during onboarding, and the MSA and [ ]
Blog What Happens If a Vendor You Rely on Goes Down?
You provide the service, but behind the scenes, you’re relying on vendors, cloud providers, security tools, AI models, and compliance platforms. What happens when one of them fails? If your contract doesn’t shift that risk, the client may assume you are responsible. Vendor Failures You Can’t Control Cloud hosting outage that knocks your platform offline. [ ]
Blog How Monjur Uses Attorney-Supervised Contract Intelligence to Automate Vendor Contracting
Vendor contracting has become one of the most complex challenges for modern procurement and legal teams. The challenge extends beyond sheer numbers. It’s the complexity of applying internal standards consistently across vendor agreements that vary by structure, language, and risk profile. Manual review doesn’t scale. Generic AI lacks context. Legal teams stay stuck doing mechanical [ ]
Blog Don’t Get Trapped by Customer-Supplied DPAs
When your customer sends over a Data Processing Agreement (DPA), it might look routine. But buried in those pages are often unfair risk-shifting clauses that push all the liability to you. The wrong DPA can make you responsible for things you don’t control, including your client’s own security failures. What Can Go Wrong You agree [ ]
Blog When a Vendor Fails, Your Contract Shouldn’t
Most small businesses depend on outside vendors: cloud providers, payment processors, CRM platforms, and remote tools. But what happens when a vendor goes down, gets breached, or hikes prices without notice? If your contracts don’t handle that risk, you could be stuck with angry clients, financial loss, or legal exposure for something you didn’t cause. [ ]
Blog Vendor Management: The Overlooked Legal Risk for MSPs
For Managed Service Providers (MSPs), vendors are indispensable. From cloud hosting to cybersecurity tools, your ability to deliver value often hinges on the reliability of third-party providers. But with this reliance comes risk. Vendor-related failures can expose your MSP to financial loss, client disputes, and even legal liability. Despite the critical nature of vendor relationships, [ ]
Blog Who’s Liable When Your Vendor Fails? MSP Risk Management 101
As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), you depend on vendors for critical tools and services, from cloud platforms to cybersecurity solutions. But what happens when these vendors fail? Whether it’s a service outage, a security breach, or non-performance, the ripple effects can disrupt your operations and jeopardize client relationships. If your contracts don’t clearly address [ ]
Blog How Changes in Data Privacy Laws Impact MSPs
Data privacy laws are evolving faster than one can imagine. For managed service providers (MSPs), staying ahead of these changes is critical. The goal is not only to protect clients but also to safeguard your own business from legal and financial risks. From the European Union’s GDPR to emerging U.S. state laws, and federal regulations [ ]
Blog How to Evaluate Monjur’s Privacy, Security, and Compliance Library
Many MSPs find themselves in a tough spot dealing with privacy laws, cyber threats, and compliance rules. In a recent case, an MSP in California got sued when their client faced a ransomware attack and claimed their backup system didn’t work properly. This shows why solid legal protection isn’t just a nice-to-have. No. It’s a [ ]
Blog Choosing the Right Monjur Plan for Your MSP
Running an MSP isn’t easy. And dealing with legal agreements shouldn’t add to your stress. Yet many MSPs try to piece together their own contracts or download whatever they can find online. A copied-and-pasted agreement might have worked five years ago. But with ransomware, data privacy laws, and vendor risks growing daily, generic contracts are [ ]
Blog Compliance Check List: Required Data Processing Terms for MSPs
Are your contracts leaving you exposed? As MSPs face increasing scrutiny over data handling practices, having specific and well-defined data processing terms has become non-negotiable. Recent cases, like the Acronis litigation in California, highlight the risks of outdated MSP agreements. With state, federal, and international privacy laws evolving rapidly, compliance is growing more complex. For [ ]
Blog Navigating Vendor Risk: Why MSPs Need a Comprehensive Approach
Most MSPs focus too much on vendor features and too little on vendor risks. For Managed Service Providers (MSPs), third-party risks directly affect daily operations and client relationships. Recent incidents like the 2021 Kaseya ransomware attack and the 2020 SolarWinds breach, each affecting over 1,000 customers, shows how severe the consequences of vendor-related issues can [ ]
Blog How to Navigate the Regulatory Labyrinth as an MSP
In the ever-changing landscape of data privacy, staying up-to-date with regulations is not only beneficial, it’s crucial. Managed service providers (MSPs) bear the responsibility of ensuring their practices align with evolving state, federal, and international laws. In recent years, we’ve seen a dramatic surge in state-level data privacy laws, creating an increasingly complex regulatory framework for [ ]
Blog The Importance of Data Processing Terms in Managed Services Provider Contracts: A Lawyer’s Perspective
In the digital age, businesses rely heavily on managed services providers (MSPs) to handle their data processing needs efficiently and securely. However, the evolving landscape of data privacy laws, both at the federal and international levels, necessitates careful consideration of data processing terms in customer contracts. From HIPAA and GLBA to CMMC, GDPR, and Canada’s [ ]
Blog Mitigating Vendor Risks as an MSP with Contracts-as-Service Solution
As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), your clients entrust you with a crucial responsibility: ensuring the security and smooth operation of their IT systems. This responsibility extends to the vendors that provide the software, hardware, and services vital to these systems. Vendor risk management, thus, becomes a critical aspect of your role. Federal regulations, such [ ]
Blog The Importance of Vendor Risk Management
Request A Consultation Vendor risk management has become an increasingly important aspect of IT management, especially for MSPs who are trusted by their clients to ensure the safety and security of their systems. This task includes carefully scrutinizing and managing the vendors who provide the software, hardware, and services that support these systems. The Role [ ]
Blog How MSPs Can Manage Vendor Risk
As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), managing vendor risks is a critical aspect of your job. Your clients rely on you to ensure that their IT systems are secure and running smoothly, which means you must carefully vet and manage the vendors that provide the software, hardware, and services that support those systems. Such vendor [ ]
Blog Why MSPS Need Their Own Data Processing Agreements
Over the past ten years regulation of data privacy and security has proliferated at the international, federal and state levels. Several industry-based federal regulations have been developed such as HIPAA for healthcare and GLBA for financial services. Other geographically based regulations such as GDPR (EU) and CCPA (California) apply to the personal data of citizens [ ]
Blog MSP Policy & Procedures
POLICY & PROCEDURES FOR MANAGED SERVICE PROVIDERS (MSP) With the tightening of data protection laws that followed the introduction of GDPR, enforcement actions have begun to be more widespread. Heavy penalties are handed out by the Data Protection Authorities. There have already been some big victims, including Marriott and British Airways, who were both handed [ ]
Blog Negotiating Technology Contracts: On-premise vs. Cloud and Hosted Software
More and more businesses are considering accessing hosted software rather than purchasing on-premise software. They are also placing data in third-party public or private clouds instead of selecting on-premise software. This article will explain the key considerations and contractual provisions when deciding to utilize a hosted software cloud solution versus on-premise software solutions. KEY CONSIDERATIONS [ ]
Blog Benefits of Negotiating a Source Code Escrow Agreement in a Software Vendor Contract
Many businesses have software licenses that are tailored to the business’ needs, and are for business operations on a day-to-day basis. But what happens if the software provider goes out of business or discontinues support for the software? In short, the business may not have meaningful access to necessary software after it is no longer [ ]