IT is a journey, not a destination. Your IT hardware and architecture is likely to need to be upgraded or refreshed every 5-10 years. Usually this is usually because of a list ofcommon reasons.
Old hardware
As machines get older they get less reliable, and slower. It isn't usually the case that the machine itself gets slower, but rather that the applications running on the machines require more speed and resources than the older machines can offer. As in other areas, you get back you pay for - and high end servers and workstations can usually get comfortably 5-10 years of use; spend less and you will get less back.
End of life applications and Operating Systems
A major driver of IT refreshes in the last decade has been the discontinuation of support from Microsoft and other vendors for their Operating Systems and applications. Windows XP went EOL (end of life) in 2014, and Windows 7 went EOL in January 2020. This combined with the more recent requirements of GDPR and other industry standards means that continuing to run old Operating Systems and unsupported applications is risky and non-compliant. Application vendors (such as Software of Excellence) now tend to follow the Operating System vendors in withdrawing support for that OS at the same time, or shortly after, Microsoft does. Sometimes it is possible to reinstall older hardware with new Operating Systems, but often this is not commercially viable.
New technology
Another driver is new technology. As practices went paperless, scanners and more recently hardware to capture digital forms and signatures has been needed. With the advent of 3D CBCT technology, and 3D scanners, more computers needed to have much better graphical and CPU capability, to cope with rendering the 3D images. Covid-19 has seen a dramatic uptake in laptops and AIO (all in one) computers with built in cameras and audio, as remote diagnosis and telemedicine has become mainstream.
IT refresh
Data growth
The longer you have been computerised, the more data you will accumulate and the more capacity and power you will need to store, process, search and retrieve that data.
Cloud and connected services
More and more services are moving to being entirely cloud based; you need Internet connections, equipment and IT solutions which exploit and integrate with cloud services.
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