What Legacy Tech Teaches IT Leaders About Projects That Last
CIO, Thursday, July 13,2023
In today's transformational business landscape, legacy systems are routinely discredited even as they continue to deliver value. IT leaders can learn a lot about their fundamental lasting power.
Modernization and transformation are the IT imperatives of the day. Rationalizing applications, reinventing business processes, capitalizing on the cloud - all point to legacy systems as the dead weight and sunk costs modern day IT organizations must move beyond to reach their digital potential.
As an IT professional, I too have at times thought about legacy systems like the high school cafeteria food we all remember - something to complain about even if we know we can't get through our day without it. The IT perspective is that legacy systems aren't flexible. They're resource hogs, and they are or rely on outdated technology. They're costly and hard to integrate with, and the vendor has you locked in because you've custom-built so much code around these systems that you can't afford to get rid of them.