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With the way the world is at the moment many companies seem to be putting off buying that new expensive replacement system and focusing attention on what value can be gained from their current systems/data. I think this is a really good thing, and maybe it will make people think when we are out of this downturn about whether a new system is really worth it.
The usual scenario is that you have a current computer system that works in the main but maybe you need some more functionality, or that the support contract is up and the company doesn't want to renew on the current platform so a sales person comes in and sells you a brand new shiney system.
And all might be well.
In a lot of cases what can end up happening is that you lose functionality or the knowledge that went with the previous system (or even the data in the migration) and the brand new shiney box that you were sold maybe doesn't work as well as you had hoped. In any case it will have cost you a lot of money and do you always get value for that?
We've been banging the drum of late (and plan to bang louder over the next year) that while we will sell you a brand new shiney system if that is what you NEED we will also look at what can be done/taken from your current systems to get the most value for money. All developers, us included, would love to start from a clean slate each time and write some perfect code but in a lot of cases it isn't cost effective and you lose knowledge and familiarity with systems that currently just work.
To that end we've developed a range of products and services to support this; from 3rd line application support to keep your current applications running to WebSNAPS to take the data and present it as a web application or reports to allow distribution of the data from your application all of which we hope will have even more significance in an economic downturn...
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Why can't that apply to computer software as well?
2 Response to New and shiney.... Is it really always the best way?
have you considered reviewing the business processes that are followed when using either the old or new shiney system to see if there are methods to update the application and streamline the business - thereby increasing the performance, reducing TCO and improving ROI of any development costs...
I think most of the time people are swayed mainly by the salesperson and the fact that it is a new system so it must be better.
I agree with you - most of the time it is the process that needs looking at, not necessarily the system. Maybe once the processes are sorted then you need a new system or some development to help but people get distracted by the new rather than considering the actual business case for this stuff or even if they have they don't make the connection that their current system might be altered for a fraction of the cost of a new system to provide the functionality they need...
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