Legacy IT

Why do Organizations Still use Legacy IT Systems?

Here are the primary reasons legacy IT is prevalent:

High Cost

Replacing legacy IT with modern solutions is expensive. Moreover, a SnapLogic survey found that a legacy system upgrade costs businesses around $3 million, a cost most organizations avoid.

High Dependence

According to SnapLogic, 96% of the organizations surveyed rely on some form of legacy technology. This means legacy IT systems are crucial for the smooth functioning of several organizations.

Therefore, leaders cannot just snap their fingers and switch. They'll have to plan meticulously. Otherwise, there’ll be a risk of data loss, workflow disruptions, and compliance issues.

Technical Problems

Legacy systems are usually deeply integrated into an organization’s workflow. In addition, most organizations lack the required documentation about the obsolete solutions they’re using, making upgrading to a modern solution a nightmare.

Resistance to Change

Individuals within the organization hate change as they’ve become too comfortable with the existing processes. And a change of this extent would mean they’ll have to learn new things. And this eventually leads to a pushback. 

What are the Challenges of Using Legacy Systems?

Here are the challenges organizations face because of using outdated technology:

High Maintenance Costs

While maintaining outdated infrastructure may be affordable in the short run, the costs go through the roof if you look at the bigger picture. Data shows that around two-thirds of the businesses invest over $2 million to maintain and upgrade legacy systems.

Security and Compliance Risks

Rising cybersecurity threats require robust and up-to-date security measures to avoid breaches, which legacy systems lack. The same goes for data protection guidelines and compliances, which puts organizations using legacy systems at risk. No wonder CISA says using obsolete software is a bad security practice.

Waste of Resources

According to a survey done by Stripe, developers spend around 42% of their time repairing outdated/legacy systems. All those manhours could have been invested in performing several other productive tasks.

Poor Scalability

Legacy systems, as opposed to modern solutions, are quite rigid. They simply can’t scale up and down based on the business’s needs, which eventually leads to missed opportunities.

The Path from Legacy IT to Modernization

Here’s how organizations can seamlessly switch to modern solutions: 

• Migration: Migrating strategically can help organizations transition smoothly from legacy to modern solutions.

• Incremental upgrades: Organizations can gradually introduce new services or components instead of initiating a complete upgrade. This will help avoid any disruptions to the workflow.

• Hybrid approach: This is an excellent option for organizations that want to minimize risks. Using a hybrid approach, a bank, for example, can migrate its mobile banking app to a cloud-native platform while retaining the legacy mainframe. If everything goes well, the bank can phase out the mainframe and eventually modernize without hiccups.