THE TRUST CENTRE / FOR THE CIO AND PROCUREMENT
The way out,
agreed on the way in.
The best time to plan an exit is before you depend on anything. Here is what you own, how it leaves, what to ask any supplier about lock-in, and what handback means: your own team running the system without us.
WHAT YOU OWN
Everything you own,
and how it leaves.
Your data, the knowledge built on it, the workflows, evaluations, policies, deployment definitions, evidence and runbooks. Each leaves in an agreed form, with a proof that it arrived. Ownership of each is written into your agreement before work begins.
Agreed with you
Everything you own, on our side of the line. Hand back a layer, or rehearse the whole handback.
An illustration of an exit plan, not a migration tool. What leaves, when and in which form is agreed in your statement of work.
THE PORTABILITY CHECK
Nine questions for any supplier.
Us included.
Lock-in rarely sits in the contract. It hides in instructions tuned to one model, tools written for one provider, evaluations nobody can re-run and controls that only work with one supplier. Answer for the supplier you are reviewing; each question shows what tied and portable look like, and how we handle it.
- Yes0
- Partly0
- No0
- Not sure0
- Instructions and prompts
Are the instructions kept in plain, versioned form you can take, or tuned to one model?
- Tied when
- Hand-tuned to one model family, stored only inside the platform.
- Portable when
- Plain, versioned instructions, evaluated on more than one model.
- How Niello handles it
- Builder versions instructions, tools and context together; Bridge lets you compare them across models. Available today
- Tool definitions
Are the tools an agent can use described in a form another platform could read?
- Tied when
- Written for one provider’s calling convention.
- Portable when
- Described once, with an adapter per provider.
- How Niello handles it
- The form tool definitions leave in is part of the exit plan you agree. Agreed with you
- Evaluation sets
Could you re-run your own evaluations on a different model or supplier tomorrow?
- Tied when
- Checks exist only as manual runs against one model.
- Portable when
- Your examples and expected results, runnable against any model.
- How Niello handles it
- Builder evaluates on representative examples; Bridge compares evaluation results before a release. Available today
- Output drift
If the model changes, will anything downstream notice that the output changed shape?
- Tied when
- Downstream systems parse whatever one model happens to produce.
- Portable when
- Outputs are checked against an agreed shape, and failures are caught.
- How Niello handles it
- Evaluation before promotion, and a path back to the previous release in Bridge. Available today
- Data and knowledge
Can every source, index and record be exported in a readable format?
- Tied when
- Data sits in a store only the supplier can read.
- Portable when
- Everything exports in an agreed format, and the export is tested.
- How Niello handles it
- The export format and an export test are written into the agreement. Agreed with you
- Identity and access
Can every agent identity and permission be listed, handed over and retired?
- Tied when
- Agents act under shared or unknown credentials.
- Portable when
- Every agent has an owner, a scope and a way to be switched off.
- How Niello handles it
- Mesh maps agents, models, tools and non-human identities to their owners. Available today
- Model choice
Is changing model provider a configuration, or a rebuild?
- Tied when
- One provider is wired into every workflow.
- Portable when
- Providers sit behind a route you can change and test.
- How Niello handles it
- Bridge routes requests to the providers and models suited to the task, including your own. Available today
- Where it runs
Can it run on infrastructure you control, if you need it to?
- Tied when
- Only in the supplier’s own cloud.
- Portable when
- On your infrastructure, or somewhere you can move it.
- How Niello handles it
- Lumen Intelligence is customer-hosted, including air-gapped; Bridge deploys models on infrastructure you control. Available today
- Re-review
If you switched supplier, how much would security, privacy and compliance have to review again?
- Tied when
- Controls are written for one supplier and fall with it.
- Portable when
- Controls are written for the work, so they survive a change of supplier.
- How Niello handles it
- Decision records and policies in Mesh describe the work, not the supplier. Available today
Questions to take to your supplier
Answer the questions above. Anything that is not a clear yes gathers here, ready to put to your supplier, us included.
WHAT HANDBACK MEANS
Finished means your team
runs it without us.
Handback is the acceptance criterion, not a courtesy at the end. An engagement is complete when your own people can operate, change and recover the system, and nobody at Niello holds knowledge you cannot get.
- DocumentHow it works, how it fails and how to recover it, written for the people who will run it.
- PairYour team operates the system with ours beside them, on real work.
- LeadYour team leads; ours watches and answers questions.
- Hand overCredentials rotate, our access ends and every agent identity has an owner on your side.
- AcceptYour team runs it on its own for an agreed period. That is the acceptance criterion.
Agreed with you The steps, the period and what counts as acceptance are written into your agreement.
HOW TO LEAVE
Six steps,
written down first.
If you decide to leave, nothing about it should be a negotiation. The timing and form of each step are set in your agreement; this is the shape we propose.
Agreed with you- NoticeGiven as your agreement sets out, with the exit plan already written.
- ExportEverything you own leaves in the agreed form, and the export is checked against the source.
- Run in parallelWhere you need continuity, the old and the new run side by side until you are satisfied.
- Cut overTraffic, users and schedules move on a date you choose.
- Retire accessOur access ends, keys rotate and every agent identity is switched off or re-owned.
- Confirm deletionAnything we held is deleted as agreed, and you receive confirmation in writing.
ASK US DIRECTLY
Ask for the exit plan
before you sign.
We would rather you rehearse leaving before you depend on us. Ask for the exit plan, the ownership schedule and an export test as part of the statement of work.
- The hard questionsEvery concern, by role, with an honest status.
- The value scenarioYour inputs, the formula, and the case that never pays back.
- Exit and handbackWhat you own, how to leave and what handback means.
- The accountability registerEvery decision, its owner and the evidence it leaves.
- Security and governanceThe data boundary, identity, controls and evidence.
- Our approachThe stages of an engagement and what each produces.