Freedom of data: why software lock-in is officially over

From lock-in to choice

There was a time when switching accounting software felt like a punishment. Lose years of financial history. Spend days re-entering data. Accept the pain or stay put. According to Aston Byfield, CEO of Dataswitcher, that time is done. “Lock-in was never a fair way to keep customers,” he says. “It existed because there simply weren’t good alternatives. The friction became the strategy. That doesn’t hold up anymore.”

Lock-in is the old game

For years, many software vendors relied on high exit barriers to retain customers. Once you picked a platform, you were in for life. Not because it was the best choice, but because leaving was too expensive, risky, or time-consuming. Switching meant:

• Manual migrations that took days

• Partial or lost historical data

• Disruption that outweighed any potential benefit
  

“That kind of lock-in feels very old school,” Aston explains. “You control your data. You should be able to decide what system you’re on.”

What Changed? Everything. The market moved on, and fast.

SaaS rewrote the rulesSubscription models reward satisfaction, not captivity. Retention now comes from value, not friction.

APIs beat isolationModern platforms win by being connected. The stronger the ecosystem, the more useful the software becomes.

Competition forced innovationWhen customers can leave easily, vendors must earn loyalty. That means: better features, faster development and real progress.

“The landscape today is wildly different from 10 or 15 years ago,” Aston says. “We’ve never had better accounting tools than we do right now.”

The hidden cost of staying putIronically, staying with outdated software often costs more than switching.

Businesses miss out on: modern automation, cloud accessibility, advanced reporting and integrated apps and insights. “Not switching can actively hold businesses back,” Aston notes. “Especially now, when technology is moving so fast.”

Freedom makes software better

When lock-in disappears, quality goes up across the board. Accounting firms can finally standardise their tech stacks. Businesses can choose the tools that fit them today, not the ones they inherited years ago. Instead of adapting to the software, the software adapts to them.

The new reality

Data freedom isn’t a trend. It’s the baseline. Software vendors that still rely on lock-in are playing yesterday’s game. The future belongs to platforms that compete on speed, accuracy, openness, and trust. As Aston puts it: “Keeping customers because they can’t leave is no longer viable. Keeping them because they want to stay, that’s where the market is now.”