When you first sign up to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, everything is designed to feel easy. Getting started is usually smooth. The sales process is polished. The setup feels straightforward. But the real test of any SaaS relationship is not the onboarding. It’s the exit.

For many small businesses, getting in is simple, but getting out is a very different story. Exports may be incomplete, important data may sit in proprietary formats, and moving away may require expensive vendor support. That’s not just frustrating. It’s a genuine business risk.

As more teams move towards a workforce that blends humans and Agentic AI in 2026, the real advantage will come from data that you can move, reuse, and trust. If your data cannot leave a vendor cleanly, then you are not fully in control of your own processes. Your options, your timelines, and your costs are being shaped for you.

Why This Gets Worse in 2026

The question of having a proper backup exit strategy is becoming more important in 2026 because SaaS sprawl and third-party reliance are now part of everyday business.

Your data probably does not live in one place anymore. It is spread across platforms, integrations, plug-ins, and automation tools. So when one vendor changes its pricing, terms, features, or risk profile, you are not simply “switching tools”. You either move your data cleanly, or you stay stuck.

The threat landscape also makes this more urgent. Verizon’s 2025 DBIR Executive Summary says it analysed 22,052 security incidents and 12,195 confirmed breaches, describing it as the highest number of breaches ever analysed in a single report, across 139 countries.

That matters because migrations and exits often happen under pressure. A solid backup exit strategy is what stops “we need to move” from quickly becoming “we can’t move”. Attackers are also paying closer attention to credentials and data pathways. These are the very same pathways your business depends on during exports and migrations.

Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report 2025 says credential and access key theft attempts rose by 23%, while attempts to pull sensitive data from storage accounts and databases increased by 58%. Microsoft also reported that data collection showed up in 80% of reactive engagements, which is a strong reminder that getting hold of the data is often the goal.

If you cannot export your data safely and predictably, you can end up trapped. You cannot move away from a risky platform quickly, and you cannot migrate without introducing fresh risk along the way. And even before you account for vendor exit fees, being stuck can be expensive. IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 puts the global average cost of a breach at USD 4.4M.

That is not specifically a lock-in figure, but it is a useful reminder that data incidents cost real money. A clean exit strategy helps reduce the chance that a vendor becomes an extra cost multiplier in an already expensive situation.

In 2026, the question is not whether you may ever need to move your data. It is whether you will be able to do it without vendor hand-holding, surprise charges, or an emergency timescale.

The Financial Cost of the “Proprietary Trap”

A poor exit plan does not just hold back innovation. It quietly pushes up your operating costs because you keep paying for a setup that is difficult to change.

When you are tied to a vendor, your spending becomes sticky. You cannot right-size quickly, consolidate tools properly, or move workloads to a better-fit platform without turning it into a major project. That is how waste lingers.

The real cost is not just the monthly subscription. It is the lack of flexibility. If your data cannot move easily, then every renewal, price increase, or product change becomes a forced decision instead of a strategic one.

A proper backup exit strategy changes that. It gives you the freedom to migrate on your own timeline, reduce duplicate tools, and make decisions based on value rather than inertia. In practical terms, it turns “we can’t leave” into “we can review, decide, and move when the time is right”.

Securing the Move

Once you decide to move your data, the migration itself becomes a high-risk moment. Not because migrations are automatically unsafe, but because they bring together exactly what attackers want:

• High-privilege access
• Lots of open sessions
• Large amounts of data moving at once

During a data migration, your team is often logged into several admin-level tools at the same time. That is where session cookie hijacking becomes relevant. An attacker does not need to crack your password if they can steal the session token that proves you are already authenticated.

Microsoft has described adversary-in-the-middle phishing campaigns that intercept session cookies, allowing attackers to reuse an authenticated session and bypass the MFA prompt.
Cloudflare has also noted that attackers are finding ways to get around MFA as part of broader attack chains, which is why the safest approach is a layered one rather than relying on any single control.

To protect your backup exit migration:

• Use phishing-resistant sign-ins wherever possible for migration and admin accounts
• Tighten session controls so privileged sessions expire sooner and re-authentication is required for risky actions
• Treat device health as part of access by running the migration from a managed, patched, and protected device
• Monitor for suspicious access during the move

Ownership is a Discipline

The businesses that do well over the next few years will not just be the ones adopting new tools. They will be the ones staying flexible as those tools change.

In a world of SaaS sprawl and AI-driven workflows, that flexibility comes from clean data, clear processes, and the ability to move when needed. If you would like help creating an exit-ready baseline across your vendor stack, contact us for a technology consultation.

Article used with permission from The Technology Press.