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The hidden cost of IT dependency: What your suppliers aren't telling you
You know the drill: another price increase from Microsoft. And yes, of course you're going to pay it. Because what's your alternative? The Dutch government knows that feeling - and is fed up with it. Last week, the Netherlands joined the OpenDesk initiative, as did Germany and France. The goal? Finally breaking free from the stranglehold of Big Tech.
Because let's face it: we have become addicted. To Microsoft, to SAP, to Salesforce. To all those vendors who first seduce with ease of use and integrations, only to tighten the thumbscrews later on. The government has had enough - but what about you?
Just a reality check: When was the last time you said “no” to a vendor? How often do you nod yes to a price increase because switching is “too complex”? And how many of your critical business processes are now completely dependent on external parties?
It's time for a wake-up call. Because every day you don't act, your suppliers' grip gets stronger. Whether it's that big American tech giant or that small local specialist: they all have the same goal. Making you as dependent on their services as possible.
No soft talk about “partnership” and “strategic collaboration” in this blog. Well: a rock-hard analysis of your supplier risks. And above all: concrete steps to take back the power.
Break Free: Or continue to obediently pay your IT suppliers
Just a simple calculation: add up how much your IT budget goes to recurring licenses each year. Are you shocked? That's just the tip of the iceberg. Because the real costs are hidden in that seemingly small print.
Take that “small” 20%-40% price increase that Microsoft announced in November. Or the favorable enterprise contracts they are no longer going to renew. “Market-based adjustment,” they neatly call it. You know better: they can get away with it because you can't leave anyway. After all, the cost of rebuilding your entire IT landscape is much higher still. And they know that.
Or how about those “optional” modules you suddenly need because basic functionality is being stripped out? That 'premium support' that becomes indispensable as standard service becomes increasingly sparse? It's the oldest trick in the book: get you hooked first, then cash in.
The pain isn't just in your wallet. That vendor lock-in also eats away at your innovation power. Because every dollar you spend on forced license upgrades is one you cannot invest in real innovation. In projects that do add value to your business.
But the most costly? That's the illusion of powerlessness. The idea that you have no other options. Because even if switching is more expensive in the short term - what's your long term cost of remaining trapped in a toxic supplier relationship?
Too critical to fail, too complex to replace
Imagine this: you wake up and your primary supplier has pulled the plug. No warning, no transition. Just: boom, offline. Impossible? Just ask those thousands of companies who were suddenly without working cloud services in the latest Azure outage. Or to organizations held hostage by a hack at their SaaS provider.
“But we have backup systems for that!” Really, when was the last time you tested whether your organization could still function without your critical suppliers? If the answer is more than a month ago, you don't have a plan B - you have a fairy tale.
The truth is even more painful: many organizations don't even know exactly how their suppliers are all intertwined anymore. That “simple” CRM tool? Which suddenly turns out to also handle your invoicing. That “standalone” scheduling system? Is connected by invisible wires to five other applications. One tug on the wrong string and your entire digital house of cards collapses.
And it only gets worse. Because each new integration, each additional module, each “convenient” link makes you a little more dependent. Your vendors call it 'synergy.' You should call it 'digital chains'.
The real question is not if this dependency is going to break you up, but when. Because in a world where cyber threats and technical failures are the order of the day, blind reliance on your suppliers is not a strategy - it's Russian roulette with your business continuity.
Who is actually responsible if your supplier fails?
You'll probably sleep peacefully on it: all those beautiful processing agreements, those watertight SLAs, those reassuring words from your vendors about security and compliance. Until you realize that all that paper reality evaporates in one swift swoop when things go wrong. Because guess who will be in court then? Not your supplier.
“But we're with a large party, they have their security in order.” Oh yeah, just ask those dozens of organizations that were down during the last ransomware attack on a “trusted” cloud provider. Or to those companies that lost their data because their “stable” provider suddenly went out of business. When was the last time you checked where your critical data really resides?
The painful truth: you depend not only on your own suppliers, but also on their suppliers. And on the suppliers of those suppliers. A digital chain of dominoes, where you don't even know how many more bricks can fall. But you are responsible if they fall over.
Not to mention those new privacy laws. Or those updated compliance requirements. Or those tightened security standards. Because guess who will lose out if your supplier “needs a little more time” to comply? Exactly: you.
The riskiest thing? That false sense of security. That idea that big suppliers know what they're doing. Because when the regulator shows up on your doorstep later, there is only one party that will get the fine. And that's not your supplier.
Caught in the Cloud: How Big Tech is hijacking your digital supply chain
Think you finally have a grip on your suppliers? Welcome to the cloud - where dependency is taken to a whole new level. Because not just your software, but your entire infrastructure is now in the hands of Big Tech. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud: they sell you freedom, but deliver a digital anklet.
“But the cloud is flexible, right?” We know that sales pitch. Until you realize that your entire digital supply chain now runs on one tech giant's servers. Your applications, your data, your computing power, your storage - everything. And switching? That's like planning a move while your house is on fire.
The reality gets even bleaker: your traditional vendors are pushing you further and further into the cloud. “Cloud-first,” they happily call it. What they don't tell you: that often means “Azure-only” or “AWS-exclusive.” After all, why would a vendor optimize its software for multiple clouds if it already has you in its ecosystem anyway?
And then those resources. Try explaining to your customers that your service is down because your cloud provider “currently has no capacity in your region.” Or that your prices have to go up because your cloud provider is once again adjusting their rates. Because one thing is certain: in the cloud, you don't just pay for what you use - you pay for what they choose to make available.
The most insidious thing? The rate at which this dependency grows. Every new cloud-native service, every “serverless” feature, every “managed” service is yet another chain you snap into the ecosystem of Big Tech. And before you know it, your “multi-cloud strategy” has become an expensive synonym for “vendor lock-in in triplicate".
Multi-cloud: The expensive illusion of choice
“Go for multi-cloud!” the consultants shout. “Spread your risks!” But let's face it: it's like choosing between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Yes, they are different brands. But it's still a brown soda that keeps getting more expensive.
Just look at the price increases: when AWS raises its prices, Azure and Google Cloud follow like meek sheep. “Market-based adjustments,” they neatly call it. We just call that cartel formation 2.0. After all, why compete as Big Tech when you can also milk the market together?
And those “unique” services that every cloud boasts about? In no time, competitors are copying them. Azure launches a new AI service? A month later, AWS “happens” to have something similar. Google Cloud comes out with an innovative database? Next thing you know, Microsoft has a “completely proprietary development” that looks suspiciously like Google's.
The result? You pay through the nose to manage different clouds while fundamentally running into the same problems. Because whether you're in one cloud or three: you remain trapped in Big Tech's ecosystem. The only difference? You now have three times as many management costs, three times as much complexity, and three times as many vendors all moving in the same direction.
The painful truth: multicloud is not a strategy against vendor lock-in. It's an expensive way to fool yourself with an illusion of choice. After all, all those different flavors ultimately come from the same factory.
Stop paying blindly for resources you don't use
You know it's happening. Somewhere in your cloud, resources are running that no one cares about anymore. Virtual machines that were once turned on for a test. Databases that are still on premium while barely being used. Storage accounts full of data that no one needs anymore.
And cloud resources are only getting more expensive.
But exactly how much money are you throwing away? That becomes painfully clear with our Cloud Cost Audit. Within one week, we expose where your cloud dollars are evaporating. No vague analyses or long reports, but hard data on which resources you can immediately scale down or turn off.
We compare your current cloud spend with actual usage. Resources that are too heavy? Databases costing more than necessary? Unused virtual machines quietly eating up your budget? We find them. And more importantly, we show you what you can do about it.
Do you also want to stop throwing away cloud budgets? Then schedule a 30-minute no-obligation consultation now. In that half hour, I'll show you how we can get your cloud costs back under control within a week.
Because one thing is for sure: every day you wait is a day you pay needlessly.