You may have heard the phrase “May you live in interesting times.” Well, the times are interesting but I am not so sure this is such a good thing. With all of the layoffs, bankruptcies, restructuring and consolidations businesses are reeling. IT departments are being inundated with new priorities every day. The one thing they all have in common is the principle – “do it cheaper.”
I’ve had a chance to speak to a few user groups this fall and I have noticed something about the user base. They are running on older versions in larger numbers than at any other time I can recall. It got me thinking, with the economic uncertainties of the day – why should I devote my ever more limited resources to upgrades right now
Vendors will always encourage you to upgrade but at the end of the day, they are most concerned with making sure you are current with your maintenance payments. I have had conversations with some that were shocked that I was not rushing the latest and greatest into the field. There is a genuine lack of appreciation for the level of effort and cost associated with upgrading enterprise deployments.
The reality is that upgrades are more often than not more difficult than initial installs. This is true for funding as well as the work itself. I’m putting together a list myself and will be expanding on this topic in later posts but I want to hear what you have to say. How are you justifying upgrades in these tough times? In addition to gathering your thoughts in the comments I thought I’d try the new WordPress integration with Polldaddy. So – let me hear what you think.
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