The EU Data Act provisions covering cloud services have officially come into force, originally in January 2024, but strengthened by recent provisions, requiring cloud providers to make it easier for customers to switch vendors. While this directly addresses issues to mandate easier data portability, CIOs need to embrace this or continue to be trapped by vendor lock-in IT concerns.
In 2025, research has shown that the advent of AI has caused computing costs to increase, despite slowed cloud inflation. For businesses and MSPs alike, addressing a multi-cloud, multi-vendor strategy to bring out flexible cloud solutions that suit business goals first should be considered.
Mark Appleton, Group Lead Vendor Ecosystem Development at ALSO Group advises that SMEs need to be even more aware of how it can impact business agility, commenting:
“Agility is the single greatest advantage SMEs possess. For modern business markets, moving fast and adapting to new technologies while maintaining cost control requires precision. Vendor lock-in places hurdles on that agility, so whenever an organisation commits its entire operation to a singular cloud ecosystem, it limits both innovation and budget solely with that particular vendor. This can quickly lead to runaway costs and a lack of freedom to use best-in-class tools from other providers, thus stunting growth through not having the best tools for your business goals.”
Appleton continues, “It’s often perceived that large hyperscalers position their one-stop-shop ecosystems as less expensive, but this is a misconception. The simplicity of an all-vendor ecosystem is at the cost of long-term shortfalls, making SMEs reliant on cost creep as they lack simpler alternatives. In essence, you’re accepting what’s good enough for your security or data backup systems, instead of being able to choose a custom tool that performs better or is at a better price.
“The better alternative for SMEs is to circumvent pre-packed bundling and work alongside its IT partner to select the best cloud software solutions. In essence, it prevents single vendor restrictions and instead builds a modular technology stack. Giving SMEs the freedom to mix and match software solutions creates a customised approach that can more directly serve their specific needs and goals.”
“A cloud platform acts as your central hub for MSP partners, allowing easier provision, management and billing consolidation across different vendors. This means their SME clients receive the efficiency of a single point of management focus, but also the flexibility of a multi-cloud, multi-vendor strategy. The cloud distributor handles the complexity; its partners focus on delivering client-first value.
“SMEs need a reseller that can also act as a trusted advisor, utilising cloud marketplaces to build out specialised solutions that differentiate businesses from competition. Greater white-label capabilities mean that MSPs can brand the entire marketplace as their own, giving their customers greater brand authenticity.
Appleton concludes, “It’s important for SMEs to ask themselves whether their current cloud strategy is enabling business goals or keeping them a captive customer. Likewise, MSPs need to look beyond reselling and shift towards the role of a strategic supporter.
“Through this thinking, it helps interrogate the idea of IT being just a single ecosystem, but rather something flexible and connected through multi-vendor solutions. Embracing this flexibility is key to controlling costs, building future-proof enterprises and driving innovation through enabling business goals directly.”
