B2B Data Integration and Transformation Blog

When speaking with customers, especially those customers that do not experience any issues with their EDI/MFT applications, one of the main questions I hear is, why should I pay for renewing my support and maintenance.  Many customers view the receipt of their annual support and maintenance invoice from their software vendor as an annual contribution to their software vendor with little return on the contribution.  However, that is far from the case.  Below is an outline of the typical benefits of renewing your annual software support and maintenance.  It is not all encompassing, but does cover most of the benefits. 

In an effort to provide you with the most current product information, we wanted to pass a long a brief update for those who have GENTRAN, Sterling B2B Integrator or File Gateway installations.

The last versions of these products released by Sterling Commerce before being acquired by IBM are quickly approaching their End of Support Dates (see below).  Current versions of these products are available for download in your IBM Passport Advantage or Passport Express account if you are current on Software Subscription & Support (SS&S).

From a Bigger Picture Perspective.........

Do you ever wonder why you have all these updates on your computer when you boot up in the morning?  How about when you first buy a computer you have to spend hours to catch up on all the upgrades?  I remember when I started my career in IT back in 1997, Microsoft’s stock price was over $100 per share and then the bottom dropped out.  Microsoft had a great product but people only had to buy it once so they didn’t have a consistent revenue stream.  Then when the new release came out a couple of years later no one needed to buy it because the original version still worked fine.  I could see the marketing department at Microsoft sitting at conference table and pontificating on how they would get people to buy new versions of their products.  Then they announced that they were no longer going to support older versions and that forced companies to have to upgrade to newer versions.

Recently, Blog authors from Remedi have outlined the value of upgrading software to supported versions and some of the risks in not doing so...see the Blog from earlier this month Supporting Systems and Staying Current.  In addition to staying current and associated benefits, the article outlined version support for B2B Software from the likes of Cleo/EXTOL, TIE, and IBM.

One new and related announcement that occurred this week in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category was from IBM concerning Sterling Connect:Enterprise.

As integration continues to evolve, it is imperative to keep the department working at peak efficiency.

If you are trying to save money by prolonging the life of an outdated system, you’re not only investing in false economies, but you’re missing out on technological advances.  Technology advancement can pay a sizable ROI derived from savings on downtime, improved system efficiencies, remote system capabilities, energy savings, increased safety or a combination of those benefits.