economics//vendor lock-in

Vendor lock-in is the cost of leaving a supplier after systems, data, skills and operational processes have adapted to its products. Lock-in can be contractual, technical, economic or cognitive.

Vendor lock-in is the cost of leaving a supplier after systems, data, skills and operational processes have adapted to its products. Lock-in can be contractual, technical, economic or cognitive.

Using a vendor is not itself a mistake. Specialized managed services can create enormous value. The useful discipline is to price the exit path: data export, API replacement, behavior differences, retraining, downtime and organizational knowledge. Portability that nobody has tested is optimism stored as architecture.

The first integration is priced by the vendor. The second is priced by everything you coupled to the first.