What is staying put actually costing you?
Migration decisions stall because the cost of moving is a real invoice and the cost of staying is invisible. Put the status quo in the table with the others, price what it is costing you, and the comparison stops flattering inertia.
SaaS Advanced Addressing Tradeoffs Pro engine
After you install, this is the model to open.
Switch Cloud Providers, or Stay?
- In your spreadsheet, click the Sortia icon in the strip of icons down the right-hand edge. No strip? Click the arrow at the bottom-right to open it. You can also use Extensions, then Sortia, then Open Sortia.
- Click Start from a template and put that name in the search box.
- Pick the card with that name and click Load this template. It arrives on a new tab with real numbers already in it.
This one runs on a Pro engine, and every free install includes five full-quality runs on your own numbers, shared across all five Pro engines rather than five for each. After that, Pro is $199/year.
The answer
Where each option really lands:
- Provider B
- $0 winner
- Provider C
- −$60K
- Stay put
- −$85K worst
- Gap
- $85K vs staying
Staying put finishes $85,000 behind the best move once the lock-in and support gaps carry a price. Provider C brings a bigger prize but loses it to a bigger migration. The lesson generalises: a status quo with no migration invoice is not automatically the cheapest option, it is just the one whose costs nobody wrote down.
The model
The status quo sits in the table as an option worth 0, carrying the lock-in and support gaps you have already accepted.
| Stay put | $0 value, lock-in and support gaps |
| Provider B | $90,000 value, $70,000 migration |
| Provider C | $140,000 value, $140,000 migration |
| Penalties | migration, lock-in, support |
| Adjusted values | computed |
Once it is in your sheet
- The model arrives with real numbers in it and runs as it stands, so you can press the button first and understand it second.
- Change the numbers to yours. The sheet marks which cells are inputs and which hold formulas, and most labels carry a note explaining the row.
- Press the run button at the bottom of the panel. It is labeled for the tool you are in, and the result lands on its own tab, with a written reading of it beside the figures.
Never used Google Sheets? Start here goes the whole way, in seven steps, and assumes nothing.
Next question
- Will this market tip to a single winner, or stay split?Format War Tipping Simulator
- Should you sell the hardware below cost to win the platform?Platform Launch Pricing
- If you raise prices, do you come out ahead?If We Raise Prices, Do We Come Out Ahead?
- How long until a customer pays you back?How Long Until a Customer Pays Us Back?
- What gross margin can you actually promise?What Gross Margin Can We Actually Promise?
- One load took three seconds. Is the site faster?Faster Site, Proven Without the Bell Curve
Every model like this one, and the method behind them: Decision trees.