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Get the Most Out of Updating Licensed Software and Firmware

By Matt Paulson, TMCnet Contributing Writer

Updating official software is not only expensive, but it's a hassle too. For software and firmware developers making this process as simple as possible is key, yet difficult. With the upcoming Internet of Things, where more devices than ever are expected to connect to and use the Internet for improved service, this inconvenience has the potential to evolve into a nightmare of updates and re-installations. Thankfully, companies like Flexera software can streamline this process to help reduce customer support calls and product frustration.

When customers have a hard time keeping their software up to date and finding the latest version of a product that competitors and partners are using, they are less likely to use business products and software no matter how easy-to-use or effective it may be. However, when software is easily updated customers are very likely to renew their subscriptions and spread the word, which helps boost product revenue.

When vendors work directly with customers to find out their needs and issues, they can use that information to create a better product. Additionally, in-application messaging and log retrieval can feed even more information to developers, especially when it is also easy for customers to report.

As the Internet of Things approaches, even more care will need to be taken to ensure that updating to the correct version of any software is fast, easy and unobtrusive, while also making sure that these updates are actually addressing the needs customers are having. By doing so, software developers can ultimately create better and more useful tools that elicit a better response from the user audience group. Ultimately, users will gravitate towards the products that are easiest to use and update, so software developers will need to prioritize the way that licensed product upgrades are distributed to meet that demand.