Time moves on. Technology moves on. Your business is growing and adapting to the ever-changing world we work in and sooner or later you’re going to be faced with some serious discussions and decisions to make around aging or legacy software systems and infrastructure.

In this article we’ll take a look at the impact of legacy software systems and the best options to consider when evaluating their upgrade or replacement.

Legacy systems cost your organisation money, expose it to increased risk and can lead to a lack of compliance, but updating IT systems and infrastructure requires a clear technology strategy, an allocated IT budget and the right people to execute the project successfully.

But what exactly is a legacy software system?

Put simply it’s any system used in your business which is outdated, but still in everyday usage. It could be the over-reliance on an old clunky Excel spreadsheet, an archaic bespoke software system which is difficult or impossible to integrate with new web-based applications or ancient hardware which just isn’t up to the job anymore.

Either way, it’s likely to be reducing your overall efficiency and competitiveness by impeding your employee productivity, customer experience and ability to scale up.

However, most businesses have legacy software systems, so you’re not alone.

In fact 74% of manufacturing companies suggested they rely on legacy systems or spreadsheets to get the job done and 95% of respondents in a recent Red Hat Survey believe the modernisation of legacy apps to be essential for the long term health of their businesses.

So, what are the advantages of obsoleting a legacy system?

1. It reduces your IT maintenance budget

To start with there’s the obvious saving on the IT maintenance budget; maintaining legacy systems often eats up around 80% of a company’s IT Budget.

2. Manufacturers may stop supporting old IT systems and infrastructure

At some point the original manufacturer of your platform or hardware will decide to no longer support it. This increases your risk of downtime of critical business processes in the event of a problem, but also increases the risk of exploitation if the manufacturer isn’t providing regular patches and updates.

3. Your legacy platform may not be compliant

Data integrity and compliance is, quite rightly, a huge consideration in the continued viability of any software or hardware systems used by your organisation. Failure to comply can lead to significant fines and loss of reputation, even personal liability if you’re found liable of a data breach.

4. Your business needs to move on

Legacy systems may well be holding your organisation’s growth back. We previously touched on lack of integration with newer technologies, but the impact is wider than that.

You want your customers to have the best user experiences in class when dealing with you, your teams are likely to work more flexibly and remotely now, putting a greater reliance on cloud-based systems and your workflows may need adapting as you scale up and expand your operations.

All equally important reasons to consider moving away from the reliance on legacy software, rather than adapting new processes to old technology – akin to the old ‘square peg, round hole’ adage.

So, we’ve looked at the consequences of retaining legacy IT systems, but what can you do to cost-effectively eradicate them from your business and get yourselves current and compliant?

It’s often a head scratching moment for SMEs and business owners, especially those who may not have a dedicated Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or the in-house skills to scope out exactly what’s needed from an off the shelf or custom software solution and/or formulate an IT strategy.

And that’s where we come in…

At Go Tripod we’ve helped a multitude of companies replace legacy software systems, delivering beautifully developed web-based software applications which match business workflows, customer experience requirements and IT budgets.

Even before a single piece of code is written, our dedicated developers will sit with you to learn about your business, discover where it is now and where it needs to be in the future. And if all that IT strategy and knowledge is out of your comfort zone, we can even act as your CTO on an interim or part time basis with our CTO as a Service offering.

It’s really important at this stage to scope out your exact needs

It’s equally important that your team acquire any new skills they’ll need to use the new system and that business disruption is kept to a minimum during the installation and go-live phases of the project.

We’re masters at that too, with robust, well developed testing processes and the ability to train your key staff as your new custom software solution becomes a reality.

The result? A beautiful, new, current, compliant web enabled app, developed hand in hand with you every step of the way ensuring your business can tick all the boxes it needs to, including:

Demonstrating data integrity and compliance
Simplifying your technology infrastructure and replacing outdated systems
Maximising the flexibility of cloud based technologies for your teams
Offering your customers a better user experience whether you’re a B2B or B2C business

IT systems are critical to the smooth running of your business. Don’t let old shaky legacy software jeopardise all the blood, sweat and tears you’ve put into getting it to where it is today.

Talk to Go Tripod – we’d love to help!

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