Most businesses make prolific use of technologies to function – from selling and marketing their services and products online to bookkeeping and even communicating. Most businesses wouldn’t function for an hour without internet and computer access. That’s why it is only natural to care about the capabilities and age of the technologies you use in your business and try to make sure they function as efficiently as possible. This article will help you get started by teaching you about common and expert ways of ensuring the technologies you use aren’t behind the times and your business remains viable and competitive.
Check the Websites of the Developers who are Responsible for the Technologies You Use Regularly
The easiest and most common-sense way to keep your software and technologies updated is to regularly ensure that you’re using the most up-to-date version. Although, the process isn’t as simple as going on a website, clicking the download button, and then going through the installation form. There are more nuances you need to take into consideration:
- Some apps need weekly updates: some parts of your technology stack are more sensitive than others. For example, the consumer-facing technologies you use ar more prone to security risks and bugs, so you’d need to make sure you regularly update them. Especially with open-source software, security patches and vulnerabilities become public after a year or so, and this will expose you to great risk if you fail to update during that period.
- You shouldn’t install some updates right away: there are more sensitive and more rudimentary technologies that you should think twice before updating: most businesses rely on a certain database system or server architecture, and this links all their content and data together. So, when a major new update gets released, big enterprises hold off from updating because they want to be sure everything works fine before they commit to the new version. Because imagine your company’s database gets corrupted due to the migration to the new update. Your business could lose millions of dollars due to this alone. So, you always need to be extra careful when updating the core parts of your technology stack.
Sign Up to Maintenance Services
A lot of companies provide maintenance services and support at an additional cost for your software – this also includes updating your software as well. While some businesses are against the extra cost, it can be a really great deal – especially, as we mentioned, you have crucial and sensitive tech that requires a lot of expertise, it is always better to buy into the maintenance service to ensure that your data and apps are completely safe.
Learn When a Piece of Software Gets Deprecated to You Can Find Replacements Quickly
You can’t always on a developer’s or an agency’s website and expect to be able to easily download the latest piece of software – oftentimes, with how fast the tech sector is changing, you’ll see the company behind your software has gone bankrupt, lost interest in the product, or discontinued it for any other reason. This means there is no way forward for you to update your software. In these cases, your only way forward will be to find replacements.
This is a time of uncertainty and opportunity. You’ll have the option to go out, research, and pick from the hundreds of the replacements that are on the Internet finding something that is completely compatible with your business model – replacing a part of your technology stack can result in complications as you migrate your businesses processes to the new software, and it even might hurt your efficiency and productivity early on as your employees learn how to use the software effectively.
In some rare instances, too, it is possible that you can’t really find a decent replacement that has all the features you want, and in this case, you either need to stay with the deprecated and out-of-date software or you need to commission a development agency to create a new software system for you. Depending on the vitality of the software, whether it faces consumers or not, and whether it is open source or not, using the deprecated software or commissioning a new one is the better idea changes. But, if you’re going to decide to build a custom software system, it is a good idea to go with a softwarehouse in Toronto or a similar country to cut down on the costs.
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