December 18, 2006

Application Upgrades: When And Why

How To Make Tough Decisions On Protecting Your Apps Investments

by Paul D. Hamerman

with Sharyn Leaver, R "Ray" Wang, Elisse Gaynor

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Organizations face agonizing decisions to upgrade, or not to upgrade, their enterprise applications. A big driver of these decisions is the vendor-imposed release support schedules, which require customers to upgrade within a five- to eight-year time frame. There are good reasons to upgrade, but the benefits are not always clear. Key reasons to upgrade include avoidance of compliance and technical risks, business benefits, and improved technology. Factors deterring and delaying upgrades include upgrade project costs, customizations, and business cycles and release maturity. To make complex upgrade decisions, Forrester recommends using a framework that takes into account the costs and project risks, along with the business benefits, risk avoidance, and flexibility.

Buy Risk-Free

Download and print PDF immediately. Price: US $1749

Our Money-Back Guarantee: If you are not completely satisfied, return it for a full refund within three weeks of your online purchase.

Already a Forrester Client?
Log in to read this document.