What owning your code actually means
Ownership isn't a philosophy. It's a repository, a database and a hosting account with your name on them.
Ownership gets talked about like a feeling. It's simpler than that. You own your software when three things are true: the code sits in a repository your company controls, the data sits in a database your company controls, and the hosting account is billed to your company.
The three things you should hold
The code. Not a licence to use it. The repository itself, with its history, in an account your company controls. If the agency disappears tomorrow, someone else can pick it up on Monday.
The data. Every record, in a database you can query, back up and move. Not an export button that produces a CSV of half the fields.
The hosting. The bill comes to you. That sounds like a burden. It's the opposite: it means nobody can switch the lights off.
What it doesn't mean
You don't have to run it yourself. You don't have to hire engineers. You can keep an agency on for changes for as long as that's useful, and stop when it isn't.
Ownership is a set of keys, not a staffing plan.
How to check today
Can you export everything in one go?
Can you see the source?
Who gets the bill?
If the answer to any of those is "the vendor", you're renting.
