While vendor lock in has always been taken very seriously particularly in the manufacturing industry with most business's having strict procurement processes to ensure that they have alternative suppliers, this is often overlooked where software is concerned.

And when dealing with an ERP system, this is an almost impossible goal unless your ERP is spreadsheets. The level of lock in and the costs vary widely but there are different strategies with different upside and downsides, but here is a quick-and-dirty overview.

Commercial Solution from a Platform Vendor

This usually not only locks you in to your ERP vendor but forces you to purchase other products from the vendor or partners to take full advantage of its features and only the vendor and partners can fix and enhance the platform. Very deep and wide lock in, but wide and deep level of functionality with extensive collections of add-ons from partners and ISV's. Appropriate for larger complex business's with specialized processes and who want a brand name behind their ERP one stop shop.

Commercial Solution from a Pure ERP Vendor

This locks you in to the ERP vendor and may lock you in the selected underlying technologies and products such as the database and operating systems, and/or solutions from third parties to take full advantage of its features and only the vendor can fix and enhance the platform. Not as deep a level of lock in and the widest and deepest level of functionality which also goes for partner/ISV ad-ons. Appropriate for larger complex business's with specialized processes and who want a brand name behind their ERP but not a one stop shop.

Free Proprietary Solution

This locks you in, but it's free so they cannot hold you at ransom and raise licensing costs to pay out bigger bonuses to the executives and make stock markets happy. They maybe bound to specific commercial technologies such as databases and operating systems and again and only the vendor can fix and enhance the platform. Fine for small to medium sized less complex business's that are happy with the free ride until their business grows to a point where upgrading to a paid version is justified.

Open Source Solution

This does not lock you in and it's free so you cannot be held to ransom by a vendor and you don't depend on a vendor to fix and enhance the platform. However remember that these solutions are supported by volunteers as best as they can so it's a good idea to have a partner or internal resources that can fix and enhance the solution and naturally contribute it back to the team behind it. Fine for small to medium sized less complex business's who don't want to depend on a vendor but requires higher technical skill.

After all that is said, note that even if the software is free, they all require the same implementation, configuration, and maintenance effort and cost, with Free and Open Source being cheaper because you are not as constrained in your options as you are when dealing with vendor approved implementers.

I publish a series of follow up articles with deep dives into the four categories presented here, but keep in mind that no two ERP solutions are equal and that they above breakout is a little simplistic as the boundaries can be quite fluid. For example an Open Source ERP can be wider and deeper than some commercial ones.