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. When substitution would be slow during a political or supply disruption, the dependency becomes a question of digital sovereignty.

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