Lock-In Is Dead. This Is What Organizations Actually Want Nowadays

We just closed another deal, and here’s the truth most SaaS companies don’t want to admit: We didn’t win because our product is objectively the best. We didn’t win because our UI is prettier than everyone else’s. And we definitely didn’t win because our rep is criminally handsome (though he insists that helped). We won because of a promise that hits a nerve every company secretly feels.

But let’s start where the customer’s pain really lives.

The real problem customers live with

Ask any company what runs their business, and they’ll say: “Our ERP (or CRM).” Ask what actually runs their commercial processes, and you’ll hear something different:

“Uh… we have a spreadsheet for that.”

The ERP handles the static, structured stuff. Everything dynamic, messy, and commercial ends up in Excel:

• Partner pricing
• Discount rules
• Approval flows
• Country exceptions
• Margin calculations
• Commission logic

One customer told us bluntly: “Our ERP works… until we try to use it for real-world workflows.” This is where the cracks appear. And Excel becomes the glue.

Excel hell is not a side problem, it becomes the system

Excel becomes the fallback for everything the ERP can’t adapt to. And once logic moves there, good luck getting it back. You know the story:

• Multiple versions floating around
• Hidden tabs with critical logic
• Partners receiving outdated files
• Human errors disguised as “minor mistakes”
• Risk so normal nobody questions it anymore

The customer literally said: “We don’t trust the spreadsheet. We just trust the guy who made it.” That’s not a process. That’s dependency disguised as operations.

The moment the deal flipped

When we got into the meeting call, the customer asked the real question: “How do we make sure we don’t get stuck again? Stuck in ERP limitations, Excel chaos, and vendor dependency? 

And how are we ensuring that the total cost of ownership is not skyrocketing?” We didn’t start talking about features.We didn’t throw a roadmap at them. We didn’t hide behind buzzwords. We covered the table stakes, the basics every modern platform should already have:

• APIs
• Security
• Integrations
• Audit trails
• Permissions
• Governance
• Compliance
• Support

These are expected. If a vendor calls these “differentiators,” run!! Then we dropped the unfair advantage, the thing no competitor was willing to say: "If you ever outgrow us, you can export your app and run it yourself."

Silence. Then a smile. Deal closed.

Not because of a feature. But because of freedom. Their ERP couldn’t give them that. Their spreadsheet couldn’t give them that. Our competitors wouldn’t give them that.

We did.

This is what organizations are actually buying today

Companies don’t want another system to depend on. They want control. They want to:

• Build the exact workflow they need
• Run it beside their ERP
• Eliminate Excel as the “shadow system”
• Own their logic
• Take their app with them if they leave

This isn’t a technical feature. This is sovereignty. And once customers understand they can have it, every lock-in strategy looks prehistoric.

To recap

We didn’t win because our product is perfect. We won because we gave the customer something every modern business wants but almost no vendor offers:

• True ownership.
• Portability.
• Zero lock-in.

And that’s exactly why we won. Want to learn more, just hit me up.