Software manufacturers are constantly adding new features and functionality to their products. This means that every 18 months or so there will be a release of the next major version of a product.
The process of moving up to this next version is called upgrading.
The cost of this upgrade is often a lot less than if you bought the new product off the shelf, and you may find yourself saving 40 – 70% of the full retail price.
Although software manufacturers will always like you to upgrade to the latest version of the software there may be little or no business benefit in doing so. It is perfectly acceptable to be running “older” software as long as you are still getting business benefit and it is still fit for purpose. Issues will arise when the software is more than, say, 5 years old as you may find the manufacturer has withdrawn support for the product. At this point it would be wise to invest in an upgrade or you may have performance and security related issues.
Always look at new versions as they are made available as you may find a new feature that addresses a problem or issue you have been having. If that is the case, and you can justify it, by all means upgrade.
Source:
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