It is impossible to run a modern enterprise—particularly a larger one with multiple locations, geographies, hundreds or thousands of employees, without some type of enterprise system. While the benefits are many, there’s a downside too, which includes the cost and complexity of keeping software ‘current’. And I’m proud that IFS is addressing this issue head-on, by making its software ‘evergreen’.

Other software vendors have addressed the problem by offering their products strictly through multi-tenant software-as-a-service subscriptions. In these cases, every customer uses the same version of the software, but have segregated and private user accounts. While it does mean that everyone is current all the time, there are downsides to that approach.

Concerns over data security are probably overblown, but SaaS vendors have to work hard to satisfy requirements from entities like the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), or rules regarding personal identifying information.

There are also often barriers to moving data and processes from one software vendor to another or when there is a compelling need to run some processes on premise, as with operations in remote environments in natural resources, construction or other more rugged industries.

During an exclusive event on March 10 and 11, you can get a sneak peak at how our next generation of software – IFS Cloud – addresses these challenges, giving IFS customers a version of the software that is always current without these downsides.

Evergreen explained

What is evergreen and why should IFS customers care?

In a nutshell, IFS Cloud marks the start of a new, twice-yearly feature update cadence for an ‘evergreen’ customer experience. This gives customers the option to always be on the latest version of our software without the disruptions that come with full-scale upgrades. It also provides customers greater visibility, predictability, control and flexibility in planning their own business development and adopting new capabilities from IFS.

Historically we have made large core releases every 2-3 years, with quarterly updates containing a combination of fixes and new features. With IFS Cloud we now have twice-yearly releases of new functionality, each supported through monthly service updates that only contain fixes.

Four main benefits

As a result, our customers can:

1. Avoid the major/very large core releases that represent big upgrade steps in favor of continuous updates in smaller steps
2. Clearly separate delivery of fixes from new features so that fixes can be applied regularly and frequently with zero/minimal impact to business and without requiring customers to apply every new feature release
3. Receive smaller, but more frequent, steps and service updates that can be applied with minimum impact on processes and systems
4. And, along with the IFS Lifecycle Experience enjoy a more ‘evergreen’ software experience and greater visibility, predictability and control, with total transparency in terms of what new features will be available when.