Legacy System Modernization: Moving Into An Advanced Digital Age

Updating a legacy system is a big step, but it may provide tremendous value to your business if your current system is no longer meeting your needs. Continuing to employ old technology might result in extra costs and make staying competitive more difficult for your company—so consider making the switch now.

Getting started on replacement or modernization? A modernization strategy suited to your company's needs will help you stay on track. You can also use legacy software modernization services to avoid all the hassle and have a smooth transition.

What is the legacy system?

When you think of a legacy system, you probably imagine software from 2008 running on an outdated PC. Legacy software is often older—but the broader term of "legacy system" refers to software that no longer fulfills your specifications or purposes.

The old system was certainly useful in the past, but it now degrades user experience, lacks support, or cannot be maintained. By this time, you are no longer benefiting from legacy systems or receiving enough ROI. A real legacy system has outlived its usefulness for your firm, and investing in new technology currently yields a higher return than preserving the current system.

The downsides of keeping a legacy system

Legacy systems are expensive for your company since they can no longer satisfy your requirements. Maintaining a legacy system might have serious consequences for your firm. The longer an underperforming system disrupts your organization, the more danger it poses and the more resources you may have to invest in keeping the current system operational.

To better understand if a company needs to modernize its legacy system, it is necessary to analyze the negative impact of the old system on a company's growth. So, let's go over the most common reasons for commencing the modernization process today!

It’s expensive to maintain

Legacy systems demand a large budget and a lot of effort to maintain, thus upgrading is necessary. For example, a published study from the Government Accountability Office indicated that the federal government spends around $337 million per year on the upkeep of its ten legacy systems.

Because of the massive codebase and sophisticated functionality of legacy software, upgrading or modifying something inside the system takes more money and time resources than current software. Furthermore, older systems may demand hardware that is not cheap.

Most professionals don’t support it

You may not be able to hire specialists when you need them since legacy systems demand unique skills and knowledge.

Young developers are focusing on new technologies, whereas the majority of COBOL developers who have worked on old systems are retiring. As a result, finding workers who meet the required qualifications is difficult and costly.

Legacy systems are usually not flexible

The incapacity of old systems to adapt to contemporary business requirements greatly impedes corporate growth. Companies lose commercial chances and struggle to adapt to new difficulties as the competition advances. 

Connecting to third-party tools or services requires a significant amount of work. API suppliers operate with the majority of programming languages and frameworks; however, legacy systems are an exception due to their uniqueness. As a result, one must create proprietary APIs, which are expensive and need more time to build.

The system is vulnerable to cyber attacks

When it comes to older systems, the cyber security challenge is complicated. Since they have been there for a while, attackers have a way of knowing exactly what malicious software or viruses may damage them. The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) issued a caution notice in 2018 regarding the growing interest of hackers in outdated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Deeper access to the software's network has been made possible by vulnerabilities in the outdated ERP systems.

The WannaCry ransomware from May 2017 exposed the weaknesses in out-of-date systems that Microsoft no longer maintained. Due to a lack of security upgrades, over 300,000 Windows XP, Windows 8, and Server 2003 PCs across 150 countries were compromised.

The system doesn’t comply with modern regulation

Data protection laws, like the California Civil Penalties Act (CCPA), fundamentally alter how we handle and retain data by placing more pressure on businesses to secure it. Users themselves, as well as the government, expect businesses to handle their data securely.

Recently, laws like the Financial Services Industry's GLBA and the Healthcare Industry's HIPAA have implemented modifications to the methods of utilizing and preserving personal information. As a result, companies must modify their system to comply with all legal obligations.

Different approaches to modernize your legacy systems

Legacy systems can be modernized in a variety of ways. You can combine these tactics, replace them, or fix them. These methods come in a variety of forms:

Replace: Considering the resources you've already committed, replacing a legacy system should only be done as a last option, even if for many this is the first thing that comes to mind.

Rebuild: It is possible to completely rebuild a legacy system while maintaining its essential components and a comparable architecture.

Rehost: You can move your site to a new platform and update the code sufficiently to enable a smooth transfer of your old system.

Rearchitect: You can get more out of your platform by creating a new architecture for your outdated system.

Replatforming refers to moving an old system onto a new runtime environment.

Code refractor: You may change the code while maintaining the system's other components.

Encapsulation: If your old system only needs a new interface, then modernizing it could only need to integrate the interface with the current platform, code, and environment.

The anticipated return on investment, the amount of time your company requires to complete the modernization process, and other variables may determine the best course of action for you. Involve your stakeholders as soon as you can in this stage. This usually includes your IT department, project owners, experts for modernization, users, and other important internal partners.