Software Upgrade Assurance is a Line Item on Your Quote – What is it?

As a reseller of software and professional services providers of support, training, implementation, and integration of said software, when we send quotes to our prospects for their solution, we get this question a lot:

“What does the line item for Software Upgrade Assurance cover?”

Why Software Upgrade Assurance is important

When you purchase a software license, the vendor typically requires that you pay a software upgrade assurance fee which is a pre-determined percentage of the license cost covering ongoing software upgrades to the products by the vendor. Each vendor sets these fees independently. Some require it to be paid at the time of the purchase to cover one year of upgrades in your first year of owning the product, but others don’t charge until year two.

The benefits of upgrade assurance are important to the success of your solution. Any good software will have a team of innovative developers behind it. These developers are constantly watching trends, understanding what the industry is doing and planning what they need to do to remain relevant and cutting edge. This ongoing development benefits you, the end user.

What Software Upgrade Assurance Covers

Upgrade Assurance grants you access to point releases, bug fixes, service packs, and all version releases/major upgrades with the software itself. These items are available by download and you can install them yourself, or if you need assistance, Optiform can assist after the purchase of professional services hours to either train you on how to perform the updates or to take the work off your hands and do the work for you.

If you do not pay this annual fee, you are not able to access these sometimes-critical updates. The good news is that if you let your annual upgrade assurance lapse, you can get it reinstated. We obviously don’t recommend letting it lapse. There are some vendors that will assign a reinstatement fee if it has lapsed. A value add of being an Optiform customer is that Maggie keeps you informed of your upcoming renewals so you never have to wonder if you are current or not.

Clear as mud?

We hope that this article has been helpful with answering your question of what upgrade assurance is. If not, let us know!