Exporting your data: the test of real ownership
You only truly own your data if you can get it out. Try the export before you need it, because that's when you'll learn the truth.
Companies assume the data in their tools is theirs. Legally, often yes. Practically, ownership means being able to get it out — in a usable form, completely, without heroics. The export function is where that assumption gets tested, and many tools fail it quietly.
Trapped data isn't owned data
If your data only exists inside a vendor's system, in a format only that system reads, with no clean way to extract it, you don't fully control it. You're dependent on that vendor's continued existence, pricing, and goodwill. The data is yours in name and theirs in practice.
Test the export early
Don't wait until you're trying to leave a tool to discover the export is broken, partial, or useless. Try it early, while you're happy with the tool and not under pressure. Knowing you can get your data out — and in what shape — is what makes ownership real rather than theoretical.
You own your data only as far as you can export it. Test that before the day you actually need to.