Is your payroll software nearing end-of-life?

Put simply, software end-of-life is when the software vendor ceases to provide support services for the solution. This includes critical security and compliance updates, fixes for known defects, and technical support for users.

And it’s not only critical support services that cease at end-of-life – it also means an end to any future enhancements to the software. The features and usability you have at the time of end-of life remain frozen in time.

So for business owners with payroll software nearing end-of-life, it begs the question – why continue to invest in software that’s going nowhere?

Using software after its end-of-life date can expose your business to several risks, including:

1. Security vulnerabilities

Hackers and malware are increasingly evolving and probing for ways to breach software security. Without security updates from your vendor, vulnerabilities found by hackers can never be fixed.

Your payroll software and the sensitive information housed within it are defenceless, leaving you open to data breaches that could potentially cripple your business.

2. Compliance issues

Many businesses rely on the built-in compliance their payroll software offers. When government or industry regulations are introduced or change, end-of-life software is no longer updated to ensure compliance.

Whether it’s payroll-specific obligations like Single Touch Payroll or those governing data privacy, using end-of-life software means you risk non-compliance, which could be disastrous for your business.

3. Problems with your software

As your vendor no longer provides software maintenance and bug fixes, you will likely encounter problems with key payroll functionality your business relies on.

This could result in delays to business as usual processes and lost time attempting to fix problems. There will also be no technical support to rely on when problems arise.

4. Higher operating costs

Without critical vendor updates, you will likely need to hire IT specialists with the expertise to resolve bugs and apply security fixes, which often comes at significant cost.