Considering that technology and business are constantly evolving, there is no reason to think that your custom software won’t become obsolete over time as well. In both cases, it could be related to a wide variety of reasons such as changes in the economy, market conditions, laws, management, compliance, etc.

No matter which one is affecting your business or company, the good news is that there are some options to make your legacy software adapt to the new context, even without entirely getting rid of it and starting from scratch. This is where the migration concept begins to gain strength. It refers to the process of transitioning outdated software to modern technologies which helps businesses to unlock new opportunities and stay competitive.

Of course there are some implications to consider before embarking on that project. But let’s start from the beginning, and define what legacy software is.

WHAT IS A LEGACY SOFTWARE?

We can define as ‘legacy’ any old or out-dated software that continues to be used by an organization because it still performs the functions it was initially intended to do. They usually were built with old-fashioned programming languages and are used to run critical business operations.

Even if your software meets the definition above, it does not necessarily mean that you need to consider migrating it, at least initially. It could be the case that the value it adds to your company reaches your business expectations without too many issues, and therefore there is no need to invest time and money on that project. So, you might now be wondering…

WHEN YOU SHOULD CONSIDER MIGRATING?

There are some common indicators that you should pay attention to in order to determine whether you need to consider migrating your legacy systems. They are:

• Existing systems are limited to extend. It includes any of these: they are difficult to adapt to new business rules/changes, it is not possible to scale them, their performance and/or their user experience is poor and cannot be improved.
• They are heavily patched
• Their technology does not offer any longer support
• Its maintenance became too expensive.
• They are not efficient

Based on the previous, if your system belongs to the ‘legacy’ category but you are not evaluating any migration yet, then you should be aware of some risks you most likely face by keeping that legacy system. Let’s take a look at them.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN RISKS OF NOT MIGRATING?

• Compatibility issues. Since it may use outdated technologies, the legacy system can become incompatible with new systems or technologies that are also essential to the business. As a result, departments using legacy systems may not benefit from all the features offered by new systems.
• Security issues. The lack of support, updates or maintenance, as well as the fact of using old security protocols and standards, leads to introducing vulnerabilities or even causing security leaks. This can also make meeting regulatory compliance even more difficult.
• Data isolation. Legacy systems are not usually built to be integrated with newer systems; isolating data from other systems.
• Decrease performance and productivity. Legacy systems tend to become slower over time as technology continues evolving. This causes an immediate impact on the performance, efficiency and productivity by decreasing those indicators.
• Maintenance costs and competitiveness. Maintaining a legacy system means investing money on something that will need to be replaced sooner than later. This can put your business at a disadvantage relative to competitors, ultimately stopping you from reaching your full potential.

So you started to think about it, didn’t you? Let me tell you that the process of migrating your legacy systems also involves some challenges that need to be addressed properly to success. These challenges are diverse and depend on some factors such as the scope of the migration itself or the state and nature of the legacy system that needs to be updated.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?

• Existing systems are usually critical to day-to-day operations, so their migration must be carefully assessed and planned to minimize potential risks.
• It involves investing a quantity of resources — which means time and money. It is usually costly and time consuming and requires all parties to be involved at some point.
• The new system needs to not only meet the business needs but also gain user adoption. Considering user experience as part of the process is a must.
• Data protection. All data must be migrated properly to avoid data losses. So, involved parties must make sure all data can be extracted securely, ensure compatibility between old and new formats and take the time to test and review the data.
• If the legacy system is built with an obsolete programming language or technology, it might be difficult to find qualified professionals to lead the migration.
• The process can involve not-planned obstacles, for example, understanding the nature of the system as it was originally coded. This specially occurs when there is no documentation, when the quality of the code is poor or when nobody is able to provide information about it.
• If not done in the right way, it can end up not completing the entire migration which could cause a worst consequence: adding more systems that will need to coexist and be maintained as well as data spreaded across multiple sources.

Fortunately and despite all the challenges involved, the good news is that legacy applications can be perfectly transferred to modern platforms, which have the necessary resources to improve efficiency and enhance user experience. In case you decide to start this journey, you should consider this set of good practices before writing any single line of code:

GOOD PRACTICES FOR SOFTWARE MIGRATION

• Conduct a through analysis of existing applications
• Define the scope of the migration
• Determine what information will be transferred to the new platform
• Choose the right migration strategy and technology
• Involve all parties (business, IT teams, end-users, etc)
• Develop a comprehensive testing plan

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

Given that digital modernization is a concern that should be included on the agenda of any company nowadays, it becomes mandatory to assess your software inventory at some point and check its capabilities before it’s too late.

In that context, migrating your legacy software applications can help your business to not only improve customer experience, but also to adapt to new technologies and tackle industry challenges. The process involves lots of challenges, yes, but there are different strategies that make it possible for diverse business contexts. Definitely, a great chance to unlock new opportunities for enhanced efficiency and innovation!