But is that perception still warranted? Are the principles still
the same? The simple answer is: times have changed, and
vendor lock-in is no longer an unqualified really bad thing.
In fact, there are often many benefits to getting over the
fear of vendor lock-in. vendors: AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
IBM remains a distant fourth with an unlikely prospect of
improving that position, and despite Larry Ellison’s conten-
tions, Oracle is too late, too desperate and pitching an
incomplete platform.
Here’s a look at some leftover vendor lock-in myths. At this point, the three public cloud leaders are run by huge,
profitable companies, with growth curves over the last few
years that are the envy of any corporation, in a market that
is not even close to approaching saturation. The weaker
players have already gone by the wayside. While of course
there are no guarantees about what will happen over the
long term, it would be difficult to identify market segment
leaders in any other industry with better prospects for the
future.
Myth #1: Avoiding vendor lock-in is
more important than native features
and services
It is understandable that no company wants their choice of
vendors restricted unnecessarily. Because vendor lock-in
makes changing vendors more difficult, this is indeed a
restriction, but importantly, only in one area. The choice of
vendor for technology solutions is a multifaceted decision.
Features, cost, stability, product roadmap, level of service
— all these come into play. If one vendor offers superior
value in features, pricing or other areas, but locks in the cus-
tomer (i.e., makes moving to another vendor more difficult),
while the inferior offering is less difficult to escape, should
the customer settle for the inferior option? The truth is,
ease of switching vendors in the future is just one of many
factors to consider when selecting technology solutions.
Myth #2: Vendor lock-in is a big reason
to avoid moving to public cloud
We often see companies bring up vendor lock-in concerns
in discussions about an upcoming move to cloud. After
security issues, this is perhaps the most common issue
raised. Let’s address some typical concerns.
What if the cloud vendor goes out of (or gets out
of) the cloud business?
At one point in time, this was a reasonable concern. In the
early stages of the cloud wars, many companies (ex. HPE,
Cisco, Verizon, Rackspace and others) thought they could
get in on the public cloud gold rush. The reality is, very few
companies possessed the combination of scale, expertise
and capital necessary to go up against AWS, who created
the industry. As a result, most players were washed out
quickly, leaving three viable, general purpose public cloud
76 | THE DOPPLER |
WINTER 2019
What if the cloud vendor raises prices?
Although we hear this often, it’s usually more of a red her-
ring than a real concern. First, the overarching strategic
direction of an enterprise is not typically based on the risk
of a couple of percentage points of vendor cost. Second, the
possibility of cloud vendors raising prices is so unlikely in
the foreseeable future that it represents an exceedingly
small risk. While there is some discussion about which of the
three primary cloud vendors is dropping prices the most, in
which categories, by what amounts and over what periods
of time, the reality is: the cost of cloud computing resources
has never risen, and the trend has always been and contin-
ues to be downward. The fact that there are three solid pro-
viders, with no one in a monopoly position, ensures that all
will continue to minimize prices for competitive reasons for
a long time to come.
What if they fail to provide services that meet
my needs?
Here again, competitive pressures help minimize the risk.
Innovation has always been a cornerstone of AWS, which
continues to add new features and services at a breathtak-
ing rate. Google and Azure are well aware of AWS’s market
leading position and are thus constantly developing their
offerings to better compete. It is fair to say the public cloud
is one of most innovative segments of the entire tech
industry.