"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” and let's cry all together 😅
What we observe:
According to Dell's study in 2023, 70% of the software used out there is decades old. This means outdated and old-fashioned digital solutions are still running in parallel with high-end and state-of-the-art technology.
Many corporations still rely on legacy digital tools for various reasons for their operations. These tools could include outdated software systems, custom-built applications, or even hardware infrastructure that has been in place for many many years. This fact can create a migraine to all of us who work in this sector as we face dead-ends that we need to go through no matter what, as a sacrifice to serve our users.
Fun story: I was in a company where the in-house system was not able to integrate with a third-party provider so the Design had the task of convincing the user to register in two different systems for the same thing without fail and frustration.
Some examples of the types of legacy systems that we still use today:
High on my list are the Custom Built Software applications and systems that many organisations have tailored based on their specific needs over the years. Another case is the Legacy Database systems that no longer are actively supported for various reasons and are very sensitive to breaking, so there are no updates for them. My personal favorite is the paper-based, or the "I have everything on an Excel file, in my computer, locally" which is a bit better than the "I have everything listed in my brain".
Please let me know the systems that you have experienced in the past since my next post will be about the Types of Legacy Systems.
Who is still using legacy systems:
The easy answer is large corporations that run for ages and are non-tech-oriented once that often are deeply rooted in their software. However, there are more. Companies and industries where legacy systems continue to play a significant role are Telecommunications, Finance and Banking, Government, Healthcare, and Manufacturing from Automobile to Aerospace. Some businesses maintain critical business processes for their clients such as IBM even though they are pioneers in developing modern technologies. Companies that have built systems that handle vast amounts of data and have been developed and customised over many many years like AT&T and Vodafone.
What are the problems and risks:
Many IT leaders and employees put on hold upgrades of software products due to high cost, effort and potential disorganisation, let alone the risk of loosing sensitive and precious data. From the business side it is difficult to overcome the ROI barrier and convince people of the need for an upgrade or a change. By keep using Legacy systems companies face serious security threats, as they are not comply with modern levels of security and people are not always kind. Maintaining those systems became harder each year as the developers with the know how are fewer and more expensive to hire. Also the older a system it becomes and more complex, the more likely to fail. It is very possible systems like those to fail because the number of user at the same time, because of lack of bandwidth of because the wind is too strong.
The point above create more problems as the companies lack to integrate modern APIs and cloud-based SaaS solutions. They often depend on a single provider, and as we have mentioned in a previous post, this a cause for lack or slow innovation, adaptation with the latest trends. Also, the disadvantage of not becoming agile slows them down to become competitive and sometimes even... user-friendly.
Please let me know about your experience with legacy software systems.
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