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Enterprise Software and Real Estate—Surprisingly Similar

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Bill Langston

The region where NGS is based is growing rapidly and experiencing a real estate boom. Of course, every buyer needs a seller and nearly every seller must become a buyer. For long-time residents of this area, rising home prices mean that the price of buying a smaller home is very likely equal to or greater than the price of selling a larger one; buying a new home comparable in size to the one being sold will cost substantially more. Given these financial factors, what motivates people to sell and buy? Real estate professionals say that many people simply like to buy a new home every 7-10 years, even at a higher cost, to avoid the repair and maintenance projects they put off during that time.

If you’re involved in developing or maintaining enterprise software, you might recognize this thought process. Maybe your company’s application software is showing its age. Through the years, updating and enhancing it has become a low priority. Gradually, the functional gap between the software and your current needs or expectations has grown. Now, you face a decision whether to incur the cost and disruption of implementing new applications or the cost of revitalizing your current ones.

There is another approach that is shown to have the lowest cost, least disruptive impact, and longest life cycle. Whether we’re talking about housing or software, that alternative is to consistently invest in maintenance each year.

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