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Field guide

Give every business app an owner

Account ownership is an operating responsibility, not just an IT detail.

Separate the roles

The person who uses an app most, the person who pays for it, and the person who can recover the account may be different people. Record all three when they are different.

The business should not depend on a former employee, contractor, or personal email address to reset a critical account.

Write a small owner card

For each important app, record the purpose, primary owner, backup owner, billing contact, admin email, recovery method, connected systems, and next review date.

Keep the record where an authorized owner can find it during an absence. Do not put passwords in the inventory.

Use departures as a test

When someone leaves, review access, connected personal devices, shared files, notification routing, and ownership of recurring tasks. Do this promptly, not at the next annual cleanup.

If the business cannot safely change access without guessing, the app is not owned well enough yet.