Massive Modernization: Tips For Overhauling IT At Scale
CIO, Monday, April 7th, 2025
IT leaders offer hard-earned advice on undertaking largescale legacy IT transformations based on years-long experiences bridging their businesses to a new era.
Nimesh Mehta likens decommissioning legacy systems to going on an archeological dig: There are systems that still have a lot of value; it's just a matter of unearthing them, taking out what isn't needed, and building new processes on top.
'Our company is about 176 years old, so we've got a lot of legacy systems that are older than me,' says Mehta, executive vice president and chief information and strategy officer at National Life Group. 'We've also more than quadrupled in size, which means our systems and our tech have to be able to scale with the business.' This was the underlying motive to embark on a legacy transformation, he says, 'because our legacy platforms are not going to be able to scale in the future.'