In law, a legacy is something held or transferred as an inheritance; so, something gained.
In computing however, a legacy system is one that is considered outdated. Be that the computer infrastructure, hardware or software. Or all three. But the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is frequently quoted alongside because the investment required to change, update or replace can be expensive not only in terms of the new system but also the disruption to the business.
The decision to rip and replace or maintain and upgrade is one of the most difficult decisions, especially with the added dimensions of cloud. And the long-term investment over years of developing the processes that sit behind the system are likely to dictate the decision or at least have considerable impact.
Hence why the decision should fall both with CIO/CTO and the board room to ensure due consideration is taken of the underlying processes and if those need to be retained or replaced. The word “Legacy” in computing has a negative connotation, but there is potential value in what sits behind the application that needs to be properly assessed. In doing so the project for change becomes one of transformation (and an iterative one at that), rather than a hard and finite substitution.
Don’t misunderstand, legacy can mean a whole heap of trouble in terms of security, scalability, access, flexibility, insight and even integrity so we are not advocating delay, but don’t change – Transform
Much has been talked about digital transformation – it was a phrase Microsoft took ownership of in around 2010 – but it is an industry-wide ethos now that can steer agile, lean, progressive approaches to technology projects.
Compliance, security and cloud are all big considerations that are driving the need for change, but migration and improvement rather than radical rip allows for checks and balances along the way.
Migration; the movement or transport of something from one place to another has a far better connotation and is at home in the overarching “Digital Transformation” as it can involve retaining some of the logic and the data (ensuring a data cleanse in the process) that has underpinned the business. A migration is described as a journey, trek or voyage and we like what that implies because although legacy can be an inhibitor for innovation and progress, migration enables a system to capture what has been good about that legacy and relocate the good, while updating the bad.
The approach we suggest is twofold;
1. Identify and update those elements that are causing the worst bottlenecks; using a business process management tool (low code or no code depending on the process and your technical skill level). This can be a quick win to automating some ancillary processes that are blocking the smooth running of the business and will allow users to see the benefits. An important part of this exercise is to capture the business processes which will provide an understanding of how they can be improved and/or enhanced. Some processes are complex and have many variants of how an organisation, for example, carries out their manufacturing. It may well be different to the way in which it was done when they first implemented their ERP. New orders may generate different manufacturing processes so using a business process management tool will highlight these issues and provide a route through to greater efficiency. The ROI will show how this has improved productivity or workload and will form the basis of the justification for a transformation and full migration.
2. Migrate the core – using specialist solutions we can take your data and processes and radically reduce the volume of code and complexity and migrate to the cloud. The system we use is at the forefront of innovation and when used by our professional consultants, we help clients transform their businesses and build a sustainable foundation for the future.
There is much discussion about the customer experience. Consumer Apps and solutions are at the forefront of aesthetic UI’s underpinned by fast, efficient processing. Slowly this level of expectation is seeping through to the B2B space, so the Partner Experience is beginning to come to the fore. Companies with trading partners with a channel route to market are increasingly having to ensure their partner portals and partner experiences are coming up to consumer standards.
Legacy is rarely seen at the customer end as they simply wouldn’t put up with the experience and partner systems are improving. But internal systems are sometimes stuck in the dark ages. Which isn’t portraying a great message to your staff; that they are not valued and that it’s OK to maintain the mediocre. Also, the expense of keeping them limping along can be underestimated as there may be fewer and fewer consultants available with the legacy knowledge (they have all retired), your internal specialist left 5 years ago and the vendor charges a premium for support – if they support it at all.
Legacy systems are a reflection of a company’s old processes and complexity, some of which may have “gone away” or been replaced with more structured business flows. Legacy will have old code layered on new and processes that may go back decades. Increasingly integrations become bottlenecks and the reasons for doing something may even have been forgotten!
A fresh look at the system and the processes via an independent 3rd party is the way forward to assess what to keep and what to discard, without an internal agenda.
Our next steps would be to adopt our 2-stage process above – optimise what we can, while we plan for a full migration, which will future-proof the business and move our customers from Legacy to Legend.