Why obsolete technology costs you billions of dollars?

There are numerous ways businesses can make profits, from increasing their customer database to minimizing their operational costs. But there is another way of doing so. That is by replacing obsolete technology with new devices. Obsolete technology can harm you in multiple ways. It can make your systems prone to being hacked, meaning that you become vulnerable to numerous cybersecurity issues. So if you don’t want to keep your confidential business-critical information at stake, you should invest in replacing your age-old devices.

Electronic systems become less efficient with an increase in time, meaning that they lose their speed and processing power with time. Moreover, old devices and redundant servers cause severe lags, thereby ruining customer experience. Further, the maintenance cost of obsolete technology is too high when compared with new systems.

Another thing that deters the use of obsolete technology is that it doesn’t integrate with existing business systems like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, thereby slowing your speed and decreasing your productivity.

This article will focus on the problems of obsolete technology and why you should replace them at the earliest.

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1. Obsolete technology increases vulnerability to cyberattacks

As stated in the opening paragraph, obsolete technology will increase your vulnerability to cyberattacks. Research by Identity Theft Resource Center shows that the first half of 2020 saw a total of 540 publicly reported data breaches impacting more than 163 million individuals. Although cyberattacks have reduced by 33% compared with the first half of 2019, this has happened due to many factors, including replacing obsolete technology with devices that integrate instantly with contemporary applications.

If you don’t want to bear significant losses due to phishing attacks and ransomware attacks, you must consider updating your technology.

2. Obsolete technology decreases productivity

Why does a business implement top-notch technology? To increase productivity, right. But obsolete technology is one of the most critical factors behind decreasing productivity. It’s because it causes severe lags, slows down business processes, and increases maintenance costs. According to research, businesses lose about $1.8 billion every year due to obsolete technology. Other reasons why obsolete technology causes you to decrease productivity are as follows:

  • Inability to integrate with contemporary applications.
  • Don’t support cloud applications due to which employees cannot work remotely.
  • Have considerably higher downtime than new technology.
  • Aren’t user-friendly and require expensive technical support.

3. Obsolete technology shrinks customer database

A Microsoft survey shows that over 90% of customers don’t like interacting with companies that use obsolete technology because they aren’t secure, have privacy issues, and lack user-friendliness. Would you like to use technology that isn’t easy to operate? Also, customers don’t enjoy interacting with technology that isn’t convenient and fails to execute functions instantly.

But there is a piece of good news. Many software companies have recently popped up that provide Hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) and Software-as-a-service (SaaS), allowing you to implement up-to-date business software at a low cost. You don’t have to worry about a large up-front fee when you subscribe to their services on a monthly/quarterly/half-yearly/yearly basis. Moreover, the IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) will look after implementing and maintaining your IT infrastructure. So you don’t need a separate IT team to care for your ERP and CRM systems.

Another exciting feature about updating technology is that it isn’t considered as a capital tax while filing returns. Instead, it’s deemed an operating expense, resulting in a 100% tax write-off.

Benefits of HaaS and SaaS programs:

1. No/minimum upfront cost.

Big companies and conglomerates usually implement On-Premise ERP and CRM software, but they have a high implementation cost. On the contrary, HaaS and SaaS vendors don’t demand a massive upfront cost. They charge on a subscription basis that allows small and medium companies to benefit from a full-scale ERP and CRM system.

2. They are flexible.

What is the use of implementing an ERP or CRM software that doesn’t grow along with your company? HaaS and SaaS vendors are flexible and scalable, meaning that they grow with your company.

3. They are secure.

HaaS and SaaS vendors provide top-notch services that are incredibly secure. You will never come up with security challenges with regards to your confidential business information. It’s because ERP and CRM systems perform rigorous identity checks and only allow key stakeholders to access critical information.

4. They don’t require any maintenance on your part.

Cloud-enabled ERP and CRM systems don’t require maintenance on your part. The HaaS and SaaS vendor will automatically update and maintain the system 24 hours a week.

Conclusion

Obsolete technology can decrease your productivity, increase your maintenance cost, and shrink your customer database size. Moreover, you will lag behind your competitors and lose your hold in the market. Also, without efficient forecasting abilities and the power to communicate effectively with your customer, you won’t stand a chance in the market. Thus, it’s better that you do away with obsolete technology as early as possible and reap the benefits.

Author:

nishant joshiNishant Joshi likes to read and write on technologies that form the bedrock of modern-day and age like ERP, CRM, Web Apps, machine learning, data science, AI, and robotics. His expertise in content marketing has helped grow countless business opportunities. Nishant works for Sage Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a leading provider of CRM and ERP Software in India to small and mid-sized businesses.

You can learn more about him on Linkedin

 

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