What is legacy modernization? 

In this fast and pervasive digital transformation time, organizations build on a fundamental necessity: keeping their technology stack modern and competitive. Legacy modernization offers a solution to that necessity. So, what does legacy modernization mean, and why does your organization need legacy modernization? Let’s take an in-depth look at this question and the many aspects of this consideration. 

Understanding Legacy Systems  

Before we approach the concept of legacy modernization, we should establish what “legacy systems” means. A legacy system is a computer program, programming language, and application software that exists in an organization, even though that technology or set of technologies is no longer “leading edge” as it relates to the organization’s infrastructure, architecture, or functionality. A legacy system, presumably, can be the backbone technology within the organization’s IT footprint and mission-critical business processes that the organization is using. 

Key Characteristics of Legacy Systems: 

• Outdated technology: Built-in or older programming languages or environments that are no longer supported.   

• Limited flexibility and scalability: Difficulty in adapting to new business requirements or handling increased workloads.  

• High maintenance costs: Highly skilled workers and resources are needed, and they usually charge a higher price.   

• Integration difficulties: Legacy systems generate challenges while integrating with modern technology.   

• Lack of vendor support: Vendors may not be maintaining the product with ongoing support or updates. 

• Security vulnerabilities: Legacy systems may not meet the current informational security standards, leaving the organization vulnerable. 

• Performance issues: Legacy applications may frequently perform significantly slower than modern software. 

• Compliance risks: Legacy software may not be in compliance with the provisions of current regulations.   

Examples of Legacy Systems: 

• Mainframe applications are still running a number of critical business processes in banks and insurance companies. 

• Older ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) that has not been updated in some cases for many years. 

• Custom-built applications that use various outdated programming languages, for example, COBOL and Fortran. 

• Older operating systems that are no longer supported by vendors have been deprecated. 

Defining Legacy Modernization  

Legacy modernization, also known as legacy application modernization or legacy system modernization, is the process of transforming or updating outdated software systems and applications to modern computing environments. This process involves converting, rewriting, or in some cases even porting legacy systems to new platforms, architectures, and technologies.   

The purpose of legacy modernization is to capture more value from the legacy system and the legacy technology to minimize the challenge of utilizing progressively less relevant technology and increasing value from ageing technology. It is the use of your valuable legacy information systems but modernizing the software instead of replacing it entirely. 

Key Objectives of Legacy Modernization:  

• Improved system performance and efficiency. 

• Improve user experience and productivity. 

• Reduce maintenance and technical debt. 

• Increase agility and adaptation to changing business requirements.   

• Improve security and compliance. 

• Integrate with modern technologies and systems. 

• Facilitates Digital Transformation. 

Why is Legacy Modernization Important?

  

Enhanced Security: Older systems also have data security vulnerabilities that are not patched as compared to security in modern systems using advanced encryption, multi-factor authentication and continuous vulnerability fixes and patches as cyber security threats ever evolve. 

Cost Reduction: The initial upfront investment is usually considerably bigger than legacy system maintenance and long-term operations. Most modern software products require less technical knowledge and can be managed by a smaller IT team. Additionally, Modern systems generally use energy resources efficiently reducing energy and operational costs. 

Better User Experience: Modern design features and modern functions, these features will generally improve productivity and satisfaction with the application performance with more intuitive visuals, better mobile access and responses times considerably improve usability and therefore contributing to a better experience for modern users and customers. 

Competitive Advantage: Modern systems enable organizations to adapt to market conditions and customer expectations quickly. They also deliver the capability to implement new features and services at a faster pace than the competition. 

Scalability: Modern systems are designed while keeping scalability in mind, which allows organizations to grow without limitations of system capability. Commercial Cloud hosting solutions also introduce unlimited scalability options. 

Data Insights: A modern system will typically provide advantageous capability for reporting and some amount of business data analytics, resulting in improved decision-making and organizational strategy development.  

Talent Attraction and Retention: A modern system will be much more desirable to work with from the perspective of IT Professionals. Modern innovation provides ease of engagement, and if it is not expanded to modern innovations, your organization will suffer from talent not wanting to work with or for you. 

Business Continuity: Modernized systems typically result in better business continuity and disaster recovery capability to reduce the impacts of system failures and provide the ability to recover swiftly. 

Approaches to Legacy Modernization 

When modernizing a legacy system, there are many different approaches you can rely upon to start the modernization. Depending on the available budget, timeframe for completion, risk appetite, and organizational priorities, you can choose from various options.  We will elaborate further on each of the options:   

Encapsulation 

The approach of modernization as encapsulation implies that you completely encapsulate the business capability related to the legacy system data and functional behaviour as a service through third-party API (Application Programming Interface) Integration. Encapsulation, as an option of modernization, tends to be less invasive to your core systems by assuring the core or legacy system and its components are mitigated through gradual modernization.   

 Pros: 

• Minimal changes to the existing system  

• Relatively low overhead cost and risk  

• Allows for incremental modernization 

Cons: 

• Limited improvements in system architecture  

• May not address all performance issues 

Best for: An organization needing rapid exposure of legacy capability to modern applications without major changes to the core legacy system and behaviour. 

Rehosting 

Also referred to as “lifting and shifting,” rehosting describes the process of migrating a legacy application to a new infrastructure (e.g., the cloud) with little to no changes to the code, features, or functionality.  
 
Pros: 

• Rapid implementation   

• Risk to the business is low   

• Low-cost in short-term 

Cons: 

• It doesn’t necessarily address any issues with the legacy system  

• It doesn’t provide the full advantage of moving to the new infrastructure 

Best for Enterprises that would like to move away from legacy hardware quickly or who want to reduce costs in a data center by downsizing. 

Replatforming 

This approach involves moving a legacy application from one platform to another and making minimal changes to the code, possibly introducing changes in the interfaces and the underlying infrastructure. 

Pros: 

• Depending on the amount of change, this could provide moderate-level increases in performance and scalability. 

• Lower risk as compared to a complete redesign. 

• Capable of getting some value from the new infrastructure. 

Cons: 

• Significant changes may be required to one or more parts of the application. 

• It does not fully modernize application architecture. 

Best for: Organizations that want to get some level of benefit from modernizing their infrastructure but are not ready to rebuild their software.  

Refactoring 

Refactoring is the approach of restructuring and improving an existing code base in order to enhance performance, scalability, and maintainability without affecting external behaviour. 

Pros:  

• Improvements in code quality and maintainability of code 

• Has the potential to fix performance issues 

• Is capable of retaining the existing functionality while refactoring 

Cons: 

• Refactoring can be time-consuming to achieve for a large application 

• Requires specialized knowledge of the existing code base 

Best for: Organizations with custom code where they have to refactor and do not want to replace or reinvent the existing solution. 

Rearchitecting 

Rearchitecting is an approach that results in substantial changes to the code while migrating it to a new application architecture with the aim of preserving the scope and features of the original legacy system. 
 
Pros: 

• Provides an opportunity for substantial improvements in performance and scalability. 

• Can fully leverage the benefits of modern architecture. 

• Addresses fundamental issues with the legacy system. 

Cons: 

• High risk and complexity. 

• Time and effort may be considerably more. 

• It may introduce bugs or a combination of issues not apparent in the original system. 

Best for: Organizations wanting to fully modernize an application architecture for a long-term benefit. 

Rebuilding 

In some cases, it may be necessary to rebuild the application from the start while maintaining the same scope and specs. 

Pros: 

• Allows the opportunity to completely redesign and optimize 

• Can take advantage of modern technologies and best practices 

• Addresses all issues with the legacy system 

Cons: 

• Highest risk and cost 

• Time-consuming 

• Some nuance to the original system may be lost 

Best for: When the legacy system is far too old, or business requirements have drastically changed. 

Replacing 

This is when you retire the legacy system completely in favour of a new system that better fits current business needs.   

Pros: 

• Opportunity to re-evaluate and improve business processes    

• Can choose a solution that fits the current business situation best 

• Removes previous issues of the legacy system 

Cons: 

• Higher cost and risk 

• It may require staff to undergo a rigorous training schedule. 

Best for: Where the old system does not meet current business needs or there is potentially better functionality from a very broad COTS product range. 

Steps in the Legacy Modernization Process  

• Assessment: Understand the current system, strengths, weaknesses, and business needs that are served by the legacy system. 

• Strategy Development: Based on assessment, create a modernization strategy to fit your business goal.   

• Planning: Develop a robust plan with timelines, resources, issues, etc.    

• Preparation: Prepare the resources and tools that are required to modernize legacy systems.    

• Execution: Implement the chosen modernization strategy.  

• Testing: Test the modernized system to ensure that it functions as intended. 

• Deployment: Deploy the modernized system in phases. 

• Maintenance and Optimization: After legacy modernization review, potentially optimize moving forward.  

Conclusion 

Legacy Modernization is not just simply updating the technology. It is the transformation of your business for success. While it’s not always easy, businesses of all sizes will benefit from the enhancements that legacy modernization provides, including increased efficiency, increased security, enhanced user experience, increased competitiveness, and more. 

For people thinking about modernizing their legacy systems, just remember a few things: modernizing is not one approach that fits all. Take the time to assess your current systems, understand your business needs, and develop a strategy that aligns with your goals. With careful planning and execution, legacy modernization, to some extent, eventually creates an opportunity to maximize digital transformation throughout your entire organization while helping you hold your value position in our global economic, increasingly digital world. 

In summary, remember this about technology: to stand still means to move backwards. With that in mind, modernizing should be seen as an opportunity to evolve your business forward, unlock new possibilities and ensure your technology can support your business growth for years to come. Investment in modernization is not only patching existing problems but also forming the basis for new possibilities and allows you to build a platform for innovation and contribution to greatness for the future.