For close to 15 years, when it comes to domain name management, I’ve personally touted two things: 1) the importance of using a single, secure, corporate domain name registrar and 2) the importance of having a fully-consolidated domain name portfolio for even the largest portfolios. And in many ways, this made sense back then. With a single, corporate-focused registrar, domain professionals were able to access and manage all domains from within a centralized repository. Of course, much has changed since then. There are now a number of secure, corporate registrar’s from which to choose, and gaining insight into all domains under management, regardless of registrar, no longer requires that all domains are managed with a single provider.

Needless to say, having two providers for smaller portfolios, may still not make sense. And that’s OK.

But for larger portfolios, in particular, having just a single registrar carries with it a number of potential downsides, namely being overly reliant upon a single service provider. Should that provider’s service levels, security, pricing or offerings change—not having another option can leave domain professionals in a precarious situation. And given that the registrar market has been in a state of flux for the last several years due to acquisitions and changes of ownership, having more than a single vendor provides peace of mind.

Having two vendors, or even three, from which to choose, is healthy. Splitting portfolios can encourage vendors to continually provide the high-levels of service and support for which legacy registrars were originally known. Companies can divide their portfolios by brand, by TLD, by division or by region. Some choose to keep production domains at one registrar and defensive registrations at another. Others keep the bulk of domains at one provider and the remainder at a second provider.

But what about gaining insight into all domains under management? There are technology solutions, which provide important domain name and website data, regardless of registrar. It is no longer necessary to keep domains at a single provider, in order to gain visibility.

At the end of the day, not feeling trapped by your provider and having the ability to choose based on expertise, price or time-to-completion provides a better experience for all and helps to keep the market competitive. And even if you are beyond-the-moon happy with your current registrar, consider having a second provider, just in case.