Vendor Lock-In

A condition in which a customer becomes dependent on a specific vendor’s products, services, or technical standards such that switching to an alternative entails substantial economic, technical, contractual, or organizational costs—causing the vendor to obtain durable control over future terms of supply or service.

Dependence on proprietary vendor technologies, formats, service interfaces, contractual terms, or operational ecosystems that materially impedes an organisation’s ability to change providers, extract and reuse content, or exercise independent long‑term preservation and access strategies without significant cost or capability loss.