Planned IT Obsolescence

Now this isn't about how IT is working its way to obscurity, that's a whole different Oprah.  Obsolescence is the loss of value or usefulness resulting from advances in technology and the passage of time. In this sense, planned obsolescence refers to an item losing its value after a certain time period which the manufacturer decides.  This is something IT is all too familiar with.  As with everything, technology validity passes.  Much like your auto mechanic, now without a computer analytics system, his skills are almost useless with the newer vehicles. 

Such is the way with technology.  Individual programmers find themselves being pushed higher and higher up the ISO layers.  The days of “C” programming are gone and soon 3^rd level programming to follow.  In the infrastructure world, Software-defined networking (SDN), is not only taking the industry by storm and promising to change the way computer networks are managed in the future, but It’s refashioning the data center and creating an onset of start-ups that are forcing old-guard vendors like Cisco and Juniper to quickly reinvent themselves or die.

So how do you address this in your organization?  Plan for it.  However, before you can do that, you must be able to recognize it.  So to help you with that, here are the main categories of obsolescence you should be tracking and planning for in your budgets.

Types of obsolescence

Technical or functional obsolescence

Functional obsolescence is a type of technical obsolescence in which companies introduce new technology which replaces the old. The old products do not have the same capabilities or functionality as the new ones. For example a company that sold CDs while they were developing DVDs was engaging in planned obsolescence. That is, they were actively planning to make their existing product (CDs) obsolete by developing a substitute product (DVDs) with greater functionality (better quality).  This is something your organization should be tracking and folding in your budgets. 

Systemic obsolescence 

Planned systemic obsolescence is altering the system in which it is used in such a way as to make its continued use difficult. For example, new software is frequently introduced that is not compatible with older software. This makes the older software largely obsolete. For example, even though an older version of a word processing program is operating correctly, it might not be able to read data saved by newer versions. 

Another way of introducing systemic obsolescence is to eliminate service and maintenance for a product. If a product fails, the user is forced to purchase a new one.   This is done frequently; however, seldom is the system classified as obsolete.  As a result, CIOs tend to forget that they have time bombs ready to go off.

Style obsolescence

Planned style obsolescence is driven by aesthetics and occurs when marketers change the styling of products so customers will purchase products more frequently. Aesthetics refers to the nature of things and how they look. The style changes are designed to make owners of the old model feel "out of date" and so purchase new models.   Don’t think this is a factor?  Check again, just look at the cell phones we carry, not many flip phones out there anymore, is there?  Or even more pronounced the data center.  Yes those 60 servers do the same job as the single virtual one, and yes, you can save electricity and room in the Data Center, but the real reason is aesthetics, for odds are your growth in the data center is probably minimal, and electrical is not that pronounced.  In fact, if you really did the ROI on the change, you wouldn’t do it.

Economic implications: 

• Prepare for increased costs, not only for the technology, but the support as well.
• For an industry, planned obsolescence opens the door for function consolidation, so review carefully, for you may be able to offset the increase in costs above with eliminating other technologies.
• Increased resources.  Resources are used up making changes, not only in the upgrade and replacement, but the internal training and support.
• Obsolescence often means that the older models are just tossed away thus creating e-waste.
• Skill obsolescence, especially when functional obsolescence is involved. People repurposing may be a factor in your budget.

So in short, acknowledge the fact that obsolescence is part of your life, and plan accordingly, for if you don’t, your budget may find itself blown before you can take on the science projects you were going to enjoy.

Source(s):

http://rajode.wikispaces.com/planned+IT+obsolescence

So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”

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About Rick Ricker

An IT professional with over 20 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.

For more information, contact Rick at (800) 333-8394 x 689