Local businesses do not need to abandon social media, marketplaces, booking services or cloud software. They do need a reliable way to control their business identity, reach customers outside any one platform, recover important accounts and keep usable copies of essential information. The goal is not to own every piece of technology; it is to avoid having one provider become the only route to your customers or records.
What it means to control your digital assets
Control is practical, not absolute. A business has meaningful control when it knows who administers its important accounts, can recover them if a staff member or vendor leaves, can export or retrieve important records where permitted, and has a workable alternative if a provider becomes unavailable.
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That can coexist with outsourced website hosting or a busy marketplace profile. In the UK Business Data Survey 2025–2026, 78% of businesses said they had a website, based on 4,450 UK businesses; among those with websites, management was split across in-house teams, external support and platform-assisted arrangements. Those figures describe UK survey respondents, not local businesses worldwide. See the UK Business Data Survey 2025–2026.
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Why relying on one platform can leave a business exposed
Discovery is not the same as a direct customer relationship
Social profiles and marketplaces can help people find and buy from a business, but the platform controls the service and the rules for access to its audience. An EU study published in 2018 found that businesses generally lacked access to some platform data they valued for marketing, including customer email addresses, user profiles and behaviour data. It does not establish that every platform blocks every export: check the current terms and export options for the service you use. Any customer-data handling must also comply with applicable privacy law. Read the European Commission study on data in platform-to-business relations.
Account loss can affect more than one channel
If access to a social, marketplace or cloud account disappears, a business may lose a route to customers or the information stored there. Email deserves particular attention because it can contain sensitive correspondence and may be used to reset other accounts. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center reported a 9% increase in identified global exposed losses from business email compromise between December 2022 and December 2023. That is a dated change in reported losses, not the probability that a particular business will be targeted. Read the FBI IC3 business email compromise advisory.
Your domain is a control point
A public domain may underpin both a website and business email. The UK National Cyber Security Centre warns that attackers who gain control of a domain may hijack services that use it. Keep domain administration in an organisation-controlled account, protect that account and know how to recover it. Read the NCSC guidance on protecting a public domain name.
How to own your business website and domain
- Check who controls the domain. Confirm the registrant and administrator details, and make sure the account belongs to the business or is controlled by an authorised business account—not solely a former employee or outside supplier.
- Secure recovery and renewal. Use a work-controlled recovery email, enable available account protections, track renewal dates and retain the information needed to recover or transfer the domain.
- Keep website access in business hands. Know which provider hosts the site, retain administrator access and keep the site’s source content or an export where available. Ask how to recover or move the site if the provider relationship ends.
- Document the arrangement. Record the provider, account owner, administrators, recovery route and any transfer or export steps in a place authorised staff can access.
Using a developer or hosting company does not require handing over the underlying business account. Agree who owns the account and how access will be returned before work begins.
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There is no single recovery process that applies to every service, and platform policies change. Use each provider’s current official recovery route rather than relying on an old guide. Your continuity plan should assume that a platform account could be unavailable for a period: keep another customer contact route, such as your website, phone number or business email, and avoid storing the only copy of essential records inside one account.
List the social, marketplace, storage, website and domain accounts the business depends on. For each, record the business owner, authorised administrators, recovery method and what customers or operations would lose if access stopped. Remove access for people who no longer need it.
Can you take your customer list with you if you switch platforms?
Only if the platform makes the relevant data available, the export is usable, and you are allowed to retain and use it. Do not treat followers, booking profiles or marketplace customers as an exportable mailing list. Check the service’s current export tools and terms, and collect contact details through clear, lawful methods. The UK Business Data Survey 2025–2026 found that 67% of UK businesses handled personal data about people other than employees; including employee data, the share was 72%. This is a UK survey finding, not a global estimate. Survey results and methodology.
Where permitted, keep customer contacts in a business-controlled system and make sure authorised staff know how to access them. Follow the privacy and direct-marketing rules that apply in your jurisdiction; keeping a copy does not itself grant permission to use it for any purpose.
How to secure the accounts that matter most
The NCSC advises small organisations to secure email first, then review other important accounts such as social media, online storage, the company website and domain hosting. It recommends passkeys for business-critical accounts where available; otherwise use strong, unique passwords with two-step verification. Read the NCSC account security guidance.
- Secure business email first. Enable a passkey if supported, or use a strong unique password and two-step verification. Confirm the recovery details and document a second authorised recovery route.
- Apply protection to other critical accounts. Prioritise domain management, website hosting, cloud storage, social profiles, marketplaces and payment or booking services that the business relies on.
- Limit and review access. Give administrative privileges only to people who need them, keep an authorised second administrator where practical, and remove stale employee or contractor accounts.
- Keep recovery information available. Store recovery details securely and make sure the business can use them if the usual administrator is unavailable.
How to back up your website and business data
Make independent copies of essential data, including website content, email, invoicing, documents, contacts and customer information. The NCSC says backups can be held online or on an external drive or USB device; independent copies and restore checks improve resilience. If you use a removable drive, store it securely and disconnect it when it is not being used. Read the NCSC guide to backing up data.
- Identify what must be recoverable. List the records and services whose loss would interrupt trading, customer service or legal obligations.
- Make a copy outside the original service. Use an independent storage location rather than assuming that data stored in a cloud account is also backed up.
- Check the copy. Confirm that files can be opened and records are readable, not merely that a backup job reports success.
- Test restoration. Periodically practise restoring a representative file or site backup and record who can carry out the steps.
Choose a mix of platforms and assets you can control
No single setup fits every local business. Compare options by what the business can administer, recover and move—not only by convenience or reach.
| Decision area | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Account ownership | Is the account registered to the business? Can the business recover it if a staff member or vendor leaves? |
| Data access | Can customer information and content be exported in a usable format, subject to platform terms and privacy law? |
| Portability | Can the business move its domain, content, records and customer communications to another provider? |
| Customer reach | Does the business depend on a platform’s discovery system, or can customers also reach it directly? |
| Continuity | Are there independent backups and tested recovery steps? |
| Security | Are passkeys or two-step verification, role-based access and recovery controls available and enabled? |
| Effort and cost | What recurring fees, staff time, technical support and maintenance does the option require? |
A small business can reasonably outsource hosting or use a marketplace while retaining domain administration, available exports and independent backups. The aim is a useful mix: platforms for reach and transactions, and business-controlled ways to preserve identity, customer contact and operational continuity.
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