We know we’re a week late, but Happy New Year! Another year has passed, and as we reflect on our organizations’ accomplishments throughout last year and look into this new year, there’s a question you should ask yourself: “Just how old is our software, and are we missing out on competitive advantages because of it?”
At Cloud 9 Strategies, our team has seen some OLD software in use at companies and nonprofits. Just how old? We’ve seen, in 2017, organizations still using ancient IBM mainframe and midrange computer systems, and their ancient software programs, that date from the 1980s and 1990s. Invariably, we find that these organizations have used these systems — which were certainly built to last — for many, many years with few problems. So why change, they say? “It works for us,” they say.
Which is a more reassuring way of saying, “We don’t know what we don’t know.” Essentially, your organization has been living in a cocoon, comfortable with the way things are, ignoring that the world has changed and technology has accelerated many transformative and useful developments in various industries.
The fact is, no matter how solid those old programs of yours are — like IBM programs, a 10-year-old version of Microsoft Office, or antique accounting software — they are painfully out of date.
Change can be frightening and disruptive, especially for smaller organizations. We’re not saying you should get rid of this old software (although, in a perfect world, we would recommend you upgrade to something more modern and, more importantly, more functional). We’re saying that if you are going to keep it, make sure it’s as 2018-ready as possible.
It’s a good idea for an organization in your situation to bring in an experienced and knowledgeable professional like one of our Cloud 9 consultants to essentially audit your software setup. We’ve worked with all manner of older systems, and we almost certainly know yours. Here’s the good news: It’s possible to keep a lot of that software in place, but add new software around it that makes the old software more useful and powerful. For example, the data from your old systems can be accessed by powerful new customer relationship management tools such as Salesforce.
Think of it as keeping your old car, but installing a new engine. And we’re the honest mechanic who isn’t going to rip you off. We’re just going to do the job right.
If your software is from 2009, 2003, 1998, or you can’t even remember when, drop us a line. We can give it a supercharged tuneup!