Software Maintenance

The "Bugaboo" of Ongoing Software Maintenance--Bug Fixes, Patches and Updates

Ah, the joys of managing software and keeping it up to date. Don’t you just love the fact that software providers release one to two updates per year, per application, as well as several interim “patches” to fix bugs and protect against newly discovered security threats? As a prime example of software providers’ “generosity” with their updates, software giant Microsoft releases security patches as often as twice a month, and sometimes even more frequently. In fact, during the month of October 2007, Microsoft released six security updates and re-released one!

When you consider that your company’s Microsoft software programs run on multiple computers throughout your organization, including mobile and home users, you can see how updating all of your computers with every software release can be a huge (and painful) undertaking.

So with each new release, you have a couple of decisions to make: how critical is the update to your computer users, and how quickly does the software update have to be installed? As with everything else, this issue is a bit of a catch-22. On the one hand, there are risks to being an early adopter of software updates—you don’t get to benefit from other people “guinea-pigging” the new release first. On the other hand, there may be critical security threats addressed by the new release. Your network may become increasingly at risk as hackers learn of the security holes in the current software and begin working quickly and furiously to exploit your vulnerability. If you delay the implementation of a software patch, your company is more likely to be hacked.

Not to pile on to the growing mountain of challenges, but there’s also the issue of adding new computers into your company’s network to accommodate new hires or new projects. Equipped with the latest versions of software applications, new computers often have different versions of software than the ones you’re currently running throughout your organization. All of a sudden, you’ve introduced compatibility issues, and processing updates and patches becomes that much more complicated.

Are you getting a headache yet? Well, you’re not alone. Companies of all sizes struggle with version control and application standardization. Yet without these, software updates and patches become increasingly more difficult and consume increasingly more precious time. Precisely because of the challenges involved, many headache-averse companies do not implement updates and patches as often as they should, leaving themselves riddled with preventable bugs and opened to security threats.

There is, however, an easier way (ding ding!). When your company outsources IT to ITonCommand, your software maintenance issues dissolve. This is because subscribing to ITonCommand ensures that all of your users are running the same version of software. Our team of IT experts monitors, tests, and implements software updates and patches to ensure that your company’s computing environment is protected and running as smoothly as possible. You don’t even have to think about it, because you’ve downloaded that headache to us.

With ITonCommand, you benefit from:

• Reduced downtime and costs associated with non-availability of applications. Our updates and patches are performed during our regularly scheduled maintenance windows, which are OUTSIDE of normal business hours.

• Reduced labor costs associated with inefficient security update deployment. ITonCommand’s award-winning security solutions ensure your updates are done right.

• Increased protection of your intellectual property. Your data is safely stored on servers in our state-of-the-art data center facilities, where it’s monitored 24/7/365 and backed up daily.

• Increased productivity. With standardized versions of software running across your organization, you’ve eliminated incompatibility issues and headaches surrounding software update releases.