The other day, I posted about the release of Office 2010. The comments got me wondering why companies don't upgrade more frequently.
Dan's company, for instance, is just about to jump onto Office 2007 after stewing in Office 2002 for the last 8 years. Many of you are still using Office 2003.
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The way I figure it, most companies don't upgrade because of one reason: The IT Department. That's right….I said it. IT Departments. Of course, I can back this up with lots of anecdotal (he said – she said) evidence.
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Let's do a simple exercise. Let's go into the mind of an IT Portfolio manager.
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(cue the dream sequence music…ala Wayne's World)
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Microsoft Office 2010 is coming out with tons of great features. This version will make make our Office Documents more secure and will integrate with our beloved SharePoint better than ever before. (IT folks love their SharePoint).
Financially speaking, we can upgrade easily. Given our super-duper Microsoft Enterprise Licensing agreement, our costs will be minimal.
On the other hand, we do have over 4000 users – and they are IT morons.
If we push out a new version of Office, they'll complain, they'll screw up the install, they'll flood the Help-Desk with calls saying moronic things like "my Excel crashed the Firewall".
And who knows how SAP, Essbase, Hyperion, and the other corporate applications will handle the new version of Office? In the end, the benefits don't outweigh the risks. No upgrade this year.
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(cue the coming out of dream sequence music)
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So there you are. You, as the IT Portfolio Manager, have just talked yourself out of upgrading Microsoft Office for another version. And it's my belief that this entire thought process happens faster than you can say 'Mountain Dew and Sunflower Seeds'. No meetings needed.
