System Upgrades
Increased productivity, security, and efficiency are standard drivers for system upgrades.
Building a roadmap for system upgrades creates a defined and repeatable process for success.
Your systems play a critical role within your organization any severe hiccups can devastate your operations. Planning can reduce outages and costly downtime. Jumping into system upgrades without a roadmap is like setting out to Mars without so much as a compass. Here are the top 5 reasons for keeping your system updated:
- Competitive advantage. Providing a new and improved customer experience is required to stay relevant, so vendors are always updating thier products to meet that demand.
- An old version of the system is no longer supported. Systems support is a lifeline during unexpected events in organizations of any size, but this is especially true at the enterprise level. Failing to keep your systems upgraded to the latest versions might mean losing access to support.
- There are security risks. Keeping your technology and data safe is a priority, and one of the best ways to do just that involves keeping your systems updated to the latest versions. The older the system, the higher the security risk.
- New features can benefit your teams. When you upgrade a system to its latest version, you will likely gain access to new features that the older version did not offer.
- Your maintenance fees made it possible. If you’re paying software or system maintenance fees, you’re paying for that system’s future development.
Routine system upgrades can become complicated by customizations or outdated infrastructure.
Depending on your unique business needs, customizations to existing commercial off-the-shelf software can become a hazard during major and minor upgrades. Requiring a detailed analysis of integrations, operating systems, and change impact. SmartGig IT will work with your team to assess the situation and develop a plan. The plan should include tasks that are right-sized for your business:
- Preparing for the downtime and technical aspects of the upgrade
- Project management process
- Change control process
- Carrying out any infrastructure upgrades requirements to best utilize the new system(s)
- Training your organization’s end-users
- Testing the developed methods
- Executing the upgrade
Smart Tip: Remember to make release notes accessible so users can reference what has changed; this can cut down on the number of calls to the service desk.
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