Which concept describes being dependent on a vendor's products or services with high switching costs?

Which concept describes being dependent on a vendor's products or services with high switching costs?

• A. Vendor Lock-out
• B. Application Transfer Risk
• C. Modules
• D. Vendor Lock-in

Answer: (D)

Vendor lock-in describes a situation where an organization becomes dependent on a vendor's products or services because switching away would be costly or difficult. This happens when the vendor uses proprietary data formats, non-interoperable interfaces, or tightly integrated ecosystems, making migration complex. The high switching costs—data migration, retraining staff, reconfiguring workflows, and potential downtime—bind the organization to the vendor and reduce flexibility. This exactly matches being dependent on a vendor with high switching costs. Other terms describe different situations (being blocked from a vendor, risks around moving applications, or generic components) and don’t capture the dependency with costly migration.