Although legacy systems may be essential pieces of infrastructure, their maintenance comes at a cost. They are generally complex and by design do not always interact easily with other other technologies. This leaves companies with a multilayered “patchwork” architecture.
Businesses are slowly but certainly moving through the pandemic. But a tipping point has appeared. The weight of legacy IT systems is no longer bearable. Modernization – once a nifty thing to pursue – is now, in the runup to 2022, an absolute must.
The phrase “legacy system” can refer to software developed for a now outdated platform (or one in great need of modernization). A legacy system can be more than that. It could be an ancient but sturdy transaction processing warhorse still being relied on by a major financial institution. Or it could simply be an equally ancient application that no longer updates with live data.
UNLEASH YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL IMPALAS TO DRIVE YOUR IT TRANSFORMATION
Those tasked with driving transformation in organizations are seeing the drawbacks of legacy technology in a rapidly accelerating technological landscape. They include:
- Legacy consumes budget – Companies that spend much or most of their IT budget operating and maintaining legacy systems hamstring their ability to drive new business and capitalize on fresh opportunities. As their legacy tech ages, the cost of keeping it in working order rises.
- If it’s new, it’s cloud – Pretty much all new technologies coming out now use cloud approaches and architectures. Meanwhile, the number of channels still open to legacy shops is shrinking all the time.
- Customer expectations are sky-high – The buying public, whether individuals or other businesses, expect a satisfying digital experience; they get this from digital-native organizations. Companies holding on to legacy tech struggle when it comes to improving customer engagement by frequent, quick iterations.
- Speed is king – IT upgrades allow companies to better support product objectives – to get products to market faster. More companies no longer do quarterly releases and long-term projects. Speed is king – a great differentiator at a time when the customer expects almost perpetual improvement.
At a time when cybercrime is up 600 per cent, it is imperative that organizations close any possible security gaps. While security cloud solutions require effort and resources, legacy tech is more of a challenge to control, monitor, and secure as bad actors evolve their methods. This fact should have every business leader asking that one basic question: How much needless risk do we take on because of our legacy technology?
If you’re in doubt as to what effect your legacy tech is having on your ability to compete confidently in the new digital world, you’ll want to reserve an hour on the afternoon of September 28th. On that day, Kyndryl Canada’s Director of Strategic Growth & Industry Friedel Thurman and Nancy Watt, Founder and CEO of Nancy Watt Communications, will discuss how organizations can unleash their potential at a time of great upheaval and opportunity.
In this session, Thurman and Watt will be covering such topics as next-generation customer experiences, deploying predictive analytics with AI, and the evolution of cloud platform management.