What is Legacy Modernization?

legacy system, also known as legacy operating system, is an operating system (OS) that is not used so much anymore or it has been abandoned or be supplanted by an updated technology. Despite that, many corporations still use legacy system also for critical applications..

Legacy modernization, or software modernization, means the porting or rewriting of a legacy system to a more modern technology (especially a modern programming language but also software libraries, protocols and eventually hardware platforms)

The business logic of the application will be the same but the technology will be modern.

Because most of the legacy system are mission critical, legaly modernization projects are usually complex, large projects that last more years. The risk to replace the old system all at once is too high. The modernization is done most of the time incrementally, step by step. A migration strategy must ensure that the system remains fully functional during the modernization effort.

Legacy modernization projects are usually outsourced to professional teams (like Ecube Systems) able to handle both technologies: the old one and the new one.

In fact one of the biggest issue is the lack of documentation or lack of SMEs/ knowledge on the legacy systems and lack of technology skills in which the legacy system have been implemented. If the technology adopted is really obsolete you need people that worked in the past on that legacy system.

There are some challenges though:

  • Organizational change management – Introducing a new technology means training users on the new platform and applications
  • Coexistence of legacy and new systems – Because of the incremental migration, the two systems will coexist for a while and they have both work perfectly because often this is mission critical application.
  • Significant modernization costs and duration - The legacy modernization process is a long project that needs often large investments, not to mention unforeseen uncertainties in the process.
  • Company commitment - The Company must be convinced of the investment being made for modernization is really beneficial also if an immediate ROI may not be invisible.