1993 just called. It wants its IT systems back…

Perhaps your legacy systems aren’t as outdated as the IRS’ existing systems (some are over 60 years old!). Still, upgrading your legacy system has been on your mind A LOT recently.

Because it poses a security hazard.

Because outdated platforms are increasing maintenance expenses while delivering less and less functionality every day.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 support of primary stakeholders—whether that’s your business partner or the entire boardroom?

Continue reading for your legacy system evaluation, this will help you determine when it is time to upgrade your legacy systems.

What is a Legacy System?

Legacy systems are IT systems. Oftentimes, legacy systems are antiquated systems because they are based on antiquated technology; however, despite their age, limited functionality, and security risk, legacy systems, are usually critical to daily business workflows, 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 drive public-sector infrastructure that we take for granted: telecommunications services, wastewater treatment plants, power grids, and air traffic control towers. Legacy systems are CRUCIAL.

However, the expenses of modernization (including botched modernization efforts) and maintenance of legacy systems are counterproductive, totaling $35 trillion for corporations and governments worldwide since 2010.

It’s no surprise, then, that optimizing or replacing legacy systems with new technology, be it cloud computing, SaaS technology solutions, or on-site deployment is one of the most challenging issues CIOs in small and large organizations encounter in their careers.

What Are the Advantages of Updating 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 “obstacles” could the upgrading of legacy systems expel?

Short answer, A LOT.

5 Essential Advantages of Modernizing Your Legacy Systems

If you opt for legacy system enhancements or a comprehensive digital transformation, upgrading your legacy systems can help you future-proof your business:

1. Optimize Your Business Operations

A legacy system upgrade, such as the deployment of SaaS platforms, new business intelligence software, or cloud computing, can enhance your workflow and other business processes.

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

CIOs that have applied technological upgrades or perhaps a full-blown digital transformation have lowered operational costs in their organizations by up to 500%.

2. Reduce Your IT System’s Maintenance Costs

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

Frankly, companies 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. Improve Your Company’s Customer Experience and Employee Retention

Glitches and malfunctions in legacy systems can result in unforeseen downtime for your business operations.

For airlines, IT systems outages can result in thousands of flights to be delayed or cancelled. It was a serious issue for carriers. Outdated technology is bad for business.

Your staff certainly loathe the downtime and awful user experience of the outdated technology too. And once the technology in their pockets has advanced faster in the last decade than your IT systems—it’s time for an upgrade. For your reputation.

4. Reduce Your Security Risk While Maintaining Compliance

When your existing systems are so old their original vendor no longer services them, they could constitute a severe security risk to your company.

Often neglected and outdated systems, your legacy software, does not receive the security updates and patches it requires to avoid cybersecurity threats.

Big failures happen with legacy systems frequently. Remember Equifax?

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

A one-off integration to your legacy software here, a hotfix for your legacy technology there. Before you know it, your company is clunking along on a Frankenstein legacy system.

Your out-of-date systems barely handle multiple data formats—much less the massive amounts of data your IoT devices produce.

Prospective CIOs know legacy software upgrading is essential to enhance IT system compatibility with innovative technological solutions.

That’s exactly what the LinkedIn’s CIOs did while the company was growing into the world’s largest professional network, transforming its system architecture from a REST API or an event-driven architecture.

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

When Should I Upgrade My Legacy System? 6 Questions to Ask

CIOs must evaluate three primary factors when assessing if it is time to modernize legacy technology: technology, architecture, and functionality.

Here are some questions to keep in mind before any legacy system modernization:

1. What percentage of your IT budget are you spending on maintenance costs for legacy software or forced downtime because of a complete or partial malfunction of your outdated system?

If the cost of maintaining older systems are eating up major resources, it may be time for a new, cost-effective system.

2. Do your legacy systems work with modern technology and recent IT innovations?

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

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

Or are you having a hard time sourcing mainframe programmers who can extend or fix your COBOL code? If this is the case, your legacy system poses a serious risk to your company and should be replaced.

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

Because if you can’t leverage large data, you will not have the kind of business intelligence you need to be competitive. Goodbye, legacy systems.

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

With such a negative client experience, you will not attract new customers. It’s time for a modern system.

6. Is your legacy technology SLOW?

It may be time to bite the bullet and make a change. The future is FAST. And it has arrived.

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—along with all the speed, flexibility, and versatility your CIOs have promised with such a digital transformation. Welcome, workflow automation!

2. Rebuild Your Legacy Software

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

3. Rearchitect Your Legacy Systems

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 eliminate technical debt.

5. Rehost Your Legacy Systems

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

7. Digest Your Outdated Systems Functions and Data

Incorporate your functions and data in the application, so you can access them as services via an API.

8. Migrate Your Legacy Systems Application

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

How Wave Can Assist with Your Legacy System Upgrade in Washington?

Do you believe it’s time to modernize your legacy system? Begin with Wave’s thorough system audit, so you can get insights into its functionality and predicted lifespan.

In this way, you’ll know whether your company can get around with a few legacy system enhancements or if you require an extensive digital transformation now.

Whatever the situation may be for your legacy systems, Wave can perform the needed modifications or replacements: from adding attributes that improve the customer experience or expediting workflows with automation and Business Intelligence tools.

We will also provide you with the ongoing IT assistance you need to get the most out of your modernization investment.

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