Your Salesforce Data Belongs to You: The Exit Manifesto

The Uncomfortable Truth

You don't own your Salesforce data.

Legally, you do. Salesforce's Master Subscription Agreement says so. You retain all rights to your data.

But practically? You're trapped.

Because owning data and being able to move data are two different things.

How Vendor Lock-In Works

Vendor lock-in isn't malicious. It's structural.

Technical Lock-In

Salesforce data model:

• Proprietary schema (objects, fields, relationships)
• Salesforce-specific IDs (18-character alphanumeric, not portable)
• Platform-specific features (formula fields, roll-up summaries, validation rules)
• Apex code that only runs on Salesforce

To exit, you must:

• Export data (CSV or API)
• Transform schema (Salesforce objects → target system schema)
• Rebuild relationships (map Salesforce IDs to target IDs)
• Rewrite business logic (Apex → target system code)
• Migrate integrations (Salesforce APIs → target APIs)

Estimated effort: 6-18 months, $500K-$3M depending on complexity.

This isn't Salesforce being evil. It's the natural consequence of using a platform-specific data model.

Contractual Lock-In

Salesforce contracts include:

• Annual commitments: "Customer agrees to 12-month minimum term"
• Auto-renewal: "Contract auto-renews unless canceled 30 days prior to renewal date"
• Termination fees: "Early termination requires payment of remaining contract value"
• Data retention: "Salesforce retains customer data for 30 days post-cancellation, then deletes"

Implication: Even if you want to leave, you're paying for 12 months. And you have 30 days post-cancellation to export all data or lose it forever.

Ecosystem Lock-In

After 5 years on Salesforce, you've accumulated:

• 47 managed packages (AppExchange apps)
• 12 integrations (marketing automation, ERP, support, BI)
• Team expertise (3 certified admins, 2 developers)
• Institutional knowledge (workflows, processes, customizations)

To exit, you lose:

• All managed packages (they don't work outside Salesforce)
• Integration investments (need to rebuild for new platform)
• Team expertise (need to retrain or hire for new platform)

Sunk cost: $2M+ over 5 years. Hard to walk away from.

Why Exit Capability Matters

You might love Salesforce today. But circumstances change.

Scenario 1: Economics Shift

Year 1: Salesforce costs $200K/year. Reasonable.

Year 5: Salesforce costs $1.2M/year (added Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, CPQ, Shield, Data Cloud).

CFO: "We're spending $1.2M on CRM. Our revenue is $8M. That's 15% of revenue. Unacceptable."

You: "We're locked in. Contract auto-renewed. Exiting would cost $2M and take 18 months."

CFO: "So we're stuck overpaying?"

You: "Yes."

Exit capability = negotiating leverage. If you can credibly threaten to leave, Salesforce will negotiate price. If you can't, they won't.

Scenario 2: Acquisition

Your company acquired by competitor. They use Microsoft Dynamics.

Their IT: "We're consolidating onto Dynamics. You need to migrate off Salesforce within 12 months."

You: "Salesforce contract has 18 months remaining. Early termination fee: $900K. Migration cost: $1.5M. Total: $2.4M."

Their IT: "That's your problem. We're not paying for two CRMs."

Exit capability = M&A flexibility. Companies that can't migrate quickly become less attractive acquisition targets.

Scenario 3: Platform Risk

Salesforce changes pricing model. Introduces per-API-call fees. Your integration-heavy org now costs 3x more.

Or: Salesforce sunsets a feature you depend on. Forces migration to new platform feature that doesn't meet your needs.

Or: Salesforce acquired by company with different strategic direction. Product roadmap shifts away from your use case.

Exit capability = risk mitigation. You're not hostage to vendor decisions.

The Manifesto

1. Your Data Belongs to You

Not to Salesforce. Not to any vendor. You.

You created it. You paid to store it. You should be able to take it with you.

Any vendor that makes data export difficult, expensive, or lossy (relationships broken, metadata missing) is violating this principle.

2. Portability is a Right, Not a Feature

Data portability shouldn't be an afterthought. It should be a fundamental requirement.

Standards exist for this reason:

• GDPR Article 20: Right to data portability (EU)
• CCPA Section 1798.100: Right to know what data is collected (California)
• Open standards: CSV, JSON, XML for data exchange

Vendors should compete on features and value, not on making it hard to leave.

3. Lock-In is a Business Model Failure

If your product is good, customers stay because they want to, not because they're trapped.

Vendors that rely on lock-in are admitting their product isn't compelling enough to retain customers on merit.

4. You Have the Right to Change Your Mind

Choosing Salesforce in 2020 was the right decision. Choosing to leave in 2025 might also be the right decision.

Business needs change. Economics shift. You shouldn't be punished for adapting.

5. Exit-Ready Architecture is Good Architecture

Designing for exit makes your org better even if you never leave:

• External IDs: Make integrations more reliable
• API-first design: Reduces coupling between systems
• Documented data models: Easier onboarding and maintenance
• Modular customizations: Easier to upgrade and maintain

Exit-ready = well-architected.

How to Negotiate Exit-Friendly Contracts

Most Salesforce contracts are negotiable. Here's what to ask for:

1. Remove or Reduce Auto-Renewal Windows

Standard clause: "Contract auto-renews unless canceled 90 days prior to renewal date."

Negotiate to: "Contract auto-renews unless canceled 30 days prior to renewal date."

Why it matters: 90-day window means you must decide to leave 3 months before contract ends. If you're mid-evaluation, you're forced to renew or face service interruption. 30 days gives you flexibility.

2. Negotiate Early Termination Rights

Standard clause: "Early termination requires payment of 100% of remaining contract value."

Negotiate to: "Customer may terminate with 60 days notice and payment of 50% of remaining contract value."

Or: "Customer may terminate for cause (e.g., acquisition, material price change, feature deprecation) with 30 days notice and no penalty."

Why it matters: Reduces financial barrier to exit. If Salesforce becomes uneconomical, you can leave without paying full remaining value.

3. Extend Data Retention Post-Cancellation

Standard clause: "Salesforce retains customer data for 30 days post-cancellation."

Negotiate to: "Salesforce retains customer data for 90 days post-cancellation."

Why it matters: 30 days isn't enough time to export and validate all data, especially for large orgs. 90 days provides buffer for thorough migration.

4. Require Data Export Assistance

Standard clause: (None—data export is customer's responsibility)

Negotiate to: "Upon termination, Salesforce will provide reasonable assistance with data export, including schema documentation, relationship metadata, and API access for bulk extraction at no additional charge."

Why it matters: Some vendors make export deliberately difficult (rate-limited APIs, missing metadata, broken relationships). Contractual obligation ensures cooperative export.

5. Lock in Pricing Increases

Standard clause: "Salesforce may increase prices at renewal at its discretion."

Negotiate to: "Price increases capped at 5% annually" or "Price locked for 3-year term."

Why it matters: Prevents vendor from pricing you into exit. If prices double, you're forced to leave—but exit costs are high. Price caps provide predictability.

Architecture for Exit Readiness

Even with good contract terms, you need architecture that supports exit.

1. Implement External IDs from Day One

Create Global_ID__c field (External ID, Unique) on every object:

• Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, Case
• All custom objects

Populate with UUID or sequential ID. This makes records portable—you can reference records across systems without relying on Salesforce IDs.

2. Avoid Platform-Specific Features Where Alternatives Exist

Platform-specific:

• Formula fields (can't export, must rebuild in target system)
• Roll-up summary fields (Salesforce-only feature)
• Visualforce pages (Salesforce-specific markup)

Portable alternatives:

• Calculated fields via API/integration (can replicate anywhere)
• Aggregation in data warehouse (vendor-neutral)
• React/Vue components (works with any CRM via API)

This doesn't mean "never use Salesforce features." It means "use them intentionally, knowing they're not portable."

3. Document Your Data Model

Maintain external documentation:

• Object definitions (what each object represents)
• Field definitions (what each field means, business rules)
• Relationship diagram (how objects relate)
• Business logic documentation (validation rules, workflows, triggers)

This makes migration faster—you're not reverse-engineering your own system.

4. Use API-First Integration Patterns

Don't hard-code Salesforce dependencies in external systems.

Bad: External system calls Salesforce REST API directly, tightly coupled

Good: External system calls your middleware API, which abstracts Salesforce behind vendor-neutral interface

This way, switching CRMs means updating middleware, not rewriting every integration.

5. Test Backup and Export Regularly

Quarterly drill:

1. Export all data from production
2. Load into sandbox or external database
3. Validate record counts and relationships
4. Document time and issues encountered

If you can't export your data successfully in a drill, you won't be able to during exit.

Real Story: SaaS Company Exit

Company: B2B SaaS, $35M ARR
Salesforce tenure: 8 years
Annual Salesforce cost: $420K

The Decision

New CTO joined. Reviewed all SaaS spend. Salesforce was largest line item.

Analysis:

• 70% of Salesforce features unused (purchased but never implemented)
• Most-used features: Contact management, basic pipeline tracking
• Engineering team: "We could build fit-for-purpose CRM for $300K, operate for $60K/year"

ROI: Save $360K/year. Break even in 10 months.

The Exit

Month 1-2: Built custom CRM (PostgreSQL + FastAPI + React)

Month 3: Designed migration architecture

• Schema mapping (Salesforce objects → PostgreSQL tables)
• External ID strategy (used existing Global_ID__c fields)
• Integration updates (10 integrations to update)

Month 4: Data migration

• Extracted 240K records (Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Cases)
• Transformed and loaded into PostgreSQL
• Validated relationships (zero orphaned records thanks to External IDs)

Month 5: Integration migration and testing

Month 6: Cutover

• Weekend migration, Monday go-live
• War room for first week (minor issues, quickly resolved)

The Results

Total exit cost: $385K
Annual savings: $360K
Payback period: 12.8 months
5-year savings: $1.8M

Their CTO: "Exit-ready architecture made this possible. We had External IDs, documented data model, API-first integrations. Migration took 6 months instead of 18. That's the difference between ROI positive and ROI negative."

The Bottom Line

You don't need to exit Salesforce. But you should be able to.

Exit capability gives you:

• Negotiating leverage (credible threat to leave → better pricing)
• Strategic flexibility (M&A, platform shifts, economics changes)
• Risk mitigation (not hostage to vendor decisions)

Exit readiness requires:

• Contract terms that don't trap you
• Architecture that's portable (External IDs, API-first, documented)
• Regular export drills (validate you can actually leave)

Your data belongs to you. Act like it.

Design for the day you might leave—even if that day never comes.