One of the information technology (IT) processes that is receiving a lot of attention is legacy modernization, the process of digitally transforming a corporate infrastructure to reflect the capabilities of cutting-edge technology. Legacy modernization involves a significant investment of time, money, and energy, but it comes with a number of important benefits, including enhanced business performance, better customer support, and improved process efficiency. Historically, companies frequently viewed IT infrastructure as a necessary cost for running their business. However, executives are recognizing the value of a truly robust system as an asset that fuels business growth. For that reason, companies are frequently revising their legacy platforms and asking how they can be transformed to support new and planned business processes. The adoption of social, mobile, and analytics technology, especially the use of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, are pushing many leaders to make the leap after long periods of stalling to get the most out of the old system.
The Nitty Gritty of the Legacy Modernization Process
The term “legacy system” is a general one used to refer to any technology used by a company that is outdated, including applications and infrastructure. Often, these legacy systems exist on hardware and software owned by the company, which also hosts, manages, and supports the technology. While there is an obvious reason to hold onto these systems as long as possible, it is important to recognize that they eventually end up creating quite a financial burden in terms of locating people with the IT skills needed to maintain them. Furthermore, these systems completely hinder a company’s ability to innovate and integrate new technology. This means that the system cannot expand as intended, which is an additional cost to consider. Eventually, these companies turn to legacy modernization to update the systems and remove the technological restraints they have experienced. Ultimately, this makes it easier for companies to pivot when necessary and provides an additional degree of security.
At the very least, legacy modernization seeks to deliver a product that looks indistinguishable from the prior one. In an ideal world, the process provides a completely new system in terms of possibilities for agility, performance, and innovation. Regardless of the final shape of the project, a lot of energy needs to go into reducing business interruptions to minimize the final cost of the new system. Today, IT leaders have a number of options when it comes to legacy modernization, including emulators that make it possible to run old systems with no code changes alongside modern systems. In addition, there is refactor code that employs migration tools to minimize manual changes to code. Of course, some project leaders may decide to start from scratch and rearchitect the entire system. While this approach involves the most work and time, it provides the most flexibility for the future.
The Two Fundamental Approaches to Legacy Modernization
Many different approaches to legacy modernization exist depending on the needs of the company and the expectations of stakeholders. However, all of these approaches fall into one of two fundamental categories, revolutionary or evolutionary. The revolutionary approach involves starting from scratch and building a new solution from the ground up to restart with a completely fresh infrastructure. This approach may occur when the legacy system has become a liability. For example, imagine that the legacy system was no longer supported by its vendor. This means that no more patches or updates for security and compliance issues will be released. The risk created in this situation is simply too high. Two other common scenarios requiring a revolutionary approach are mergers and acquisitions. In these settings, one organization must align its infrastructure with another in a very short period of time, making an evolutionary approach unrealistic.
The evolutionary approach often wins out when these scenarios are not in play. With the evolutionary approach, the modernization process can get stretched out for months or even years to reduce workflow disruption and provide adequate time for being thoughtful about every detail. Typically, organizations use this approach to focus on a single workload at a time and group these accomplishments into phases that help judge overall progress. Not only does the evolutionary process minimize workflow disruption by taking one flow offline at a time, but it also spreads out costs over a longer period of time so that projects become more affordable. This approach is also ideal for an organization that still has vendor contracts. Business processes can be updated around the legacy system while waiting for contracts to expire to avoid any disruptions down the road or wasted money.
Another point to consider has to do with organizational buy-in. Revolutionary approaches often come with a very steep learning curve. On the other hand, an evolutionary approach is more gentle in introducing people to the new system. With each step toward completion, employees have a chance to get used to the changes. Thus, when the final product comes online, people are ready to hit the ground running with the new tools.
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