Vendor Lock-in

Vendor lock-in is the condition in which switching from a technology vendor to a competitor becomes prohibitively expensive due to accumulated switching costs—data format dependencies, customization re-implementation costs, process adaptation costs, and integration re-engineering costs. In PLM, lock-in is particularly severe because it operates at three simultaneous levels: data (proprietary formats), customization (vendor-specific scripting), and process (organizational workflows adapted to the specific platform's behavior). Lock-in grows with every year of operation and is systematically underweighted in initial selection decisions.