Maintenance on Software
Buying software is normally a painless process, and most companies accept that they have maintenance for a year at the very least, unless they have purchased additional maintenance for a set period of time. They know that for this period, they will have access to technical support, patches, downloads of new software, and in some cases, a technical account manager.
What most companies don’t cater for, or don’t do, is maintenance after the initial period lapses. Most times this happens due to budgetary purposes. Companies are all under financial pressure, and some more than others due to the industries in which they work or countries they operate in. As such, they look for places to cut, and software maintenance is normally that. Other times it could simply be that, when the software was purchased, not enough due diligence was done to figure in the renewal costs, and sometimes these end up being prohibitively expensive.
I’ve seen both sides to this: Companies who stick with software maintenance yearly as well as companies who forfeit the chance to continue with maintenance.
So what are the benefits of renewing maintenance on your software?
- Software updates
With software patches coming out regularly, it makes sense to keep up with these patches. Some vendors stop these patches by limiting your access to them on their website, and this leads to some serious security issues that the company could experience. Vendors might also look at charging for patches if maintenance is not current, so cost-wise, this could end up escalating costs even more than if the company had simply renewed;
- New software downloads
Who doesn’t want new software? And who doesn’t want new software that’s covered by maintenance right off the bat, with no large upfront costs? With active maintenance it’s possible to simply download your new software and upgrade licenses if needed. This is especially relevant if you have new software that needs to be protected onsite through the use of an upgraded package from a vendor;
- Continued support
At the very minimum, maintenance is extended for 12 months, and can be done for longer if needed. But this gives you peace of mind that you have access to all levels of technical resources should any issues be experienced. Lack of maintenance would see either no help being offered, or a significant charge for this to be done;
- Avoiding penalties
Renewing expired maintenance can become exceptionally expensive if penalties are involved. Software maintenance renewals have sufficient grace periods in which to be renewed and falling outside of that leads, in some cases, to penalties. Some harsh enough to have to look at repurchasing the software from scratch or taking on the pain of moving to a cheaper solution (not always the best).
You need to evaluate the pros and cons of keeping maintenance on software active and weigh them up against costs. Speak to a partner who can assist with maintenance renewals, or directly to Symantec themselves and make sure you’re have access to support when it counts the most!