Ever wonder if “software end of life” mean your software and systems just die on a specific date? They don’t actually ‘die’, but the manufacturer no longer supports that particular version. That means no fixes or enhancements and, frequently, no further support to answer questions. People will sometimes think “Well, if it’s still running fine for me, I don’t need to upgrade.” That may not be the best course of action. Here’s why:

HIPPA Concerns and Support

HIPAA concerns – with all the news in recent years about people’s account and credit card information getting hacked, there is even more concern with protecting confidential health information. HIPAA carries some hefty fines for any breach that occurs and, with no further security fixes or enhancements happening on software past its “End of Life”, you’re more vulnerable to hacking.

Support – if you have an issue, or even just a question, the resolution to that issue will take longer the more versions you fall behind the manufacturer’s current version. Help Desk personnel are usually supporting 2 to 3 versions of the software and have to remember the differences between versions, what tools and actions are available in each version, and any known issues that were in a particular version that may have been addressed in a later version. If they need to go back 5 versions to answer your question or address an issue, they will probably need to go through the documentation to refresh themselves on the version first.

Key Dates for Microsoft End of Life

ASPYRA Product Versions

Below are the two most recent versions of ASPYRA’s products. You can check your version by going to the Help menu and selecting About.

We recommend you stay within 2 versions of the most recent release to get the most benefit of the software and make upgrades easier.

Turnover and Cost

Turnover – every organization has personnel turnover at some point. If you’re on a very old version of software and have turnover in key personnel who knew the software best or have several roles experience turnover at the same time, you may be left with no one available to train new staff on the use of the software. That will cut down on your productivity and effective use of the system.

Cost – it may be costing you more than you realize by not upgrading. Old versions of software are not designed to run on newer hardware, often can’t make as effective use of resources, and generally are slower with less features. In an industry where Time is Money, that costs you in productivity. And when your old hardware fails and has to be replaced, you may be forced to buy all new versions when you could have upgraded for far less. Once software is too many versions behind the current version, it can be impossible to do a simple upgrade.