What is Vendor Lock-in and how can it be avoided?

Where Dependency Really Arises

Not primarily in the source code. More common causes:

• No access to the repository. The code is with the service provider, you have never looked inside.
• No environment documentation. The code alone is useless if no one knows how it is delivered and operated.
• Access credentials only with the service provider. Domain, server, certificates, service accounts.
• No data export. Your data is in a database you cannot access.
• Only one person knows the system – on both sides.

Five Measures That Work

1. Repository Access from Day One

Not at project end. A read access account costs nothing and changes everything.

2. Access credentials in your possession

Domain, hosting account and certificates should be assigned to your company, even if the service provider manages them.

3. Operational documentation as deliverable

How is it delivered, what dependencies exist, what does a backup look like, how is a rollback performed? This belongs in the contract, not in hope.

4. Regular data export

An export format readable without the application. Try once annually.

5. Common technologies

An application in widely used technologies can be taken over by any qualified service provider. An exotic tech stack makes you dependent on the few people who master it.

The Honest Assessment

Some dependency cannot be avoided – whoever built a system knows it best. The goal is not absolute independence, but that a switch remains possible. This possibility alone changes the dynamics.