We really do understand – you hesitate to spend your hard-fought budget dollars on new hardware, like computers and servers, when the current, 10-year-old equipment seems to be working perfectly fine today, or your user base is accustomed to your current version of Windows XP so upgrading to Windows 10 seems like a waste. The truth remains, many IT departments have the potential to fall into the trap of letting software or hardware age a little bit too much, and this hurts your business in a few key ways:

• You will be less secure because your hardware and software may lack technology or features that did not exist when they were released.

• You will have less functionality – technology and the user experience improves and becomes more efficient at a breakneck pace.

• Bugs, bugs, bugs! There will be bugs when software and hardware is released that may not show up until later, if at all.

• Frankly, you are exposed to risk, litigation, and bad publicity if your older, less secure systems are breached which can be very damaging, or even fatal, to your business.

Among these main business concerns, security is often the most important. But there are a ton of obvious benefits from instituting a somewhat regular and easy-to-follow update/upgrade schedule for your software and hardware systems:

• You will experience the full capabilities of modern software and hardware – features and functions that were simply not around the last time you made a purchase.

• You can gain a competitive advantage over the competition that looks at IT as a cost center rather than as a way to work faster, more efficiently, at less cost.

• You can use this as a top-talent recruitment tool – the latest and greatest attracts the best – if you don’t have it, someone else will!

• Your current staff will be happier and have increased morale because things work better and software is more user-friendly.

• Using the MSP model, your costs become much more manageable and easier to budget for, as they are spread out monthly as operational expenses versus capital, upfront investments.

Another important point when considering whether you should upgrade your hardware: It does not have to be your hardware. There are many high-quality, cutting-edge data centers around the country, like DC BLOX in our hometown, who lease rack space in their data centers at competitive rates. It is in their best interest to stay up-to-date for their customers and offer the latest technology to remain on the leading edge themselves.

We are not suggesting that you upgrade everything you own immediately or operate on a strict timeline, no matter what. This would certainly reduce your agility and would be too rigid of an IT policy. The litmus test should always be: “will upgrading make us safer and more secure, make my team work more effectively, and help us reduce IT costs without hurting the business experience?" If these are all true, you should plan for upgrades. If you are still not sure, Pioneer Technology offers a complete Total Risk Analysis to help make those decisions even easier. And we would be remiss if we did not mention Pioneer Technology can manage this cycle for you as your hard-working, trusted partner, and make recommendations in real-time based on what we know about your systems. If you think it might be time for an upgrade but do not know exactly where to start, contact us and we would be happy to get you on the right upgrade path.