Plenty of organizations put off changing software providers, and for seemingly valid reasons. Software switching costs, including expenses for data migration, employee adoption, training requirements, and lost productivity, can make even an inadequate vendor a safe bet. In fact, Info-Tech Research Group found that while over 90% of businesses plan to renew their vendors, most wouldn’t recommend those vendors.
Perceived switching costs are often higher than the actual cost, while the hidden cost of staying with a poorly performing vendor is easy to overlook. Over time, staying can cost more than replacing the software. To help you decide if it’s time to switch your GRC software, here’s what a switch really costs, the hidden cost of staying with a vendor you’re dissatisfied with, and how to test costs before you renew.
Key Takeaways
- Many organizations hesitate to switch software due to perceived high switching costs despite dissatisfaction with their current vendor.
- Switching costs include data migration, training, and potential lost productivity, but staying with an inadequate vendor can lead to hidden costs like inefficiencies and missed innovations.
- Companies that switch software often experience increased satisfaction and improved operational efficiency according to industry research.
- Before renewing GRC software, assess actual switching costs and document current inefficiencies to make a more informed decision.
- Onspring offers a unified, no-code GRC platform that facilitates easier transitions and greater flexibility for organizations.
Table of Contents
Why Organizations Renew Vendors They Wouldn’t Recommend
Switching software overwhelmingly increases satisfaction. According to Info-Tech Research Group, 80% of companies see positive change and satisfaction from switching software.
However, even when dissatisfied with the current software, the perception of high switching costs keeps organizations from replacing software vendors. These concerns are usually associated with the perception that:
- Implementation will be too time-consuming
- Change management will be expensive
- Data migration is risky
- Employees will struggle with the new system
- Switching will disrupt day-to-day operations
These switching-cost fears make renewing a tool your people already know look easy. But the costs are often inflated, and your organization’s fear could cost you more than the switch itself.
What Software Switching Costs Include
Every GRC software comparison ends with the same question. Will the new tool justify the cost of switching? Usually, the switching costs go beyond price differences and involve implementation expenses. Here are the main switching barriers to consider.
Data Migration Costs
Moving data from your existing software requires planning and technical work. You might have to:
- Export records
- Clean up outdated information
- Map fields to the new system
- Verify that every data transfer is correct
As a customer retention strategy, many vendors charge for data exports or provide limited export options. In fact, a 2026 Parallels survey shows that 94% of IT leaders fear vendor lock-in. If your organization depends heavily on a vendor’s software data and structure, switching can feel riskier than staying with your current vendor. However, data migration risk is changing with regulations such as the EU Data Act preventing cloud providers serving EU customers from charging switching fees starting in 2027.
Learning Costs
With a new system, your employees need to learn different features, workflows, processes, and tasks. Training might involve paid sessions and time away from regular work. However, your employee training expenses will depend on how different the new software is from your existing system.
While learning costs can feel like a tax on your team, Info-Tech found that organizations highly satisfied with ease of implementation report satisfaction gains above 50%. A learning curve is a temporary cost, while a better-fitting system can improve how your company works over the long term.
Installation and Equipment Costs
Some software switches require new hardware and installation services. However, these costs only apply if you’re moving to software with specific infrastructure requirements. Most GRC tools are cloud-based, and you won’t incur equipment or installation costs.
Support and Maintenance Costs
You already pay support and maintenance costs to your current vendor, so adopting new software doesn’t introduce a new expense. The better question to ask about the new vendor is what your spend buys and if you’ll get more value for your money.
The Hidden Cost of Staying With Unsatisfactory Software
While switching vendors has costs, renewing software you aren’t fully satisfied with shouldn’t be the default. You may avoid temporary disruptions, but your team will pay for the inefficiencies and risks that continue long after the renewal date.
Lost Time
A poorly performing GRC tool can turn routine tasks into manual work that eats up time your team could spend on higher-value GRC activities. Governance, risk, and compliance professionals in your organization may spend more time entering data, searching for information, compiling reports, and moving information between disconnected systems.
Yet, in a 2025 PwC survey, companies using the right compliance technology reported:
- Improved visibility into risk and risk management activities (64%)
- Quicker identification and proactive response to compliance issues (53%)
- More insightful reporting (48%)
- Increased productivity and cost saving (43%)
If your current platform isn’t best suited for your organization, you might miss the gains of the right GRC technology.
Risk Exposure
If your GRC software isn’t serving you well, you may struggle with risk management, which can create additional exposure. More importantly, your team may turn to unauthorized tools out of frustration with what you provide. And according to IBM’s 2025 Cost of Data Breach Report, 20% of organizations that suffered a breach in 2025 had a breach linked to unauthorized employee use of AI. These shadow AI breaches cost an average of $670,000 more than breaches at organizations with little or no shadow AI.
Missed Innovation
GRC teams are increasingly looking at AI, automation, integrated technology, data analytics, and real-time reporting to handle the growing workload. In the ICA’s 2025 Global GRC Survey, 51.3% of risk and compliance professionals ranked advances in AI and technology as the biggest driver of change in GRC over the next five years. If your current vendor has limited functionality, your organization can become dependent on manual processes. You may preserve today’s workflow at the expense of carving a competitive edge and supporting recurring revenue.
Opportunity Cost
Perhaps the highest cost of staying with a software vendor you are dissatisfied with is what your team cannot do while working around an inadequate system. Time GRC professionals spend on manual processes could go toward:
- Improving controls
- Identifying risk
- Assessing emerging risks
- Strengthening risk mitigation strategies
- Supporting business decisions
As Info-Tech frames it, renewal by default keeps you paying the fee and forfeiting the 80% chance of doing better.
How to Test Your Switching Costs Before You Commit
Before you renew your GRC software, test whether your perceived switching cost matches the actual work and expense involved. Follow these steps to assess whether switching is worth the cost:
- Identify your GRC needs and document inefficiencies in your current platform, such as manual work, disconnected processes, and reporting limitations.
- Confirm your dissatisfaction comes from the software and not from lack of use.
- Identify the controls, risks, policies, assessments, reports, and other data that need to move, and list your integrations to establish what you’ll need to rebuild.
- Run a migration test to get a clear picture of all the transition requirements.
- Compare the costs of switching and staying to prove switching is the right decision.
Size Up the Switch Before You Renew
Fear of switching can keep you renewing GRC software that no longer meets your needs. But for changing a vendor to make sense, you want a tool that reduces the disruption of moving while giving your team more flexibility.
At Onspring, we offer a unified, no-code GRC platform so your team can build and adjust workflows without a developer in the queue. After the setup, you can:
- Automate repetitive GRC tasks
- Connect data across GRC processes
- Build custom reports and dashboards
- Track risks, controls, and compliance activities on one platform
- Adapt workflows as your GRC requirements change
- Integrate with the tools your team already uses
Download the head-to-head comparison of Onspring and Archer today to see how the two platforms compare and evaluate which one better fits your GRC needs.
