Within professional service companies, Information Technology Managers hate it. Accounting Managers may hate it even more. And the end users, well, they hate it most of all.
Obviously, the only thing that could generate this kind of hate is the dreaded professional services management software upgrade.
Software Upgrades may require people upgrades! Courtesy of funny3c.blogspot.com
System Selection and Early Use
Most companies purchased their professional services management software years ago. They surveyed the various options available in the market, aligned those options against their needs, and selected the best one. Once a system was selected, these companies forked over thousands of dollars for the software license and thousands more for implementation.
The system has been running for the last few years and has served its purposes. However, the professional services management software market has continued to evolve and grow. When companies compare their current implementation against the systems available in the market, they realize a few things.
First, they may recognize that their professional services management software is built on outdated or obsolete technology. Second, they may also realize that their current implementation lacks basic features like resource management that would improve the system. Lastly, they also realize that they are spending exorbitant amounts of money on maintenance in order to support the system.
Of course, the vendor has continued to evolve and improve the functionality of the product. They have had various releases since their initial release including a few upgrades with added functionality. So why don’t more companies upgrade to the new version?
Reasons not to Upgrade
Most professional service companies are fearful of upgrading their software to the latest version. For one, upgrades can be extremely expensive, costing almost as much as the initial install. In addition, upgrades can disrupt the business and cause problems for end users. These fears usually keep professional service firms using outdated software far longer than they probably should.
Upgrades are usually avoided because they may have an deleterious effect on the business. Courtesy of Dilbert.com
Cloud Based – A Better Option
An alternative to the dilemma of software upgrades is to purchase professional services management software hosted in the cloud. By hosting the software in the cloud, the following advantages are gained:
- Only the most current version is available: Most cloud-based vendors only offer one version of their software – the Current Version. On their end, this simplifies the number of engineers that they have to commit to supporting the system. Customers gain the advantage of always using the most current release of the system.
- Upgrades performed by Vendor: Since the vendor only wants to support one version of the code, they build software upgrades into the price of the system. When upgrades are released, the vendor dispatches engineers into their cloud data center to perform the upgrades automatically for the customer, reducing inconveniences and lowering coordination costs.
- Cost Savings: Since the vendor is responsible for the upgrades, the overall costs are more manageable. There is no need to engage consultants to help manage a long, drawn-out process. Instead, the vendor performs the upgrade as part of the subscription.
There is a lot of uncertainty when dealing with professional services management software upgrades. This uncertainty is what breeds people’s fear and loathing of software upgrades. Eliminate this by using a system like NetSuite that handles all of the upgrades for you. If you want to know more, please contact us.