Cloud Provider Lock-In Audit

Single-cloud is a fine strategy. Unpriced lock-in is a negotiating position, and not yours.

This audit isn’t multi-cloud advocacy. Running everything on one provider is usually right for an SME. The point is knowing what leaving would cost, because that number shapes renewals, architecture choices and acquisition due diligence whether you know it or not.

The afternoon checklist:

1. Proprietary service inventory. List every managed service and mark which have an open-standard equivalent you could move to (managed Postgres: portable; a proprietary workflow service: rewrite).
2. Egress estimate. Your data volume times the provider’s egress rate. It’s one multiplication, and it surprises almost everyone who does it.
3. Data format check. Open formats on object storage move; vendor-native storage translates to migration projects. Parquet and Iceberg earn their keep here.
4. IaC coverage. Infrastructure that exists as code can be re-pointed; infrastructure that exists as 3 years of console clicks can’t.

Score each red, amber or green. The reds are decisions, some worth keeping. Convenience has real value, and paying for it knowingly is fine.

The audit’s product is the renewal conversation, held with a number in your pocket.

Has anyone at your company ever multiplied your data volume by the egress rate?