{"id":9023,"date":"2024-10-21T13:43:14","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T13:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tup.kxe.temporary.site\/who-really-owns-your-data-protecting-your-business-from-agency-lock-in\/"},"modified":"2024-10-21T13:43:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T13:43:14","slug":"who-really-owns-your-data-protecting-your-business-from-agency-lock-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/okdesign.ca\/fr\/who-really-owns-your-data-protecting-your-business-from-agency-lock-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Who really owns your data? Protecting your business from agency lock-in"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This is a warning to all business professionals. If you\u2019re an agency in the world of data collection (analytics, marketing, etc.), this might be a \u201cshame on you\u201d moment.<\/p>\n

Data is the lifeblood of all organizations. Without it, how can executives, business owners and managers make day-to-day and long-term decisions? Yet, for many organizations, the question of who owns their data rarely arises \u2014 until problems emerge.<\/p>\n

I thought this issue had been resolved long ago, but with several new clients, it has resurfaced as a top priority. Each case was slightly different, but they all boiled down to the client not owning or controlling 100% of their analytical or marketing data.<\/p>\n

In all instances, the client\u2019s old agencies claimed things like, \u201cWe use proprietary code, so we can\u2019t share it,\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s all under our account and can\u2019t be transferred.\u201d In most cases, the agencies are holding the client\u2019s data hostage in hopes of retaining them. This was a common practice 25-30 years ago in the early days of digital marketing, but I thought it had faded away. I was wrong. Here are some recent examples.<\/p>\n

Analytics data<\/h2>\n

A client hired an agency to implement, configure and maintain their site\u2019s analytics. Eventually, the client became dissatisfied and wanted to switch agencies. As the new agency, I said, \u201cNo problem \u2014 just grant us admin rights and remove the old agency\u2019s access.\u201d That\u2019s when they discovered they only had view access to the data. When they asked the previous agency for admin-level access, they were told no, because the data was \u201cowned by the agency\u201d and was set up by the agency for their own use.<\/p>\n

In another case, the client had property admin access, allowing it to make configuration changes, but no rights to manage users.<\/p>\n

In one of these cases, the client eventually gained full admin control, including user management and severed ties with the old agency. In the other case, the old agency refused to transfer access, and the only solution was to export the historical data to a data warehouse and then rebuild the analytics account from scratch.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: Data plus analytics is the route to the truth<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tag Manager access<\/h2>\n

Having been burned before, this client made sure they were the primary admin when their Google Analytics property was created.<\/p>\n

However, when the old agency disappeared (presumably closed), no one had access to the Google Tag Manager account. In another instance, the client had no idea who had set up their Tag Manager account and, as a result, was locked out.<\/p>\n

In both cases, the only solution was to reverse-engineer what was being tracked and reported in Google Analytics, replicate it into a new GTM container and then delete the old GTM container from the site\u2019s code. This was no small task, and what should have been a 30-60-minute job turned into a few days\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

Data visualization<\/h2>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen this, and every time, I need to take a deep breath, shake my head and then calm the client down. The client had paid an agency to create data visualization reports for two different web properties. <\/p>\n

They had expected some recurring charges, but after two years, they realized those small fees had snowballed into thousands of dollars annually. At this point, they decided they wanted full ownership of the reports.<\/p>\n

The agency, however, informed them that:<\/p>\n