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The Upgrade Decision
As budgets are prepared for the coming calendar year,
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, efficiencies
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’ve got to 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 has begun phasing out support for their Windows NT
Servers. While NT 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
Once you have costs and a business case to present to
decision makers, you should also put together an initial time
table estimate for the upgrade. Enlisting the support of your
outside technology consulting firm is key because, just like
the initial implementation, the upgrade will require someone
with the necessary expertise to guide a team of technical and
functional experts through the upgrade process. Your
technology consulting firm has the project management,
technical skills, and training with your specific software to
get the job done in the most efficient manner and will be
there to offer training on new features as well as on-going
support. Your outside consulting firm can also provide
additional insight into how the applications may work with
your business processes and make sure any new or changed
business processes are mapped.
If you’re struggling with the “to upgrade or not to
upgrade” question, feel free to give IDT a call at
630.875.1100. We’d love to help.
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