Upgrades are the affordable option for greater system efficiency

The latest Forrester research claims that IT budgets are being focussed on maintaining businesses’ old systems instead of on implementing new ones.

Forrester found that in North American and European businesses, half of the IT budget is being spent on maintaining and updating older systems instead of spending on entirely new systems.

In a perfect world, companies would have the time, money and inclination to have brand new systems implemented as soon as they become available, but this isn’t, unfortunately, a perfect world. In a business arena, time and money are always limited, and implementing entirely a new IT system is a severely disruptive and expensive process.

Purists might argue that systems are always more efficient when overhauled rather than simply patched with upgrades, but this is not always the case. In many cases, overhauling an IT system completely provides less value for money than upgrading to improve efficiency, as businesses do not get the maximum use from their current system’s potential.

As pointed out on Bill Bennet, technology moves at a fast pace and not keeping up with that pace is simply not an option for any business that wants to prosper. That much is clear. In these post-recession times, however, it is important to consider upgrades as a more efficient solution to keeping up with changing technology and maximising the potential of current systems than ripping out those systems to counter minor inefficiencies.