Episode 017
What is vendor lock-in and how do you protect yourself from it?
Four types of vendor lock-in and concrete ways to spot each one early, before switching your technology provider becomes practically impossible.
Vendor lock-in is what happens when switching technology providers becomes so difficult or costly that a company stays with one against its own interest. Michał Zabielski splits it into four types, each with its own fix.
Four types of vendor dependence
- Technology dependence: a solution built on knowledge only its creator holds. The fix is demanding full documentation and written architectural decisions.
- Product dependence: typical with SaaS, when a company builds its core operations around one tool. Budget for migration costs upfront, and check for data export (CSV, JSON) and API access.
- Knowledge dependence: a company relies on one specific consultant or developer. Regular training and documentation that stays inside the organisation, not with the vendor, is the remedy.
- Decision-making dependence: a company can’t make a strategic call without an outside advisor. The cure is active participation in decisions and building internal capability.
Zabielski also debunks two myths along the way: SaaS doesn’t automatically mean lock-in, and open source doesn’t automatically prevent it. What matters is the actual contract and architecture, not the licensing label.
Not sure how dependent your B2B platform makes you on a single vendor? Get in touch with Endora for an audit.
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