There are things that become even more valuable throughout the years. Vintage cars, antique jewelry, rare stamps – as time goes by, all these things acquire more value. Same can’t be said about any kind of software. Old technologies are replaced by new ones, and the use of an outdated system causes dozens of problems. To prevent this from happening and ensure the reliability of the used software, its timely modernization is essential. But how to understand that this moment has come? Below we consider why legacy software needs modernization and address the most common signs indicating on the necessity of this procedure.
Why Modernize Now?
Sooner or later there comes a time when the shortcomings of the legacy software outweigh its usefulness for a certain company. And it’s quite important to interpret the wake-up calls correctly to proceed with software modernization until it becomes too late. Well, the most common reasons making business owners think over making the improvements in a legacy system are the following:
- Operation and Maintenance Costs Exceed the Benefits Legacy System May Provide
As time goes by the legacy system becomes less efficient and more expensive to support. Until it reaches the turning point when the expenses significantly surpass the benefits. On one hand, your software is still capable of solving your business problems, but on the other hand, it becomes a burden for a company to generate the financial flows for its maintenance. In this case, it is more reasonable to redirect the investments in software modernization services other than to support outdated legacy software. Obviously, such an approach requires some effort, but meanwhile will help to save you lots of money. - Legacy System Performance Leaves Much to Be Desired
How do you feel when you use the system with constant crashes and errors? If the generation of one single report takes several minutes instead of several seconds as it must be? Obviously, it is annoying and does not facilitate the overall work efficiency. On one hand, it is not a problem to wait a couple of minutes until the system responds to your request. On the other hand, just imagine how many actions your employees proceed with during the day, and how much time is wasted until they are complete. The problem will seem more large-scale if we consider it in frames of a month or even a year. Hours and hours of precious time that could have been dedicated to solving business problems turned out to be wasted. To prevent this from happening and ensure the reliability and stable performance of your legacy software, it is important to proceed with modernization timely.Read Also
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- Your Legacy App is not Compatible with Other Contemporary Systems
It is vitally important that your legacy software could be integrated with other systems and tools. For instance, you intend to adopt a CRM system to ensure more efficient customer support. If your existing legacy software application is not compatible with it, your customer service may not correspond to the clients’ expectations. This entails massive customer churn, when people prefer your competitor’s application over yours. Most likely losing clients is not a part of your plan. That is why it is better to proceed with modernization of your software if you care about maintenance of the interest among your clients and acquiring new ones.
- Your Legacy System Does Not Possess Enough Flexibility
When you start your business, you look towards the future counting on its expansion. Therefore, you have to pay decent attention to the scalability of the software you use for your needs. Even if initially your system possessed enough flexibility to serve the business processes, over time its capacities will be insufficient as your business evolves and expands. Timely reengineering of the existing legacy system or adoption of a new software will be a great solution to the issue of scalability. - Your Legacy System is Run on On-premise Server
When you use a local server to host your legacy system, you should be ready for a number of limitations it imposes. For starters, you are very dependent on the hardware you need to purchase first. Second, an on-premise server needs to be maintained, and it is your responsibility. Third, it may not provide the same level of flexibility as cloud services providers. Therefore to ensure the cost-efficiency, safety and flexibility of the application, there is a possibility to migrate it to the cloud. If you choose this option, there may also arise the need to proceed with code modernization through refactoring, to ensure the compatibility of the application with the cloud infrastructure. This will allow you to use the maximum benefits from cloud migration.
Read Also Embarking on Legacy-Cloud Migration Journey: Main Benefits and Approaches
- Adding New Functions Turns into a Challenge
It is impossible to develop a software and not to proceed with its changes. Users’ expectations are constantly evolving, which makes a business owner keep a finger on the pulse and proceed with improvements when necessary. But as a rule, implementing changes in legacy software is not an easy task. The reasons may vary: from the obsolete technology stack to extremely complex and overloaded application architecture. This entails certain difficulties when you try to introduce new features in the app. Moving towards the application modernization may be a great solution to this issue. - Your Legacy Software is no More Capable of Solving Your Business Problems
At the very beginning of your business journey, your software could have been a perfect fit for it. You could squeeze maximum benefits from your application, and use it as a tool that could satisfy all your needs. But over time your business may expand and its specifics may also change. It may happen that the legacy software you had been using for years became absolutely inefficient. This understanding will inevitably lead you to the path of software modernization, so you could use the application in the most effective way again. - Technologies Your Application was Developed with Became Obsolete
Almost everything over time becomes obsolete, including the technologies. At the time when you were only introducing the software in your business, it could have been written with the most cutting-edge tech stack of that time. But a while after there come new tools and programming languages that inevitably replace the old ones. As a result, the outdated applications become ineffective and unreliable. Deciding in favor of application modernization will help you to keep your system up-to-date and gain maximum benefits from its utilization.
Conclusions
If you do not want to abandon your legacy software and intend to use it in the future, you will inevitably face the necessity of modernization. However, even if you have noticed one of the signs listed above, do not rush to apply changes immediately. First, the app modernization strategy should be elaborated and carefully planned. Only in this case the process will go smoothly and bring the best results.
If you have a software requiring modernization and look for a reliable partner to rejuvenate it, please contact us, our team will be glad to help you.