Vendor lock-in comes in many forms, but in this context, it refers to situations where an organization becomes tied to a particular platform and cannot reasonably switch to another provider without significant cost or risk of data loss. This is often due not to contract terms, but to technical or operational constraints intentionally or unintentionally imposed by a vendor—resulting in difficult, expensive, or nearly impossible data migrations. We have seen this happen frequently across organizations of all sizes.
Getting Stuck in a Vendor Lock-in Situation
Typically, the process begins with a single department adopting a new platform—often one that’s unvetted or selected for its cutting-edge features. Adoption then spreads, and soon, critical knowledge and workflows are embedded deeply within the platform. A related scenario involves use of introductory cloud platform tiers—often free or low-cost—designed to encourage rapid adoption. As organizational needs evolve, vital features may only be unlocked via expensive upgrades, leaving little room to assess switching costs or alternatives. Before a proper requirements assessment or governance review occurs, a significant portion of your organization’s operations and institutional knowledge may be entrenched in a single vendor’s solution.
How Vendor Lock-in Occurs
A “what have we done?” moment often arises from incidents such as:
- A staff member’s accidental deletion exposes inadequate backup or version control capabilities.
- IT leaders discover minimal or nonexistent cloud-to-cloud backup options for the platform.
- Attempts to export comprehensive backups reveal complicated, limited, or absent functionality.
- Audits highlight non-alignment between platform capabilities and your organization’s Business Continuity or Data Retention policies.
- Limitations surface as leadership explores alternatives.
- The platform changes ownership, raising new concerns.
- Escalating costs render the platform unsustainable.
- Critical incidents undermine trust in the vendor.
- Proliferation of overlapping platforms results in confusion, collaboration friction, and wasted time searching for knowledge across systems.
These scenarios force organizations to confront just how hard it is to access and migrate their own data—a challenge often exacerbated by design.
Red Flags for Vendor Lock-in
Signs of potential lock-in include:
Limited Backup Options
A lack of robust, self-service backup options—particularly cloud-to-cloud backups—is a major warning sign. Platforms should allow for manual, full-data export and provide integration with third-party backup solutions at a reasonable cost.
Example: Filevine, a legal team platform, provides documentation for data migration into their system, but as of May 2023, lacks public guidance on creating or restoring complete organizational backups.
Limited or Incomplete Backups
Restrictions on what can be exported—such as omitting native document formats or restricting automation—are red flags.
Example: ClickUp supports user-initiated backups and one integrated third-party solution (ProBackup); however, key content types, such as ClickUp Docs, are excluded from their backup/export function.
No or Limited API Access
Having an API doesn’t guarantee data portability. Many APIs, especially in newer platforms, are incomplete or poorly documented, making full data extraction labor-intensive and costly.
Use of Proprietary Formats or Technologies
Some vendors lock data in proprietary formats not accessible via API or standard export. This limits future migration without complex or custom-built solutions.
Example: Box Notes, created in Box.com’s proprietary format, remain inaccessible via the platform’s API as of May 2023—posing considerable challenges for organizations seeking to ensure document portability.
Conclusion – What to Do Next
With the growing array of cloud platforms, it’s easy to underestimate the consequences of vendor lock-in until it becomes a business continuity threat. Even if unwinding from an entrenched platform is messy or expensive, planning your exit strategy early will reduce future risk, cost, and disruption. The complexity of technical migration and the criticality of change management only grow with deeper adoption.
At FireOak Strategies, we have yet to encounter a platform where a complete one-time data extraction was impossible—but the process is often time-consuming and requires strategic planning. Delaying action worsens the situation.
If your organization is facing vendor lock-in, it’s best to confront the challenge directly and develop a tailored exit or mitigation strategy.
Need help navigating vendor lock-in and safeguarding your organization’s knowledge and operational integrity? FireOak Strategies can help. Reach out to our team to start a conversation.
