1993 just called. It wants its IT systems back…

Ok, maybe your legacy systems are not as old as the IRS’ existing systems (some are over 60 years old!). But, upgrading your legacy technology has been at the back of your mind A LOT lately.

Because it presents a cybersecurity risk.

Because outdated systems are costing more to maintain while generating even less capability every day.

Because you are ready to take your organization's digital transformation to the next level.

We get it. You are ready for a legacy system modernization.

But how can you gain the necessary buy-in from primary stakeholders—whether that is your business associate or the whole boardroom?

Keep reading for your legacy system assessment, so you know when it’s ideal to upgrade your legacy systems.

What is a Legacy System?

Legacy systems are IT systems. Legacy systems are antiquated systems since they are derived from outdated technology; however, despite their age, limited functionality, and security risk, legacy systems, are generally critical to everyday business processes, points out Gartner.

How important are legacy systems? In the commercial sector, business processes like payroll, inventory tracking and replenishment, and cashless payment transactions would grind to a halt without the legacy system on which they operate.

Legacy systems fuel public-sector infrastructure that we take for granted: telecommunications services, wastewater treatment plants, power grids, and air traffic control towers. Legacy systems are ESSENTIAL.

Nevertheless, the costs of modernization (including unsuccessful modernization efforts) and maintenance of legacy systems are cumbersome, totaling $35 trillion for corporations and governments globally since 2010.

It’s no surprise, however, that upgrading or rebuilding legacy systems with new technology, whether SaaS technology solutions, cloud computing, or on-site deployment is among the greatest challenges CIOs in small and large firms encounter in their careers.

What Are the Benefits of Modernizing a Legacy System?

“For many organizations, legacy systems are seen as holding back the business initiatives and business processes that rely on them. When a tipping point is reached, application leaders must look to application modernization to help remove the obstacles.” — Stefan Van Der Zijden, VP Analyst, Gartner

What “barriers” could the upgrading of legacy systems eliminate?

In a nutshell, A LOT.

5 Significant Advantages of Legacy System Modernization

If you choose a legacy system enhancements or an absolute digital transformation, your legacy system modernization can assist you in future-proofing your firm:

1. Streamline Your Business Operations

A legacy system update, such as the implementation of SaaS platforms, new business intelligence platforms, or cloud computing, can improve efficiencies in your workflow and other business processes.

It’s not unusual for organizations to expend over half of their IT budget on sustaining legacy systems, such as maintaining data centers rather than carrying out a data migration to the cloud for managing support tickets.

CIOs that have adopted technological advancements or even a full-scale digital transformation have lowered production expenses in their companies by up to 500%.

2. Reduce Your IT System’s Maintenance Costs

CIOs well know legacy system, application, and infrastructure maintenance can account for a large percentage of the company’s budget.

Frankly, organizations in the public and private sectors spent $26.25 trillion in legacy IT systems operations and maintenance costs over the 11-year period from 2010 to 2021.

3. Enhance Your Business’s Customer Experience and Employee Retention

Legacy technology glitches and failures can lead to unplanned downtime for your organizational workflows.

If you’re an air carrier, IT systems outages can cause delays and even the cancellation of thousands of flights. It was a real problem for airlines. Outdated technology is bad for business.

Your personnel undoubtedly loathe the downtime and awful user experience of the obsolete technology as well. And once the tech in their pockets has developed quicker in the last decade than your IT systems—it’s time for an upgrade. For your credibility.

4. Reduce Your Security Risk While Maintaining Compliance

If your current systems are so antiquated that their manufacturer no longer supports them, they can constitute a major security risk to your company.

Frequently ignored and out of date, your legacy software, does not receive the security updates and patches it requires to block cybersecurity attacks.

Major breakdowns occur with legacy systems all the time. Remember Equifax?

5. Increase the Agility of Your Business Processes for Better Scalability

A one-off integration to your legacy system here, a hotfix for your legacy technology there. In no time, your firm is clunking along on a Frankenstein legacy system.

Your obsolete technology can hardly handle multiple data types—not to mention the enormous amounts of data generated by your IoT devices.

Revolutionary CIOs understand that legacy software upgrading is necessary to refine IT system compatibility with innovative technology platforms.

That is indeed what the CIOs at LinkedIn did while the firm was growing into the world’s largest professional network, moving its software architecture from a REST API or an event-driven architecture.

CIOs for Netflix, Unilever, SAP, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Amazon have all taken the same approach.

When Should I Consider Upgrading My Legacy System? 6 Questions to Ask

Technology, architecture, and functionality are 3 major considerations for CIOs when deciding if it’s time for a legacy technology upgrade.

Below are a few questions to ask before upgrading any legacy system:

1. How much of your IT budget do you spend on legacy software maintenance or forced downtime because of a complete or partial failure of your old system?

If your cost of keeping older systems are eating up considerable resources, it might be time for a cost-effective, new platform.

2. Do your legacy systems support newer technology and recent IT advancements?

Or is it a pain to integrate with a new SaaS service or API? Because of outdated technology or haphazard customization? If you answered “yes,” it’s time to modernize your legacy system.

3. Is the vendor who designed your legacy system no longer in business?

Or are you having difficulty locating mainframe programmers who can fix or extend your COBOL code? If so, your legacy system is a serious risk to your firm and should be upgraded.

4. Does your legacy system offer visibility into real-time data transfers and operational patterns?

Because when you are unable to take advantage of enormous data, you won’t have the business insight you need to stay competitive. Goodbye, legacy systems.

5. Does your legacy system’s failures, glitches, and forced downtimes coincide with an uptick in client complaints and support tickets?

With such a poor customer experience, you won’t bring in new customers. It’s time for a fresh system.

6. Is your legacy technology SLOW?

It might be time to bite the bullet and make the change. The future is moving at a breakneck pace. And it’s here.

How Can I Upgrade My Legacy System?

What are your modernization alternatives if you've determined that your legacy systems no longer fulfill your company needs?

1. Replace Your Legacy Systems

Out with the old, and in with the new system—and all the speed, agility, and expandability your CIOs have promised with such a digital transformation. Welcome, workflow automation!

2. Rebuild Your Legacy Software

Rewrite the application components, so you can implement modern technology solutions, business intelligence, and big data capacity.

3. Rearchitect Your Legacy Technology

Redesign your legacy software architecture to provide more agility and scalability, as LinkedIn and a slew of other outstanding firms have done.

4. Reconfigure Your Legacy Systems

Reconfigure your code to get rid of technical debt.

5. Rehost Your Legacy Systems

Employ cloud computing with a data migration and application re-deployment to cloud infrastructure.

7. Digest Your Outdated Systems Data and Functions

Encompass your functions and data in the software, so you can access them as services through an API.

8. Migrate Your Legacy Systems Application

Move your legacy systems application to a new run-time tool without extensively altering the code or losing functionality.

How Wave Can Assist with Your Legacy System Modernization in Bakersfield?

Think it’s time to modernize your legacy system? Start with Wave’s extensive system audit, so you can get insights into its performance and estimated lifespan.

That way, you’ll know whether your company can get by with a few legacy system tweaks or if you require a comprehensive digital transformation now.

Whatever the situation may be for your legacy systems, Wave can perform the required upgrades or replacements: from adding functionality that improves the user experience or expediting processes with automation and Business Intelligence tools.

We will also provide you with the continuous IT assistance you need to maximize your modernization investment.

The future’s calling. And companyname is eager to help! Schedule a consultation today.