Retire

Replacing the existing product with a new generation product.

Regardless of how well the product is built and maintained, there’s a time to take it off the market. Retirement can be brought on by a significant technology shift, competitor entrance, or user behaviour changes in the market.

This means you re-invent the technology platform/business model/user experience to keep an edge in the market. ISVs should be watchful to identify this need to disrupt their business model before a competitor does.

When a next-gen product is planned, it’s essential to do it with minimal disturbance to the existing customers, revenue, and market share. Clear and pain-free migration paths should be available and provide incentives/motivation for them to move-on. Long-term side-by-side operation of 2 major versions can be an extremely costly operation. For this reason, plan to complete migrating all your customers within a scheduled period.