Vendor lock-in is only one factor to consider when making
choices about technology strategy and architecture. For
the reasons described above, emphasizing the vendor
lock-in risk beyond its rightful place will warp the deci-
sion-making process, leading to the loss of agility, opera-
tional efficiency and competitive advantage. Remember the
following:
• Migrating workloads and data from one public cloud
to another will take effort, depending on which and
how many native services the workload leverages,
but it is generally far easier to move the workload
from one public cloud to another public cloud than
the modernization you went through when you
migrated it from your own data center.
• Betting big on a single platform enables you to nego-
tiate the best deal. Since platform discounts (not to
mention incentives to help pay for your migration)
depends on how much funding you are willing to
commit to the cloud platform vendor. Going big with
one vendor can help you maximize your leverage in
the negotiation.
• Cloud transformation is not for the faint of heart. It
represents a dramatic change to the way you do
things. A better way, for sure, but very different. This
means people need to change and that can represent
a massive challenge to large, complex IT organiza-
tions who are already challenged to "keep the lights
on." Please do not underestimate the added complex-
ity of managing different public cloud operating envi-
ronments within an organizational change context.
• Unique and differentiating capabilities and features
are among the primary reasons to choose a vendor.
Ignoring those features simply to avoid vendor
lock-in reduces the compelling value of moving to the
public cloud in the first place.
Bottom line: Don’t be paralyzed by fear of vendor lock-in.
Armed with a clear-eyed view of the actual risks — and
even benefits — of vendor lock-in, enterprises can make
better choices. After all, that's the reason you're reading
this article, right?
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