Digital Transformation: To Overhaul or Not to Overhaul Legacy Systems?

Digital transformation has become one of the most fashionable buzzwords in recent times. With the pace at which technology is advancing, a lot of companies are taking up the challenge to look into new, innovative technologies to make things faster, safer, or more efficient and are achieving impressive results in the process— in many cases, leading to increased sales, reduced costs, or enhanced security and compliance.

While this is a beautiful step towards better business operations, there’s a catch - “legacy systems”. A lot of companies on their digital transformation journey are faced with the challenge of upgrading their legacy systems into a new digital framework.

Oftentimes, this challenge stems from a misperception with digital transformation — which is that legacy systems have to be overhauled to welcome new technologies. This fear makes companies linger on their existing systems as it seems impossible for both systems to coexist.

Also, many companies resist the idea of switching to some new tech or system as they assume it would involve a significant spend, huge investment in terms of time and focus, and oftentimes, loss in productivity.

In truth, digital transformation does not have to mean cutting the lifeline from legacy systems. There are approaches that can be applied to accommodate some legacy systems into a better digital framework; enabling the benefits of digital transformation as well as supporting legacy systems while they are significant.

The Integration Approach

Sometimes, the best way to settle a disagreement is to meet halfway. The integration approach is key in accommodating existing legacy systems in the drive for digital transformation.

In trying to make integration possible, one must first ask certain questions about the existing legacy systems, like;

• What elements are outdated?  
• If a component needs to have a new digital replacement invented or a custom requirement development process worked out, how much of a maintenance burden could that become?
• What are some connection points that exist between the legacy system and the new digital system?

Here's some advice: take it one step at a time, and start by integrating older components. This way, you can cut down on overall cost and investment while allowing the option of integrating newer components as they become available and affordable or as the need arises.

To Overhaul or Not to Overhaul – Answering The Question

While there is enormous growth potential in digital transformation, the introduction of a new system must be done with careful consideration and planning to respond to both environment and people/culture. 

The right approach taken to digital transformation can cater for the extent of restructuring that is necessary for a company’s legacy systems. By acknowledging what needs to be modernized, companies can avoid writing off their existing infrastructure, and upgrade their existing capabilities without massive expense. 

For example, instead of making do with a traditional monolithic application, companies can implement microservices. Ideally, microservices address individual functions that can be optimized in isolation. This way, legacy systems will get more agility and flexibility in terms of modernization efforts.

If you're finding that legacy systems are impossible to adapt, it may be time for a fresh start by implementing new ones. You shouldn't see this as scrapping everything your company has built so far but rather as a step up.

Conclusively (and this might be disappointing) but there is no right or wrong answer to whether a company should overhaul their legacy systems or not on their journey to becoming more digitized. No two companies are the same, so the path to digital transformation will vary. In the end, what you do will depend on your company’s needs.