An exit strategy is a plan describing how an organization can safely and orderly leave a vendor, cloud service, or technology. The goal is to manage dependencies (vendor lock-in) and ensure business process continuity.
An exit strategy covers: data migration paths, export formats, contractual notice periods, data return or deletion at the provider, and transition scenarios. ISO 27001 Annex A (A.5.22) requires management of supplier relationships including termination. Exit strategies are especially important with cloud services — verify before signing a contract whether and in what format you can fully export your data.