The Upgrade Decision
As budgets are tight, the question of “to upgrade or not to upgrade” often arises. The path to the answer can be complex and require a great deal of consideration. Getting your company through an implementation can be difficult. Upgrading can sometimes be tricky as well. It is essential that some basic analysis is done to establish whether an upgrade is right for your organization and if so, which upgrade path you should follow. The upgrade decision involves several points to consider including:
With each new release, software vendors increase the
value of their offerings and challenge their competitors.
There is merit to this claim. You should stay up to date as
being current often results in enhanced features and capabilities to handle the latest interfaces. But, how do
you examine and learn the real value of the new release,
decide what new features drive your next upgrade and make the
business case to management in a tough business climate to
justify moving to the latest edition? Technology upgrades have
got to be about more than just the latest and greatest
feature—they have to make business sense. Each new release
should be properly assessed to establish whether it brings
enough business value to implement, or whether to wait until
the next release.
Some analysis will be easy. Perhaps the most important factor in making the upgrade decision is whether there will be continued support of your current release. Bottom line, if the software vendor will be discontinuing support for your current release, you really need to make the investment and upgrade. It would be foolish to continue to operate your business on a release that is not being supported.
You’ll also want to consider your operating system and other ancillary software to think about how upgrading one can affect others. For instance, Microsoft phased out support for Windows 2003 Servers. While 2003 users plan upgrades to their operating system, they may consider upgrading other software, which resides on this system, at the same time.
Upgrading to a new release on the basis of new or improved functionality alone is a difficult choice. Like any other business decision, it should be possible to evaluate the benefits to your company and the expenses that will be involved in upgrading.
When looking at new functionality, it is important to keep in mind the strategy and goals of your organization. Do the new features support your current goals? Just as importantly, do the new features provide a strategic advantage for your future technology plans? Will upgrading now enable new technology to be added later?
When considering costs involved in upgrading, make sure you look at:
Maybe its time to retire the old systems and consider moving the application to the Cloud. This poses lots of new opportunities for your business and likely will free you and your staff to perform more important job functions while reducing overall operating costs.
If you’re struggling with the “to upgrade or not to upgrade” question, feel free to drop a comment back and we will be happy to help you out.
Best,
Paul
As budgets are tight, the question of “to upgrade or not to upgrade” often arises. The path to the answer can be complex and require a great deal of consideration. Getting your company through an implementation can be difficult. Upgrading can sometimes be tricky as well. It is essential that some basic analysis is done to establish whether an upgrade is right for your organization and if so, which upgrade path you should follow. The upgrade decision involves several points to consider including:
- cost of acquisition and implementation
- total cost of ownership (TCO)
- performance considerations (such as security, reliability, scalability)
- and management and operations considerations
With each new release, software vendors increase the
value of their offerings and challenge their competitors.
There is merit to this claim. You should stay up to date as
being current often results in enhanced features and capabilities to handle the latest interfaces. But, how do
you examine and learn the real value of the new release,
decide what new features drive your next upgrade and make the
business case to management in a tough business climate to
justify moving to the latest edition? Technology upgrades have
got to be about more than just the latest and greatest
feature—they have to make business sense. Each new release
should be properly assessed to establish whether it brings
enough business value to implement, or whether to wait until
the next release.Some analysis will be easy. Perhaps the most important factor in making the upgrade decision is whether there will be continued support of your current release. Bottom line, if the software vendor will be discontinuing support for your current release, you really need to make the investment and upgrade. It would be foolish to continue to operate your business on a release that is not being supported.
You’ll also want to consider your operating system and other ancillary software to think about how upgrading one can affect others. For instance, Microsoft phased out support for Windows 2003 Servers. While 2003 users plan upgrades to their operating system, they may consider upgrading other software, which resides on this system, at the same time.
Upgrading to a new release on the basis of new or improved functionality alone is a difficult choice. Like any other business decision, it should be possible to evaluate the benefits to your company and the expenses that will be involved in upgrading.
When looking at new functionality, it is important to keep in mind the strategy and goals of your organization. Do the new features support your current goals? Just as importantly, do the new features provide a strategic advantage for your future technology plans? Will upgrading now enable new technology to be added later?
When considering costs involved in upgrading, make sure you look at:
- cost to support your current release
- cost to upgrade to the new release
- how long the new version has been available and whether you want to be an “early adopter”
- ongoing cost to support the new release
Maybe its time to retire the old systems and consider moving the application to the Cloud. This poses lots of new opportunities for your business and likely will free you and your staff to perform more important job functions while reducing overall operating costs.
If you’re struggling with the “to upgrade or not to upgrade” question, feel free to drop a comment back and we will be happy to help you out.
Best,
Paul
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