The Own-Your-Data Checklist

Software decisions are easy to reverse in month one and very hard to reverse in year three, once every client record and every job you've ever done lives inside someone else's platform. These are the twelve questions worth asking while you still have leverage — which is before you sign, not after. Ask them of any vendor, us included. A good one will answer all twelve without flinching.

• 01. Can we export everything, today, without asking you?Not a report. Everything — clients, jobs, notes, attachments, history — in a standard format like CSV or JSON, on demand, without raising a support ticket. If the answer involves their team doing it for you, you don't control your data.
• 02. Does the export include files and photos?This is where most exports quietly fail. The spreadsheet comes out fine and ten years of site photos, signed quotes and PDFs stay behind. Ask to see a sample export before you sign.
• 03. What happens to our data the day we cancel?Get the window in writing. Some platforms cut access immediately on non-payment, which means the moment you're in a dispute is the moment you lose the records you'd need to resolve it.
• 04. Who owns what you build for us?If you're paying for custom work, say who owns the result. 'You own your data, we own the software' is a normal answer — but you should hear it out loud before you pay, not discover it later.
• 05. Is there an API, and is it included?An API is how your software talks to everything else you run. If it exists but sits behind the top pricing tier, budget for that tier — you will need it the first time you want your accounting to match your jobs.
• 06. What does it cost when we double the team?Per-seat pricing charges you for succeeding. Model it at twice your current headcount and see whether the number still makes sense. That's the year you'll actually be paying it.
• 07. How much can the price rise, and with how much notice?Ask for the cap and the notice period in the contract. Once your whole operation runs on a tool, a 30% rise isn't really a negotiation.
• 08. What happens when it goes down on a Friday afternoon?Not the uptime percentage — the phone number. Who picks up, how fast, and what they're contractually obliged to do. 99.9% uptime is still nine hours a year, and it never lands at a convenient time.
• 09. Where are the backups, and have you ever restored one?Everyone has backups. Far fewer have tested restoring them. Ask when they last did a real restore, and how long it took.
• 10. Which country is our data stored in?For Alberta businesses handling client information this matters for PIPA, and it matters more if you work with public-sector clients who ask the question in their procurement forms.
• 11. Who else can see it?Ask for the list of subprocessors — the other companies in the chain. You're not just trusting your vendor, you're trusting everyone they've handed your data to.
• 12. What happens if you get acquired or shut down?The uncomfortable one, and the one most worth asking. A source-code escrow arrangement, or a contractual wind-down period with a full data handover, is the difference between an inconvenience and rebuilding your business from paper.