Meeting Business Needs with Legacy Systems

12.01.2011

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Legacy systems are still found in large and small businesses and many state governments. In fact, 60 percent of critical businesses still run on legacy applications. And maintaining these systems can be a challenge. Luckily, there are many ways to modernize these systems, extending life and saving company’s money.

A recent article, “Legacy Application Modernization – Unlocking Latent Value,” in Database Trends and Applications, written by Maha Brahmanandam offers some useful guidance when evaluating modernization solutions. First, acknowledge that many modernization programs involve a combination of solutions.

Maha suggests considering the following when evaluating a legacy modernization solution:

  • Discovery or portfolio analysis is the most critical aspect of modernization exercise. A tool-based approach may help create view about the current state and value of your legacy assets.
  • Defining upfront a target architecture and technology stack is a must. A multi-tiered architecture that allows greater flexibility and easier integration with a mixture of technologies or platforms is recommended.
  • Determine what mix of existing, new and package components will be needed under the target architecture.
  • Focus more on reuse than replace and evaluate the tradeoff between cost and value.
  • For web enablement, application migration and SOA, review and fix any underlying architecture issues or limitations.

IT is tasked with managing dated technologies and implementing new technologies accordingly to meet the company’s business needs. Keeping pace with changing demands is important, but can be done without buying a whole new system. By selecting the right solution, a company can improve its existing system, save time and money, and avoid disrupting the business flow.

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