Can you leave? The exit-readiness checklist
Twelve checks that tell you whether you could actually move off a critical supplier, before you need to. Print it, take it into a stand-up, and mark honestly.
Reversibility is a capability you build before you need it, not a clause you hope to invoke later. This is a fast self-audit of that capability. Work down it with the people who would actually run a migration, and treat every unchecked box as a project to scope, not a failure to hide.
A gap here is not a reason to panic or to switch supplier. It is a map. The items cluster into three moves: get your data out cleanly, keep the option to run the software elsewhere, and make sure the contract lets you leave on the bad days as well as the good ones.
Put this to work
Assess yourself
Take the self-check
See which practical questions this checklist helps you investigate.
Related concept
Exit clause
The contractual terms that decide what happens to your data and your access to it, when the arrangement ends, on any terms including the ones you did not choose.
Related concept
Data portability
The ability to extract the data and context required within the stated scope in a documented, usable form and transfer or load them into an independently chosen system.
Where we can help
Talk to the team
Proving deletion across a vendor's backups and sub-processors, and executing a live migration without downtime, are the items most teams cannot close alone. A short baseline maps them against your actual stack.