|
One of the questions we often get asked from our clients is why they should upgrade... while all companies are different and of course there are different drivers for each, I'd like to explore some of the common themes.
One of the questions we often get asked from our clients is why they should upgrade... while all companies are different and of course there are different drivers for each, I'd like to explore some of the common themes.
First off, there is no silver bullet. Many people that are smarter than you and I have pulled their hair out trying to find the one thing that will make the CFO happy and unfortunately, it doesn't really exist.
Having said that, there are many reasons why you should consider upgrading... among them are:
Maintaining currency
This basically means staying current with the latest or most recent release of the software. This can be important for a few reasons, but typically, a newer release has bug fixes or features that may be of interest to your organization. Also, most software vendors will only support the current release and one version back, which brings us to the next point.
Vendor support
Having access to your vendor for support and software fixes is hugely important. Think of this as an insurance policy... if a problem comes up in the software, the vendor's on the hook to fix it. And since they own the code, you'd be in a real bind without maintenance. Of course, this assumes that your vendor steps up and actually does the work :-) Generally, software maintenance should always be included in your TCO and annual budget.
New features
I touched on this briefly earlier, but it does deserve its own subheading. As software product matures and as more customers use it, the vendor tends to add new desirable features. This is more prevalent with younger software companies but also very much alive with the more established players. Having these new features can eliminate manual processes, reduce processing times, or even make life easier for your users.
Increased usability
Often, some of the 'enhancements' are usability enhancements. While some people overlook the value of better usability, it is wise to consider the financial impact of your employees being more productive. For example, if a new feature or enhancement could shave off 1 hour per week for each supervisor/assistant manager/manager in your organization, and you have around 1,000 of them with an average hourly equivalent rate of 10 dollars, then that's a savings (in soft dollars) of 10,000 per week, or about 500k per year. Now, imagine what sort of impact you could have on the top line if these folks spend that extra hour on the floor instead of in the back office?
Reduced cost of ownership
Another benefit that is easy to overlook is the reduced cost of ownership. This can come through increased usability, better performance or even the automation of current manual processes. For example, if you are able to eliminate a manual process that requires 1 FTE per location, an organization that has 500 locations can easily see a cost take out of about 12,500,000 (assuming you pay them 25k per year). You may think this is ridiculous but I have spoken to a number of clients that have told me they needed to hire 1 FTE to do manual things that they wish their software could do. Think about this and consider what your organization could do.
So the bottom line is that you can build a business case... but there are a lot of variables and to make the case and ROI as strong as possible, it probably requires some deeper analysis and out of the box thinking.
 Add as favourites (61) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 427
|
