Customer Lifecycle Management – Windows Server and SQL Server 2008

Jacob Neil, Cloud Solutions Specialist at Phoenix Software, takes a look at the positive opportunities End of Support can bring to an organisation …

“I’m a big supporter of cloud and what you can do in the cloud, but it isn’t always the right or best solution for every problem. Some changes are desired and wanted by the organisation or IT and this drives change. The most disruptive changes are those that force you to make a change like the dreaded End of Life (EoL). Currently the most common advice on change involves a full or partial migration of your environment to the cloud and all the vendors with cloud options agree you must do it and soon. Sometimes I think it can be easier to ignore some of the advice and the noise, stick your fingers in your ears and hope for the best. Although that can have a real negative outcome to both your environment and your career if you aren’t careful.

Having worked on or been exposed to hundreds of data centres over the last twenty years, one truth I have found is that there is no silver bullet to solving problems, nor is there one perfect vendor solution that will solve all the problems. There are always variables and things to consider when you embark on a new project which will be unique to you and your organisation and one consideration when making changes is human nature.

I bring all this up because there is an End of Life coming which could potential effect most organisations that have been running SQL databases (EoL – July 2019) & Windows Server since 2008 (EoL – mid-January 2020)