Please stay alive while we upgrade the software

An unbelievable, yet true story:

A family member was going through a severe medical situation requiring a daily life saving treatment. Treatment took place at the hospital using an expensive medical device. After two weeks of therapy he was asked to skip the next couple days of treatment. Sounds a bit strange given the fact it was a life saving procedure, doesn’t it? Confused, he inquired for the nature of his doctor’s request and was given the answer that device is down for two days due to a software upgrade (of the equipment).

Can you believe it? Critical (life saving) medical infrastructure is down for days due to software upgrade!? It must be a bad joke…

This story is an indication of the criticality of software applications in our lives. Recently there was a big discussion about the impact of a cyber terror attack knocking down the internet. Without getting into a lengthy debate I feel we are past the turning point. Software has become critical part of our lives, especially with regards to some commercial/enterprise applications. Based on the story above it can even be a life saving medicine.

Despite the importance of software, in many cases the overall quality of the package is lacking. We have all heard the stories about vendor locking and challenges some customers have with upgrading commercial software (as well as enterprise software). It always looks like install and upgrade are an afterthought rather than a core capability (similar phenomenon with security and even management capabilities). Occasionally the approach is “once it is up and running - you will get all this great functionality…” This phenomenon is much more common with large software vendors with stronger leverage (i.e. bargaining power) over their customer base.

So how can we align quality with criticality to improve this situation?

A major benefit SaaS vendors bring to the market has to do with their state of mind as companies. Unlike the common perception of SaaS companies as software companies, they are not. SaaS companies are actually SERVICES companies, which happens to develop\market\sell a product. Their state of mind is of a services organization. A CEO of such a company recently told me: “if the service we provide is not good enough, we can (and will) be fired every day”. This refreshing perception of the role of software applications (and software providers) keeps these companies close to (and dependent on) their customers and might be the panacea for the quality (or lack of) delivered. I believe it might even have a positive impact on more traditional software vendors.

So if you are a software vendor, keep in mind the “services state of mind”. But most important – stay healthy!