When I have put years of data into a product, I want to know I can get it out, so I am not locked in by my own effort.

Job context

Who

Someone with data accumulated inside a product

When

When considering moving

Trigger

A price rise and the realisation that leaving is not possible

Situation

The longer the use, the harder the departure

Constraints

The data means something only in that product's format

5 Pains

• Data exports and is unusable

  High

  In a format only that product understands.

  Root cause: There is no shared standard between products of the same kind

• The longer the use, the harder to leave

  High

  Data, habits and integrations all live inside.

  Root cause: Switching cost grows with every day of use

• Prices rise once dependence is established

  High

  Exactly when leaving is hardest.

  Root cause: The renewal price can rise by exactly the customer's switching cost

• No sense of how deep the dependence runs

  Medium

  Until leaving is attempted.

  Root cause: Dependence accumulates gradually with no indicator

• The product may simply shut down

  Medium

  And the data goes with it.

  Root cause: Users do not control whether the provider continues to exist

5 Desired Outcomes

• Get the data out in a usable form

  Functional

• Keep the ability to leave

  Functional

• Know in advance how the price will move

  Functional

• Know how deep the dependence runs

  Functional

• Be confident the data survives if the product closes

  Emotional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Export the data regularly as insurance

  Behaviour

  The only available precaution, from an export that usually cannot be rebuilt.

• Choose products using open formats

  Product

  The most effective protection, narrowing the choice sharply.

• Avoid putting everything in one place

  Workaround

  Reduces dependence, losing the benefit of having one system.

• Attempt a migration once to find out

  Behaviour

  The only way to actually know, costing as much as a real migration.

• Put data portability in the contract

  Behaviour

  A protection with force, rarely thought of at signing.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• No shared standard exists between products of the same kind, so a valid export can be completely useless anywhere else.

  Why existing solutions fail: A shared standard makes switching easy and removes the largest advantage of every incumbent, so standards appear where regulation requires them and not because a market wanted them.

  Potential opportunity: Treating exportability as a selection criterion at the start, while nothing depends on it yet.

• At the scale of one day the added dependence is negligible; at the scale of three years it is a wall, and the user only ever encounters it one day at a time.

  Why existing solutions fail: There is no indicator of dependence and it grows in steps too small for anyone to pause over, so a user learns they are locked in at the moment they already are.

  Potential opportunity: A regularly displayed measure of dependence, so it becomes a visible number rather than a surprise.