A cloud administrator is reviewing the annual contracts for all hosted solutions.
Upon review of the contract of the hosted mail solution, the administrator notes the monthly subscription rate has increased every year.
The provider has been in place for ten years, and there is a large amount of data being hosted.
Which of the following is a barrier to switching providers?
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A. B. C. D.B.
The correct answer to the question is B. Vendor lock-in.
Vendor lock-in refers to a situation where a customer becomes so dependent on a particular vendor's products or services that switching to another vendor becomes difficult, costly, or even impossible. Vendor lock-in can occur due to a variety of reasons, including proprietary technologies, contractual restrictions, or high switching costs.
In the given scenario, the cloud administrator has noted that the monthly subscription rate for the hosted mail solution has increased every year. However, there is a large amount of data being hosted, and the provider has been in place for ten years. This suggests that the organization may be facing vendor lock-in, as switching to another provider would be challenging due to the large amount of data and potential contractual restrictions.
A Service-level agreement (SLA) is a contractual agreement between a service provider and a customer that defines the level of service expected from the provider. An SLA may include metrics such as uptime, response time, and support availability. While an SLA is an essential component of a hosted solution contract, it does not directly relate to vendor lock-in.
A Memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a non-binding agreement between two or more parties that outlines the terms and details of the understanding between them. An MOU may be used to clarify expectations or negotiate a future contract, but it does not directly relate to vendor lock-in.
Encrypted data refers to data that has been transformed using encryption algorithms to make it unreadable to unauthorized users. While encryption is an essential security measure for hosted solutions, it does not directly relate to vendor lock-in.
In conclusion, the barrier to switching providers in the given scenario is vendor lock-in, which may make it difficult or costly to switch to another provider due to the large amount of data and potential contractual restrictions.