To upgrade or not to upgrade, that is the question.
Of course, if the question is “should I upgrade my phone when I’m eligible?” it’s a little less complicated than if the question is “should I upgrade to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.2?”. Therein lies the problem. The more complicated a decision, the greater the risk.
In the days before Oracle implemented its continuous adoption strategy for JD Edwards, a major upgrade was something that occurred every 3-5 years. Since the release of EnterpriseOne 9.2 back in October 2015, there hasn’t been another major release. With support guaranteed to at least 2031, 9.2 will be the code base of choice for years to come.
At the time of writing, around a third of JDE E1 customers have yet to upgrade to 9.2. Around 2-3 years after 9.2 was released we saw a significant move to adoption, with a large number of customers embracing the mantra of get current stay current. Since then, we’ve seen a slowdown in adoption rates. So, what’s preventing the final third from making the move?
Our own research suggests the biggest barriers to adoption are risk and uncertainty. The two are inextricably linked as, the greater the degree of uncertainty, the greater the element of risk. Ironically, delaying an upgrade also leads to greater risk, so you’re damned if you do and your damned if you don’t. Or are you?
Any major decision involves a balancing of risk versus reward, but in the case of a major upgrade, the risks are not the same and staying as you are offers little in the way of reward. One of the major challenges facing any organization planning an upgrade is the technical retrofitting of custom or modified objects. The bigger your modified footprint, the more complex the upgrade project is likely to be. However, an upgrade is also an opportunity to reduce the number of modifications and to move closer to a standardized implementation.
It is the fear of the unknown that prevents many customers from pushing the boundaries and exploring new opportunities. Just like the old cartographers would have you believe, here be dragons. The key to overcoming the uncertainty barrier it to have a clear understanding of the exact impact of the proposed upgrade. Better intelligence means more informed decision making and less risk.
The longer a business leaves it before an upgrade, the bigger the technical debt it occurs. Unsupported software always represents a risk. When that software is as fundamental to the success of your business as JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, the risks become greater.
DWS has been a respected member of the JDE community for over 20 years. In that time, we have helped countless organizations meet their technical retrofit challenges. Our Dimension Analyze service provides a forensic analysis of the modified components of a JDE E1 implementation, helping to identify decommissioning opportunities and allowing for the delivery of a fixed price and fixed timeline for the technical retrofit element of an upgrade. Our development team also deliver the lowest defect levels in the industry.
We’re so confident we can help de-risk your project that we’re offering our extract and analysis service free of charge for anyone planing an upgrade to 9.2.
