When to switch a platform

Face it. With a huge change there's a lot of stress. There are a lot of factors: costs in money and effort, vendor and technical stability of the current and prospective solution, motivation (is your idea or your boss'), and political comfort.

The overall theme I adhere to is that nothing is perfect.

The Short Story
Change when:

• you know there is going to be a significant change in your vendor or their technology
• Example: Your current system requires a technology (hardware, software, OS) that is no longer supported or is set to sunset before you can replace the system
• Example: Your current vendor is in some crisis that will prevent you from getting support
• your current solution is not able to scale with your company's growth
• Example: You are using a spreadsheet for your accounting when your company had 3 employees, now you have 1,000 you need a solution that is a better fit.

Majors

• In-house, hosted, virtual or physical
• Licensing

to be continued . . .