The short answer. You should. When the code, the data and the server belong to you, your system keeps running if you stop working with the team that built it. With rented software, you depend on the vendor's prices, terms and survival.
Three things you can own
- The code: the software itself, so another team can maintain it.
- The data: your customers, orders and history, in a form you can export.
- The server: where the system runs, under your account.
Why ownership matters
When you rent software, you accept someone else's roadmap and prices. If a feature changes, a plan is retired or the vendor is acquired, you adapt or you move. Moving is hard when your history lives inside their product.
What ownership looks like in practice
At Brown Button, each client's system runs on its own server, and clients own their data and source code. If you stop working with us, it keeps running. Our work is built to stand on its own, with or without us.
Questions to ask any software supplier
- Will we receive the source code, and under what terms?
- Where is our data stored, and can we export all of it?
- Who holds the server and hosting accounts?
- What happens to the system if we end the contract?
Ownership and support go together
Owning your software does not mean running it alone. Many clients keep us on for support and maintenance, and some bring in other teams. The point is that the choice stays yours.
By Brown Button · 27 Oct 2026
