The fiscal year of 2018 has ended for many companies but the calendar year of 2018 is moving right along. This means while some companies are finally taking a deep breath, others are getting ready for the rush for the final three months of the year. This is especially true for business software vendors.
This may sound obvious, but software runs at its best when its up to date. Whether you’re talking about accounting and/or human resources systems, software also needs to be updated each year to reflect new tax or HR compliance laws. Most of these updates are mere patches to the software, and don’t require assistance to implement.
However, many companies take this time of year to reevaluate their business systems to see what can be updated or upgraded. These are processes that take way more time, money and effort than downloading and installing a patch. For these major projects, a software partner usually is needed to help guide a project of this size.
The problem lies when everyone needs a project done at the end of the year. While I can’t speak for every software vendor on the planet, I can guarantee they’ll all say the same thing: Start scheduling your year-end projects now.
Top 5 reasons to schedule year-end projects with your software partner
Let’s take a look at the reasons why software partners want their customers to schedule year-end projects starting around this time of the year:
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The end of the year is a busy time for both you and your software partner.
It’s the holiday season. The end of the year is the holiday season, with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Day all coming up. Aside from those specific days, people spend a great deal of time during the last few months of the year preparing for those days. Whether its attending a Christmas pageant at a child’s school, buying presents while the kids are in school, or preparing your home for company, many people take time off during this time of year. Software vendors are no different. Scheduling ahead of time helps software vendors make sure not to schedule time off when there’s a project, and vice versa.
- It’s the flu season. During this time of year, sniffles can turn into the flu faster than you can say Jack Frost. Those bugs then can spread around offices and linger. While you can’t schedule the flu, you can make sure projects are on the schedule to make sure they’re taken care of by those who are healthy.
- Everyone’s doing it. Practical Software Solutions has hundreds of customers. While not all of them need our help at the end of the year, we do get our fair share of people who need our assistance. By getting on the schedule early, you can ensure you’re not left out.
- Emergencies happen. Murphy’s Law seems to happen when you least want it to happen. If something’s going to go wrong, like a virus or hardware breakdown, sure enough, it will happen during the holidays. Major emergencies will take precedence even over some scheduled projects. That’s another reason to get with your software partner early, so you won’t have to worry about conflicts with emergencies.
- Don’t get left behind. We recommend to our customers to stay within the range of currently supported versions of their business system. Oftentimes, new versions of software are released just before or just after the first of the year. Year End is a good time to evaluate whether you need to keep up with your supported software.
The biggest reason we say all this is we want to make sure we take care of everyone. And we’re sure other software vendors want the same thing. So make sure you take the time to get with your software partner to make sure you’re taken care of during the year end.