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The meaning of the word ‘hysteresis’ depends on the field you apply it to (physics, engineering, biology or economics), but it originates in Greek and roughly translates as ‘deficiency’ or ‘lagging behind’.
In the context of IT, hysteresis means that if you allow your systems and platforms etc to fall too far behind, it becomes harder to catch up again. Leave it too long and you will reach a point where it is impossible or uneconomical to do so.
You may believe you are saving your company money by not updating your systems, but if your infrastructure is getting old and creaky, you will need to do more in order to move forward. Whilst this will enable you to catch up with any competitors who regularly update their systems, it will only bring your up to their level at the time you take the decision to upgrade. It will therefore not take long for you to start lagging behind again.
And by allowing your IT infrastructure to lag too far behind, you risk a negative effect when your applications stop working.
Higher costs, greater uncertainty, more risk
If, for example, your client uses a cloud document management system that is integrated with your own system, you both need to upgrade regularly and at the same rate. Cloud updates typically automatically update for a couple of years, but no provider is willing to continue supporting all the iterations and will, therefore, stop issuing free upgrades, which could leave you both high and dry.
It is the same with any software. Sage only supports three versions of upgrade – if yours is more than three behind the current system, you will be physically unable to update your Sage account. The only way of bridging the gap is to spend time and money doing interim upgrades to bring you up-to-date enough to upgrade again to the latest system; a method that also involves a risk to your data.
On the other hand, if your approach is to keep your system up-to-date, you mitigate the risks.
Timing the ‘magic minute’
If your culture is to sweat your IT assets, do you upgrade all the time or drive it into the ground? If you stand still or reduce investment, you start falling behind – and the further you fall behind the harder it is to catch up. You then need to decide when that ‘magic minute’ is – the point at which you release funds to upgrade so you do not end up so far behind, you are condemned to never catch up or overtake competition, with the consequence that you could be condemning yourself to failure.
It is the same kind of decision you need to take when thinking about replacing your car. Do you spend money replacing it every three years, or opt to keep it going for as long as possible? The latter means you run the risk that the vehicle could break down more often, and there will come a time when you end up spending more on repairs and maintenance than it is actually worth… and you will still then have to replace it.
How often is it best to upgrade?
We are not advocating upgrading your systems every time there is a new release. There is a fine balance between keeping as up-to-date as possible so upgrading is less costly and painful, at the same time as maintaining your competitive edge by not spending every time there is an upgrade.
What we do know from our clients’ experiences is that if, to date, you have opted to do very little but then decide to change strategy in order to upgrade more often, you will need to factor in the cultural changes this will inevitably bring with it, as well as plenty of time for your staff to get used to them.
We advocate that the ‘magic moment’ for upgrades is every 2-3 years. The timescale ensures you do not lag too far behind which means the upgrades run smoothly and have no pain points. These little and often upgrades will keep your staff up-to-date, enabling them to work on efficient systems, making the process as easy and cost-effective as possible.
If you would like to talk to us about upgrading your system and keeping your infrastructure up-to-date, contact us to book an appointment.
Lumina Technologies have taken the time to understand the requirements of our business and work as our strategic IT partner, enabling us to concentrate on delivering a high quality service to our clients and focus on our growth strategy. They have delivered a 100% cloud solution to our business with no underlying infrastructure costs or maintenance, which gives us scalability for our planned growth. It also means our business critical applications and data are securely accessible from virtually all our user devices. Lumina’s professional approach and strategic expertise is highly valued and their management of our IT – based on their in-depth knowledge, leaves us confident that our systems are available 24×7.
Luke Harrison
Keidan Harrison LLP
Lumina have supported us so well through the difficult circumstances of 2020. They worked extremely hard to ensure we were able to work remotely and continue to operate our business successfully. The support team are very friendly and knowledgeable, and have excellent response times.
The team have also enhanced our cyber security which is so important in the legal sector, and they continue to provide high quality advice to help us move forward with our IT goals.
Robin Illingworth
Managing Partner, Adams & Remers LLP
The quality of IT Support provided by Lumina Technology is of the highest standard and is complemented by effective client liaison with impressive response times. Trap Oil Group plc has no hesitation in recommending Lumina as a dedicated and specialist group of IT professionals.
Martin David
Technical Director, Trap Oil Group plc
Richard and his team are a real inspiration to anyone who meets them and I have watched Lumina’s growth over the last few years with interest and admiration. Richard has been an amazing supporter of the Hospice of St Francis, being a Gold member of the Corporate Partner Network for almost two years. He takes an active interest in the community and is passionate about his company and his town: nothing is too much trouble, he is always willing to help, to give up his time and to provide business advice when asked. Lumina is an inspiration to any company wanting to set up business in Hertfordshire.
Carolyn Addison
Corporate Fundraising Manager, The Hospice of St Francis
Lumina Technologies Prism Hosted Desktop has allowed our business to centralise our global corporate data, allowing much faster access for all our staff – regardless of their location. We have also been able to simplify and reduce our infrastructure and management overhead. With the new Prism Hosted Desktop solution all staff now have simple and secure access to corporate data using any device they choose. Prism Hosted Desktop has increased the productivity of our staff and given us a single, consistent and familiar experience for all users from any device, in any location, 24/7.
Katherine Roe
Chief Executive Officer, Wentworth Resources PLC
The commercially sensitive and regulated nature of Lambert Energy Advisory’s business requires an IT provider able to maintain the highest levels of integrity and confidentiality, Lumina Technologies has consistently been unimpeachable in this regard over the nine years we have employed them.
Patrick Agar
Lambert Energy Advisory
It has been a great pleasure working with Lumina Technologies over the past two years. They have fully committed to being involved in the local community with volunteering and with professional advice and commitment, helping many local charities along the way. As a growing company it proves that being involved in the local community is helping them attract and retain a talented workforce and I look forward to working with them well into the future.
Cindy Withey
Connect Dacorum
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd is a small company for which IT Outsourcing is realistically the only viable option. Lumina Technologies have successfully performed this role for over fifteen years. They also provide innovative solutions to keep pace with technological progress. I would have no hesitation in recommending Lumina to similar sized businesses.
Stephen Pembury
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd
Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP have been using Lumina Technologies for a number of years now and continue to be impressed by the technical know-how and contemporary knowledge of their senior management, who provide a timely, efficient and friendly service. Whether it is a small issue with one computer, or a strategic IT decision, they maintain a current knowledge of available technologies. Lumina are always at the other end of the phone to help resolve issues and minimise business interference. The technical knowledge of Richard and his senior team means that there has not been a problem that they can’t solve to date. I am sure we will continue to use them in the years to come.
Charles Douglas
Managing Partner, Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP
The team at Lumina Technologies have made the Amoun Travel & Tours office IT transition seamless and problem free. The office set-up has been vastly improved and the IT Support services are flawless. No issue goes unresolved, which is extremely reassuring.
Adam Helmy
Amoun Travel & Tours Ltd
Lumina Technologies has been Salamander Energy plc’s IT provider since start-up in 2005 and has supported us in London during our expansion across operational offices in SE Asia. Their professional approach, strategic advice and close co-operation have been essential in making this a success.
John Bell
Group Technical Director, Salamander Energy plc
Richard and his team at Lumina have provided Perrett Laver Limited with high quality strategic and practical IT Services for over ten years. During this period, Perrett Laver has grown from 10+ colleagues based in London to nearly 100 colleagues located in six offices across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Richard and the Lumina team have not just been responsive to our ‘everyday’ IT needs, but have proactively sought to work with us on developing an infrastructure suitable for the type of operation we are today, and are planning to be months and years down the line. I would not hesitate to recommend Richard, especially for small to medium size business with growth in mind.
Clementine McKinley
COO, Perrett Laver Limited
Society Limited has been supported by Lumina Technologies since our earliest start-up phase. From large logistical challenges like an office move, through to smaller fiddly issues like fixing a faulty e-template, we know we can count on their support and advice. They’ve also been able to engage with us strategically on the challenge of scaling-up our infrastructure as the firm continues to grow and evolve. We always feel confident going to Lumina with a problem, since we know they genuinely care about sorting things out and helping us to get on with our core business.
Simon Lucas
Managing Director, Society Limited
The Vita Group HQ staff have worked with Richard McBarnet and Lumina Technologies for over 9 years, with Lumina providing all our PC, server, phone, and software support. The services have included C-level executives based in London, Manchester, the US, as well as supporting home office IT as well. The service provided and intellectual capabilities are outstanding and we would highly recommend Richard and his Lumina team.
Joe Menendez
CEO, The Vita Group
We worked with Lumina on a GDPR Audit. Richard was knowledgeable and professional throughout, and did the best he could to bring a dry topic to life through lots of real life examples and analogies. We were so impressed with the service Lumina provided and the value we got from partnering with them on this project – we couldn’t recommend them enough.
Holly Cottingham, Vintec Laboratories
