Large-scale implementations of any system, such as the event-streaming platform Apache Kafka, often involve customizations and tools and plugins developed in-house. When it’s time to transition from one system to another, the task can become complicated, drawn-out, and error-prone. Often the benefits of an alternative system (which can include significant cost savings and other efficiencies) are outweighed by the risks and costs of migration. As a result, an organization can end up locked into a suboptimal situation, footing a bigger bill than necessary and missing out on modern features that help move the business forward faster.
These risks and costs can be mitigated by making the transition process iterative, breaking off the vendor lock-in in small, manageable steps, and avoiding the "big bang" switch that often results in delayed delivery and increases the cost of running two systems in parallel for A|B testing.