How To Save On Software Maintenance Costs

Last Updated on December 13, 2022 by Tatyana Vandich

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

Computer software maintenance costs monopolize an increasing portion of companies’ budgets. However, the management of a computer system on the premises involves a variety of operations, including software maintenance. Below are nine problems that we’ve identified, related to software maintenance.

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1- Failures

The cost of a failure to the computer system (especially when it’s critical) may be higher than the cost of replacing equipment, damaged date or software.

2- Fault in the Installation of New Systems

An SME may be disadvantaged in comparison with the competition when a failure occurs when installing new systems or offering new services. This because systems or services will not be available during installation.

3- Data loss

No company is immune to accidental data loss or damage to equipment or software by employees. However, it has been estimated that the replacement cost related to these contingencies may exceed the company’s computer budget.

4- Changing Priorities

A lot of time is spent on software maintenance. Staff in charge of maintenance has not often completed maintenance tasks when new requests arise. This results in delaying software maintenance and undermining the effectiveness of systems.

5- Changing Priorities

SMBs operate in a constantly changing business environment.

However, the low life cycle of computer equipment (3 to 5 years) and the pace of innovation are such that a system may already be outdated at the time of implementation.

The company may then expect to assume recurrent software maintenance costs in order to replace equipment every 3 or 5 years.

These expenses are required in most cases. Upgrading equipment to respond to emerging needs may be risky if systems have not been replaced for long.

6- Labor Cost

Computer experts are expensive. The Information Technology department may then end up using a large portion of a company’s budget. However, these experts mostly spent their time on software maintenance.

7- Flaws in the Development

Because they find the expense too prohibitive, small and medium-size businesses do not devote enough resources to the development of their computer system. If they make important savings at the time of implementation, they will nevertheless have to absorb higher maintenance costs subsequently to correct the situation.

8- Lack of a Business Continuity Plan

Because they consider it too expensive, very few small and medium-size businesses have a business continuity plan for computer services. In case of failure, they must nevertheless absorb the cost connected to the system shutdown and be deprived of its use for at least two days.

This results in a loss of income up to $ 8000 plus the cost for the duration of shutdown.

9- Lack of Proactivity

Too many companies wait for a crisis to react.

However, a crisis affecting the operation of company’s computer system can affect software maintenance.

Because the company did not want to deal with the problem at the time it happened, it takes such proportions that it becomes almost impossible to solve.