Product Life Cycle (PLC)

Technologies or other products have stages of life with an inevitable end in obsolescence. This is the concept behind the PLC, which stipulates that products are born, grow and refine, reach peak maturity, then begin to decline and eventually expire. In the early stages of the life cycle, support calls/tickets can become overwhelming if any bugs or flaws are discovered in a product, though the need for troubleshooting does diminish as the product reaches maturity. At the end of their life cycle, the products are often no longer worth supporting; maintaining staff trained to troubleshoot outdated products often outweighs the benefits of that continued support.