You should own your automations: the accounts they run in, the logins, the workflow logic and the documentation. In practice, ownership depends on whose name is on each account and what your contract says, not on who paid the invoice. If the consultant built everything in their own Zapier, Make or cloud account, or kept the only admin login, you are renting your automations, even if you paid for them. This guide shows how to check where you stand and what to put in writing before the next project starts.
Why automation ownership is easy to lose
Most automation work happens in a handful of places: workflow platforms such as Power Automate, Zapier, Make or n8n; your CRM and accounting system; and sometimes a small piece of code running in a cloud account. Every one of those places has an account owner and an administrator.
Ownership slips away in quiet ways:
- The consultant signs up for the tool. It is faster for them to build in their own account and "move it later". Later rarely comes.
- Connections use the consultant's login. A flow that reads your inbox or updates your CRM may be connected through their user account. When that user is removed, the flow stops.
- The AI or API keys are theirs. If the automation calls an AI model with the consultant's key, they control the account, the bill and the data terms.
- Nothing is written down. The logic lives in one person's head, so even with admin access nobody else can safely change it.
- The contract is silent. If the agreement doesn't say who owns the work and the accounts, you may be negotiating at the worst possible moment: when the relationship is ending.
None of this needs bad intent. It usually happens because nobody decided it up front.
What you should own, in plain terms
Think of an automation as four things. You want all four.
The accounts and the admin keys
Every platform the automation runs on should be in your company's name, with someone at your company as an administrator. The consultant can have their own user or a guest login while they work, but they should never be the only admin.
The connections
Connections to your email, CRM, accounting system and files should use accounts your company controls, ideally a dedicated service account rather than one person's login. That way a staff change or a departing consultant doesn't silently break anything.
The AI and cloud accounts
If AI is involved, the AI service should be set up in your name, with usage billed to you and business terms that keep your data out of model training. The same goes for any cloud hosting. We cover this order of operations in Use the AI You Already Pay For, and the safeguards on our AI page.
The documentation
You need a written description of what each workflow does, what triggers it, what it connects to, what can go wrong and how to fix it. Without that, ownership on paper doesn't help much in practice.
A 10-minute ownership check for automations you already have
You can do most of this yourself, without a consultant on the call:
- List every automation you know about. Include scheduled jobs, form handlers, email rules that call other tools, and anything a vendor set up "to save time".
- For each one, find the platform it runs on and check the account owner. Is it your company's account?
- Check the admin list. Is at least one person inside your company an administrator? Is anyone listed who no longer works with you?
- Check the connections. In Power Automate, Zapier, Make and similar tools, each connection shows which account it uses. Look for personal or outside accounts.
- Check who gets the bill. Platform subscriptions, AI usage and hosting should be billed to your company.
- Look for documentation. If there is none, note which automations matter most. Those are the ones to document first.
If several answers come back "not sure", you're not alone. It's common for flows to be built over years by different people. For flows someone else built, we offer a flow review: we list every flow, check who owns the accounts and logins, and rate each one keep, fix or rebuild.
What to put in the contract before the work starts
A short ownership section in the proposal or statement of work prevents most of these problems. Ask for:
- Accounts in your name. All accounts are created in the client's name, with the client as administrator.
- Ownership of the work. The workflows, scripts, configuration and documentation built for you belong to you once paid for.
- Documentation as a deliverable. It should be listed in the scope, not treated as optional.
- Export at any time. You can export your workflows, data and configuration whenever you like, with no exit fee.
- A handover commitment. If you move on, the provider hands everything over to your team or your next provider and walks them through it.
- No minimum term on support. Ongoing support should be something you keep because it's useful, not because leaving is hard.
These are the five commitments in our No Lock-in Pledge, and they are written into every engagement. We'd suggest asking any provider for the same, whether or not you work with us.
Red flags when hiring an automation consultant
Watch for these before you sign:
- They plan to build in "our platform" or "our account" and move it to you later.
- They can't tell you which accounts will be created and in whose name.
- Documentation is extra, vague or missing from the quote.
- Support contracts have long minimum terms or exit fees.
- They use a proprietary tool that only they can edit, with no export.
- They won't explain how you would move to another provider if you needed to.
A provider who expects to keep your business on merit should be comfortable answering all of these in writing.
If you've already lost access
If a consultant has gone quiet or the relationship has ended badly, start with what you control:
- Platforms with your company email domain (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Zoho) usually let your administrator recover or reassign accounts.
- Vendor support can often transfer an account to the company that pays for it, if you can show invoices or domain ownership.
- Rebuild only what matters. Not every old flow is worth saving. Document the business-critical ones first, then decide what to keep, fix or rebuild.
Once access is back, change shared passwords, remove old admins and move connections to accounts your company controls.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns automations a consultant builds for my business?
It depends on the accounts and the contract. If the automations run in accounts in your company's name and the contract assigns the work to you, you own them. If they run in the consultant's account, you effectively rent them until they're moved.
Can a consultant keep my workflows in their own Zapier or Make account?
They can, but it isn't in your interest. Ask for the workflows to be built in an account your company owns from the start, with you as administrator and the consultant as a user.
What documentation should I get after an automation project?
At minimum: what each workflow does, what triggers it, which systems and accounts it connects to, known failure points and how to fix them, and who to contact. It should be clear enough that another provider could take over.
How do I move my automations to a new provider?
Make sure the accounts are in your name, export the workflows and configuration, and share the documentation with the new provider. A good outgoing provider will walk the new one through it. Ours does, as part of our No Lock-in Pledge.
Start with automations you own from day one
Every project we take on is built in accounts in your name, documented, and handed over with full admin access, at a fixed price. If you want to talk through a workflow, or a set of flows someone else built, book a free 30-minute discovery call.