In this episode of Beneficial Intelligence, I discuss exit strategies. History is full of examples of powerful countries that started military adventures without having an exit strategy. 

Commercial relationships also need an exit strategy. If you are running standard on-premise systems, moving away to another vendor is manageable, but if you are using specialized features that only one vendor offers, your exit is going to be expensive and difficult. This is even worse in the cloud where each vendor has specific strengths and their own way of doing things. 

The exit cost is part of the total cost of ownership, and you need to calculate upfront what it will cost you to get out again. 

------

Beneficial Intelligence is a weekly podcast with stories and pragmatic advice for CIOs and other IT leaders. To get in touch, please contact me at [email protected]