Does the thought of upgrading your enterprise systems daunt you? You are not alone. According to Gartner, enterprise software upgrades can cost an average of 30 percent of the original software installation price, take months, even a year to complete, and require meticulous planning.

Upgrading your enterprise systems (ES) is a complex undertaking that recurs throughout the systems' life span. Organizations need to adopt strategies and methodologies that can minimize disruptions and risks during these times.

What if we told you upgrades need not be such an uphill endeavor? What if we told you there are platforms and enterprise software available that withstands the shifts in the underlying technology and makes upgrades relatively simple?

Sagitec has been helping clients develop pension software using a low-code/no-code Platform since 2004. Over the last 17 years, our Platform, now called Xelence^TM, has evolved and currently supports 30 different pension organizations and several large unemployment insurance agencies.

Xelence, Sagitec's low-code/no-code Platform, sits on three bedrock pillars: adaptability, separation, and scalability. We continuously adapt and improve the Platform by assimilating new and innovative technologies and services into new releases. The separation allows us to continually innovate and deploy new releases and features without adversely affecting customer-built solutions. Our Platform automatically scales vertically and horizontally to handle varying levels of users and workloads cost-effectively.

Find out more about Sagitec's low-code/no-code platform Xelence by clicking below.

Along with the Platform, we have established many processes that easily upgrade to the latest version of Xelence. Upgrades are critical as they provide you with new features, greater efficiency for users, and better performance from applications. Here are reasons why you should consider Xelence and how it removes the obstacles from your path.

1. Frequent upgrades: You might think upgrading frequently might hinder your performance and your team's efficiency. But the risks associated with infrequent upgrades are severe – you may experience degradation of performance, increased security risks, or unnecessary inefficiencies from waiting for an enhanced set of functionalities. Our major upgrades occur every 18-24 months. Our minor upgrades like our security patches are implemented as required. We have a "no client left behind" philosophy. We upgrade everyone to every major release, which is how our customers avoid technical obsolescence.  
   
2. Less time to upgrade: Our competitors perform upgrades that take several months (even years) to implement every 4 or 5 years, requiring a full team of dedicated subject matter experts during the entire upgrade duration. With our schedule, we take about 8-14 weeks to complete, with client involvement only needed in the final two weeks of the process.
   
3. The lower total cost of ownership: We separate the business logic and the technology layers, allowing you the ability to change and customize your line of business solutions, like your pension administration functionality, without impacting the upgrade path. This design also allows us not to charge a premium price for enhancements that many other partners do. According to our analysis, we provide an average of 30% savings over 20 years, lowering your TCO for projects. You can read more about our cost savings here.
   
4. Easy knowledge sharing: Sagitec's knowledge and learning management solution builds a continuous learning culture and promotes knowledge-driven organizations. All our clients have access to our knowledge management tool, and we keep updated records of our upgrades for them to access and learn more. We also provide information about upgrades' pre-requisites/requirements for better planning.
   
5. Frequent demos and training: We provide clients with upgrade demos before starting the upgrade and interim demos for expectation-setting. For a better client and user experience, we provide upgrade-related training during the implementation.
   
6. Focus on testing: Based on client feedback, we have focused on testing internally. We've tripled the number of regression testing scripts, focused on automation, and significantly decreased PIRs. In fact, we have seen increased performance in the quality of our delivery in the last five upgrades. To help clients with the scope of testing, we provide test scripts and scenarios too.
   
7. Process and Efficiency: With a dedicated and skilled upgrade team, we are currently delivering six upgrades per year, including MVVM, and we are building capacity for more upgrades in the future. With every experience, we grow our expertise with these projects and focus on our clients' success. We have developed extensive guides and checklists that make it easy for us to be consistent in our delivery.
   
8. References: We provide other client references to ensure transparency, clear communication, and comfort in moving forward with the upgrade. Clients learn from each other in the process and the importance of the upgrades for seamless functionality. 
   
9. Planned roadmaps: We have a yearly roadmap for upgrades produced after extensive discussions with our clients and internal teams, including our user community and customer advocacy programs. This holistic roadmap serves as a well laid out plan for seamless delivery and successful upgrades.
10.  Desupport: To avoid technical obsolescence, we recommend that clients move to the latest version while we continue to support the latest and one prior version of the Platform software.

Upgrades don't have to be a painful endeavor. Finding the right partner and approach can help you avoid technological obsolescence, providing excellence and efficiency for your teams and your members.

If you want to find out more about how Sagitec's upgrades keep your TCO low, click below.