Patch management is a strategy for managing patches or upgrades for software applications and technologies.
A patch management plan can help a business or organization handle these changes efficiently.
Software patches are often necessary in order to fix existing problems with software that are noticed after the initial release. Many of these patches have to do with security. Others may have to do with specific functionality for programs.
In traditional fee-licensing software delivery, patches were often delivered as stand-alone code modules to add to an existing installed software program. With new Web-delivered systems and cloud hosting models, many patches can now be applied to software programs over the global IP network, rather than being sent on external media and applied to installed programs. The automatic addition of software patches and upgrades is one attractive part of new plans to offer software through Web-delivered services rather than through traditional fee-licensing agreements.