Vendor lock-in. The term is inherently ominous, and a broad definition isn’t much cheerier. They both suggest limited or lost freedom. To determine whether that perception is warranted in the database software industry — and if so, how to avoid vendor lock-in pitfalls — let’s dig deeper.

First, here’s a broad and common definition: Vendor lock-in means having to rely on one company for a product or service because switching to other options would be too costly in terms of money and interruption in business operations.

And here’s an example (keeping it light, for now):

Imagine there’s a food truck outside your office. (For the purpose of this story, you must physically work at that office.) The food at Joyously Junky is amazing — oh those burgers and milkshakes! To eat there, you had to sign an exclusivity contract. No problem, you thought at the time; you need lunch every day, and the food satisfies your hunger. Besides, when you signed the contract, you got that awesome deal: The more you eat, the more you save.* 

 

After a few weeks of eating there, your doctor and your waistline suggest you choose other eating options. 

 

Fortunately, there’s a new truck on the block, Haven of Health, with the food that’s right for you. Unfortunately, you’re bound by the exclusivity contract, and you must continue eating food that you don’t need. In fact, it’s hurting your body’s (and mind’s) ability to perform at peak levels. What’s more, Joyously Junky has raised its prices. You examine the fine print, and switching to another food truck or bringing a sack lunch will cost you dearly, so much that you’ll have to skip breakfast and dinner every day just so you can afford lunch. You started out loving the immediate satisfaction of Joyously Junky’s food, and that policy — “the more you eat, the more you save” — was awesome at first. Now, you need something different. But you’re stuck.

 

* Offer good for the first month only.

At stake: Freedom to innovate, scale, and explore new options

More specifically (and not-so-lightly), the term “vendor lock-in” pertaining to database software can conjure up perceptions of limited and lost freedoms — including the freedom to innovate, to scale, and, ultimately, to explore new options for building performant database environments. Vendor lock-in related to database software also conjures up perceptions of financial losses brought on by escalating licensing fees. 

Before going any further, it’s fair to ask: When concerns like that arise, why not just switch? Here’s why: Switching from proprietary software can seem, and actually be, prohibitively expensive. So, some companies just suck it up and tolerate the “locked-in” feeling. The cycle of loss, perceived or real, or both, can be hard to escape.

Initial upside of proprietary software, but then …

It’s understandable why proprietary software can be attractive and vendor lock-in can seem tolerable. When there’s an innovative way of solving a specific problem — with no alternatives on the market — vendor lock-in can seem more like a solution than a potential problem. Initially, at least, the upside can include:

  • The ease and assurance of having a single contact for a variety of needs
  • Cost reductions in which the more you buy, the bigger the discount
  • A simplified database environment with all components working together
  • Reduced pressure to expand expertise, as fewer technologies are available

Proprietary software can indeed be beneficial for addressing immediate and/or focused database concerns. You might use the vendor to solve a problem, probably with good reason. But over time, you can become more dependent on the vendor as the vendor’s technology becomes a fixture in your technology stack, and your operations depend on it. The aforementioned switch would be too costly, too hassle-filled, or both. The relationship began with a solution; now, it’s about dependency.

In a single-vendor relationship cemented with proprietary software, your fate can become tied to the vendor’s, making you susceptible to:

  • Price hikes, often through arbitrary changes in licensing and support fees 
  • Paying for bundled technology you don’t need
  • Inability to change software and infrastructure to meet evolving business needs
  • Inability to scale your business, up or down
  • Being stuck with software that benefits the vendor and not your company
  • Missing out on technological advances and transformational features or trends

Additionally, with proprietary software, there can be drawbacks related to certifications. When an organization deploys software in a proprietary arrangement, the vendor might certify it only against a specific database or set of databases. The organization’s apps, therefore, must run on one particular server.

Avoid lock-in traps by reading the fine print

An obvious starting point to avoiding vendor lock-in is research. Before entering a business relationship with a database vendor, read the fine print, and read it again. And yes, it’ll pay to have legal involved, reading and interpreting with you and for you. 

Consider whether there’s any indication that the vendor will try to create a dependency on its own ecosystem. Ask and dig about whether migrating to innovations and upgrades will be an issue.

It’s your data, not theirs. Will you be able to move it freely among different applications, environments, and cloud services? Ask about data portability.

Avoid cloud jailers by going multi-cloud or hybrid

Speaking of cloud services, defining the cloud as an inherently fluffy and safe place for databases is generally not accurate. It can be safe, but it’s not inherently safe, nor is your wallet. Whereas cloud providers initially tended to offer commoditized Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), many now push proprietary services that exist only on their cloud. The perception can be that the services are superior to those of competitors and superior to open source offerings. 

It can be perilous to view cloud vendors as less likely to lock you in. Companies seeking cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and freedom from vendor lock-in can instead find themselves tied to cloud vendors via a single solution. This can result in painful monthly costs, and cloud providers can charge extremely high egress fees — potentially thousands of dollars per transfer. It depends on the pricing tier and where you transfer your data (e.g., across the Internet or AWS Regions, through AWS Availability Zones, to your on-premises data center, etc.).

 

eBook: The High Cost of Vendor Lock-in

 

Companies can wisely and successfully use multi-cloud and hybrid options to help avoid cloud vendor lock-in. The multi-cloud and hybrid strategies also are effective means of achieving data portability and avoiding data gravity. Whatever the reasons, more organizations are using such strategies. An S&P Global Marketing Intelligence report showed that 76% of companies are adopting multi-cloud and hybrid cloud approaches. 

Enterprise-grade features without vendor lock-in

There’s a myth that associates “enterprise-grade” with proprietary software only. Consequently, some organizations might not even consider using open source software, or they’ll quickly dismiss it because of a perceived lack of expertise, support, etc. That misperception is an unearned win for proprietary software, and it can be the first step to vendor lock-in.

The truth is: You can have enterprise-grade open source software with the support of a global community and without vendor lock-in. But again, do your research. The search can be challenging, but vendors who provide true enterprise-grade open source software do exist. We hope you consider Percona. If you do, we’ll help you say goodbye to vendor lock-in. Here’s how we do it:

  • We support the most popular open source databases on all the most popular platforms — we have no personal agenda when it comes to your choice of technology.
  • We are technology-agnostic — we help you pick the database, platform, and solution that best suits your needs, without bias.
  • We don’t believe you should be paying for features that you don’t need or want — our software is 100% free and open source.
  • We are against vendor lock-in — we work hard to ensure our software is compatible with upstream open source versions and includes free enterprise features. If you want to move, we give you an easy pathway back to the Community software version.
  • Our dedicated consulting team has extensive experience helping companies with complex database setups migrate from proprietary vendors to open source software — contact us to find out more.

 

Watch: 5 Ways Open Source Software and Support Can Help You Optimize Costs

 

Contact Percona for Consulting Services

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