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With the emergence of new technologies such as Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing, vendors that use lock-in practices have become one of the main concerns for managers who hire these services.

In these circumstances, a given vendor makes a client dependent on its products or services in a way that prevents them from using services from another provider without significant switching costs.

Many companies face technological lock-in problems when they decide to develop their software using low-code platforms, without paying attention to the risks of falling into lock-in practices.

In this article, we will explain what characterizes the lock-in phenomenon and why it is dangerous for companies looking to develop custom apps and software.

In this article, you will learn about:

• ● What does lock-in mean?
• ● How does lock-in work in practice?
• ● The risks of lock-in with low-code companies
• ● What do I lose if I need to migrate to another service?
• ● 6 tips to avoid lock-in
• ● Advantages of custom app development

What does lock-in mean?

The term lock-in refers to a situation in which the consumer becomes dependent on a provider of specific products or services, so they can’t switch providers or operate without them.

In the software market, this is quite common. Companies make the switching process so difficult that it becomes almost impossible (or extremely expensive) for the client to change solutions.

Vendor lock-in generally results from proprietary technologies that are incompatible with those of competitors. In addition, this dependence can also be caused by inefficient processes or contract restrictions, among other reasons.

This situation is quite common, for example, in low-code platforms for business software development.

Often, vendors offer a service at low initial prices to attract users, but later they find ways to make customers dependent on the platform and increase profits.

For example, they can profit from the expansion and organic growth of the service in use, significantly raising service costs.

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How does lock-in work in practice?

Some low-code platforms claim that once the software (system or app) is ready, the client will be free to change services. But in practice, this change is practically impossible due to the technological dependence created by the contracted platform. That’s because, in many cases, the software is adapted for a single operating system.

Financial consequences of dependency

In addition, since a platform is a SaaS service, the customer is also at the mercy of pricing changes defined by the vendor. An example of this happened in 2017, when a developer who paid $25 monthly for FireBase services had their costs increased to $2,000 monthly overnight, without any notice. In other words, they had to deal with a 7,000% increase!

These situations happen because plans typically have usage limits. Therefore, if the customer’s business grows, the plan and costs also increase according to the rise in transactions.

Technological limitations of applications

Platforms that use proprietary scripts and languages to implement functionality can create obstacles if a change is needed in the future. After all, almost all software platforms require some level of training.

Therefore, depending on its complexity, moving away from a highly proprietary solution will result in a costly re-learning effort.

This technological and financial lock-in is especially bad for companies that want to build more complex and well-designed digital products.

Imagine you start with a small app project, spending little on the platform. However, as your app succeeds, you decide to add more complex features to it. In that case, the platform may charge exorbitant amounts for you to access more resources.

And besides getting expensive, it most likely won’t be able to support the development of a more complex project.

Difficulty migrating to the cloud

Fear of lock-in is also often cited as a major impediment to adopting cloud services. The complexities of migrating services in the cloud make many customers remain with a provider that does not meet their needs, just to avoid the complicated switching process.

Lack of compatibility between platforms

When changing platforms, exporting and reimporting projects is also a difficult and tedious task that requires copying and pasting code, making the process time-consuming and prone to errors.

In addition, data may have been altered for compatibility with the original provider’s system. In those cases, what is returned to the customer needs to be reverted to its previous state before it can be moved again.

The risks of lock-in with low-code companies

A low-code development platform provides an environment that can be used to create application software through graphical user interfaces and configuration, instead of traditional text-based coding.

This means that your software won’t work unless you pay for licenses to use that platform.

The reality is that, in many cases, the promise of freedom and flexibility for your company to grow in a scalable and organic way is not fulfilled by the platforms.

Often, providers start to “trap” their customers in contractual clauses and development requirements that prevent them from migrating to another provider.

Some platforms even allow you to keep the application running without paying so you can continue using it, but then it is no longer possible to develop applications in it.

In other cases, they admit that you can access the code, but then you will need to make it work again on a proper server—which, in practice, is almost impossible.

Imagine, for example, that an integration needs to be adjusted, or that something is wrong with the application data. In those cases, how will your management team intervene?

To get around these problems, you will likely have to pay an exorbitant amount to keep using the platform, even if you rarely need it. Or you will have to bear huge costs to relaunch your code (if that’s possible at all).

>> Custom software: 5 advantages for your company

What do I lose if I need to migrate to another service?

Very often, customers of low-code platforms with a SaaS (Software as a Service) model need to bear substantial costs to switch between different software systems.

This creates a situation of codependency, forcing them to continue using the products and services of a given vendor.

You can be locked into a platform in several ways, either by proprietary services at the application level or due to control of associated access rights. But those are not the only problems.

When you are locked in, you depend exclusively on your vendor to drive innovation, and the technology in use can be frozen—or removed completely.

In some cases, the hiring company may also lose very important information during this change, such as customers’ credit card data and login information. In addition, the service can simply be interrupted if the low-code platform stops working.

The false promise of portability

Even though platforms advertise that it is possible to choose the infrastructure to run the low-code application, this portability is usually not possible.

Therefore, customers end up tied to that vendor. A code-built application, on the other hand, provides freedom to port the application to other infrastructures.

In addition, the developer can become restricted—either because their code was blocked, their version became outdated, or because they need to pay more to access other APIs and features.

Another problem is that the platform can abandon software versions, forcing you to restructure your project or redo your work plan.

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6 tips to avoid lock-in

Although completely avoiding technological lock-in is practically impossible when using SaaS services, some precautions can be taken to help reduce its severity.

This way, you will be able to reduce the time, cost, and risk impact if you later decide to change platforms or replace a service.

The best way to avoid lock-in is to choose your vendor very carefully. Does the platform allow you to run applications in the infrastructure of your choice, whether on-premises, private, or in the cloud? Does it offer enough flexibility to allow your applications to grow in a scalable way, without forcing you to bear exorbitant costs later?

Below are some tips to avoid vendor lock-in.

1) Pay attention to platform policies

Read each provider’s usage policies carefully and, if necessary, ask directly how it facilitates moving data out of its storage repository.

You need to know whether applications created on the platform are autonomous or require a subscription to run. Ideally, you want to create applications that run without tool dependencies, to ensure they work even if you move away from the platform.

2) Know how to move the data

Ask the provider whether it offers tools or data migration services to facilitate moving large amounts of data. Remember that the best time to create an exit strategy is before signing an initial service contract with the chosen provider.

3) Update before migrating

Review how up to date your current technology is. If your IT workloads are designed to operate on legacy technologies, your choice of low-code platforms and cloud infrastructure will likely be limited.

If your applications are compatible only with a limited set of technologies, it may be best to consider updating or reworking significant parts of them before migrating.

Creating flexible, portable applications also helps avoid getting locked in. After all, if you develop a business-critical application whose core functionality depends on a platform-specific feature, you will end up tied to that service provider.

In addition, if your applications and IT workloads only work with legacy technologies that are supported by some cloud vendors, your future requirements to scale the service to an expanding user base can generate a high financial cost or technical challenges.

4) Assess the costs involved

Transferring data from one service to another—if you remain with the same vendor—is generally free. But when migrating to a competitor service, this migration is usually charged excessively.

Therefore, evaluate these costs before migrating, and also consider future requirements for scaling services on other platforms or in cloud services.

5) Educate stakeholders

Training and stakeholder engagement are essential to understand the risks of lock-in. Technology teams must be aware of the business implications of their technical decision choices.

A functional solution in the form of applications, IT workloads, or computing architecture must be aligned with business requirements and risks.

Advantages of custom app development

The good news is that your company doesn’t need to be at the mercy of lock-in practices. After all, software designed to avoid lock-in has identifiable characteristics such as portability.

A flexible solution will generally be built with a programming language that supports easy integration with any adjacent software in your environment. It will also offer extensions that can be coded using familiar languages such as JavaScript, CSS, or HTML.

These softwares can be executed on several operating systems, either on-premises or in any cloud provider, to accommodate constantly changing business needs.

The main advantage of working with custom apps is the possibility of creating a personalized solution that matches the unique processes, operations, and needs of your company.

To choose the best application development option for your business, it is important to rely on the help of a team of specialists.

Don’t get locked into a low-code solution! Develop your app with X-Apps and have full control of your software.

Talk to one of our specialists here.

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