You have probably heard the saying ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it!”, or some kind of variant of it a million times. Many people are apprehensive about change because it poses a risk. But there are many reasons to actually embrace change, especially in IT. Without change there cannot be innovation or progress.
Imagine if people in the 19th century had been satisfied with horse carriages as a means of transportation; cars would have never been invented! It’s one thing not to replace your refrigerator, your car, or your TV set because it works fine. But keeping around end-of-life system software and aging computer systems in general?
That old system may work just fine and get the job done, an update might have added cost, risk and retraining needed. But what is the cost of not moving forward to a new system with more features, flexibility and modern technology. In today’s fast pace world companies cannot live by that old saying any more.
Here are some things to consider:
- Support costs. Complex systems cost more to maintain than simpler systems, e.g. needing more admins, developers and help desk resources. Newer systems tend to cost significantly less to run because many of those complexities have been eliminated with better software. What would the annual cost difference be?
- Business risk. Old software often runs on older operating systems. If that operating system is no longer supported you may struggle to support or patch the system.
- Integration costs. It will often be very expensive to integrate obsolete software into more modern systems. This cost is incurred either by having to pay more to write integration code or have data moved manually, e.g. via spreadsheets. Estimate the annual costs of integrating the old system with other new systems that are being deployed in the organization.
- Time & effort. Will the new software enable existing work to be done faster and with less effort?
- Productivity & efficiency. New software will usually enhance productivity & efficiency because of things like better user interfaces or improved workflows. Examine the anticipated productivity and efficiency gains from the new software, and estimate the annual cost of not having them.
- Processes. If the new software supports improved processes, what would these be worth?
- Reporting. Modern software usually has far better reporting capabilities than older software. Reducing the work needed to generate reports. Providing information that could not be reported on in the old system.
Let Dataseti show you how upgrading to the latest software can improve your business!
-Mark Moody, Consultant
Contact the consulting team at consultants@dataseti.com
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