As developers, we get as excited as you do about the new solution we’ve built for you, the website we’ve just deployed, or that extra piece of functionality that we’ve just released that saves time for everyone. However, we also know that a fundamentally important part of the lifetime of your solution is the process of keeping it up to date. No matter what technology stack we might have used to build your solution, we know that updates get released for that technology to address security vulnerabilities, reliability, or improve performance.
As part of our commitment to working with you throughout the lifetime of the solution we build, we will endeavour to keep your software secure and efficient by monitoring for updates to the technologies we’ve used during development.
In broad terms, we operate on 3 platforms
For products built using Microsoft technologies, there are regular monthly updates as improvements are made and issues addressed. On top of that, Microsoft release a new version of the underlying .NET platform every year, usually in November and we’ll look to incorporate those new versions into your software wherever possible. Even if you do not want new features from the latest .NET version as each is supported for around 2-3 years, it is important to remain on the current version as that will bring you a lower total cost of ownership across its lifespan compared to waiting for a version to expire (think little and often).
For WordPress sites, we enrol all clients into our quarterly software update cycle by default with significant versions released approx 3-4 times per year to fix bugs, security issues and add new features as the platform evolves. We also deploy plugin updates which are released in a more ad-hoc fashion by their authors. This is on top of server updates such as an annual PHP (programming language) update and periodic database and server updates. This model helps to extend the lifespan of your investment and it’s not uncommon for a WordPress site to continue to evolve for 10+ years although the desire to use block-based designs has been a watershed moment for many.
For products built using the NextJS stack we again advocate routine quarterly updates. Much like .Net, NextJS provides a new major version every autumn that can require some refactoring of existing code to provide ongoing compatibility, in particular of any external modules which have been used (we always minimise the number of such modules during site construction for this reason). NextJS is often used in conjunction with its NextJS Server Components which are based on NodeJS to offer database and API functionality and this needs to be maintained for compatibility and security, typically NodeJS release a Long Term Support release each Spring which provides 2 years of support.
As part of our support service we’ll liaise with you to identify suitable timings to incorporate updates, addressing security vulnerabilities as early as possible to ensure you and your users can have a high level of confidence in the system you are using.
