mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

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Stop wasting money on legacy application maintenance

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Save MoneyAccording to a recent survey, the federal government spends $35 billion every year maintaining legacy applications. In other words, it costs $35 billion dollars just to keep everything running smoothly. When I hear numbers like this, a couple of questions immediately come to mind. How do they determine maintenance cost? How much would it cost to maintain modern applications?

I think the better question is this: Why is maintenance for legacy applications more expensive than maintenance for modern applications? After all, if you modernized your applications, you would have to maintain the new applications too. What makes legacy application maintenance so expensive? While I’m sure there are more, here are 4 big reasons: …

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How long should business software stay current?

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Save MoneyI wrote up a post last week about avoiding software purchase failure. A commenter on that post made a great point: Software failure is sometimes caused by planned obsolescence–the deliberate planning of a product with limited useful life.

In other words, many software vendors realize that it’s in their best interest to create software that only stays relevant for a few years. If they create software that’s good enough to buy, but not good enough to last 10 years, you’ll buy more software and they’ll make more money. …

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4 reasons why software purchases fail

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Save MoneyHave you ever been in a “blame” meeting? It’s one of those meetings called when numbers are down or after a project or purchase failed miserably. As you might guess, there’s a lot of finger pointing and blame spreading. Not only are these meetings painful, they are completely unproductive. Since everyone is too busy deflecting blame, no one learns from their mistakes.

I’d like to help you avoid these meetings. Obviously, I can’t write a definitive guide on how to avoid failure, as every business and situation is different. However, I can help you avoid failure in one area that applies to most companies: Software purchases. In my experience, software purchases usually fail for one of four reasons. I’d like to explain those reasons and then tell you how to avoid them. …

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6 reasons why IT projects fail

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Save MoneyA successful IT project is one that is delivered on time, at or under budget, and working as originally planned. According to the Standish group, only 32% of IT projects are considered successful. Believe it or not, that’s an improvement over years past.

Why are most IT projects unsuccessful? I found a nice article entitled “Why IT projects fail” which lists 6 of the most important reasons for failure. I couldn’t agree more with the first point: Lack of user involvement. If your project will be used at all by end users, they must be involved early on. After all, a new system or application that end users can’t (or don’t want to) use is a waste of money. …

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Keys to a successful BI implementation

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Save MoneyBusiness intelligence (BI) can provide incredible advantages when implemented correctly, such as agility, better decision-making, and even increased profitability. BI is not without risks, however.

How can you implement a BI solution with the greatest chance for success? Let’s take a look at our options. In the past, there were really only two: Build it yourself or buy a pre-packaged solution. …

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How much does free really cost?

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Save MoneyThe web is changing perceptions about what should be free. Companies are giving away software for seemingly nothing. Some of it actually looks like good, quality software. But…is it really free? What does “free” actually cost? Answer: A lot more than you might think. Let me explain.

While “free” products may not cost money upfront, you typically end up paying in one of these three forms: …

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