It’s easy to think about technology updates as unnecessary. After all, your technology seems to be working perfectly fine, right? The reality is that updates keep your business functional and profitable, and every update you skip means more vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, more bugs to work around, and more dramatic a fallout when it all comes to a head… and it will—trust us.
We Know Updates Are Expensive
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that upgrades and updates to your infrastructure can cost some serious cash, and your budget isn’t bottomless. You might be tempted to put off updates for as long as humanly possible just to save money in the short term. This isn’t practical, and it isn’t sustainable, as sooner or later, your lack of investment in IT will come back to haunt you with even more expensive consequences that can (and will) break your budget.
Upgrading On Time Saves Your Business Money
When you upgrade according to schedule, you avoid some of the more costly issues businesses face: performance issues and the ever-sneaky end-of-support dates for your technology.
Performance Issues
Over time, your systems will grow outdated and become slower. Whether it’s load times or just a generalized decrease in speed and performance, you’ll be left wondering if you need to upgrade or if you can grin and bear with it for a little while longer. These performance issues, however, can cost you in time and frustration, and you shouldn’t let them persist for too long.
Performance issues like this essentially function like a slow oil leak in your vehicle; it’s only a slight inconvenience until it becomes a major issue, and by then, it becomes a much more difficult problem to address. Some of the processes that could be impacted include shutdown and startup times, loading programs, your ability to multitask, and so on.
End of Support
Your updates will eventually become unavailable, too, especially as your older operating system becomes unsupported by the developer. Right now, for example, Windows 10 is on the cusp of its end of support date, and you can expect Microsoft’s support for the OS to dry up soon. Strictly speaking, Windows 10 is never going to run as well as you want it to again. While you can invest in extended security support, it’s not a viable long-term solution, which is why we recommend upgrading to Windows 11 as soon as possible.
Security Issues
Then there’s the issue of cybersecurity. Remember all those updates? Those contained valuable security updates and new features that put a stop to existing and emerging threats that could target your business. What happens when those updates are no longer deployed to your operating system? Simple: you’ll be less secure and more susceptible to cyberattacks that could cripple your business. This alone should be reason enough to upgrade your technology.
Is It Time For an Upgrade?
Generally speaking, you’ll know when your technology should be upgraded. You’ll feel it in the performance before anything else. It’s good to keep your finger on the pulse of upgrades and new versions of your operating system when you can. Your IT department, if you have one, should have these issues on their radar.
Another rule is that old technology generally doesn’t perform as well as new technology, so the older your hardware, the more likely it is that you need an upgrade. Older hardware has trouble running newer software. Take Windows 11, for example—it’s mostly incompatible with hardware that has powered businesses like yours for years.
If you’re unsure if your technology needs an upgrade, it’s safe to assume that it probably does. You can rely on Business Solutions & Software Group to be there to support your upgrade efforts every step of the way. Learn more by calling us at (954) 575-3992 today.
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