Addressing Vendor Lock-In in SaaS: Risks, Implications, and Modern Strategies
Goutham Sabbani · International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) · 2022
In 2016, one of the primary cloud provider?s outages affected over 150,000 websites, resulting in a loss of $150 million in a single day. This example shows the main risks associated with vendor lock-in in SaaS, where companies are bound to a single provider, impacting flexibility and costs [2]. Historically, software procurement involved substantial single-time investments, restricting accessibility and flexibility. The arrival of SaaS offered a scalable, subscription-based model yet launched the barrier of vendor lock-in. This issue has prompted the enhancement of strategies to ensure greater customer control and interoperability. This paper will delve into the evolution of vendor lock-in, its potential risks and implications, and modern strategies to reduce these barriers. It will examine industry practices, technological developments, and policy recommendations to develop flexibility and mitigate single SaaS providers.