Growth and exploiting new opportunities are obviously important factors for any business, but the infrastructure needs to be in place to support them. However, many organisations are still using old legacy systems and an erratic collection of other business applications to run their organisation.
This scenario may have provided a solution and some sort of stability for the past ten years or so, but with the ever increasing demands of customers and end-users, as well as other business drivers, this type of environment is going to have a detrimental effect on the future of the business.
If business grows quickly will the organisation and, more importantly, the IT infrastructure, be able to adapt and cope with demand? Is the organisation’s growth hindered by an old application or technology? Can the infrastructure adopt mobile technology; integrate with other, newer applications and technology; provide remote access? These are just some of the questions that need to be considered.
In order for a business to grow, old applications need to be modernised and future-proofed, to provide the ability and flexibility to scale up and add new functionality as and when needed. In many instances, organisations are often restricted to running the business to fit with the capabilities of their legacy system rather than dictating the business strategy for commercial reasons and utilising the software to achieve that.
New technology such as IT process automation tools and business process automation software provides a wealth of opportunity that is simply not achievable with much of the old legacy applications and environments. The advancements in coding and application development have moved on too far, making much of the old technology obsolete and therefore an underutilised asset.
Signs That Applications Need Replacing
As well as the scenarios outlined above, there are a number of factors that can indicate whether or not a legacy system or application is past its best and needs modernising. Many of these are obvious issues, but are indicative of many organisations’ IT environments.
- Running slow
- Becoming incompatible with files and software
- Not working with modern hardware / devices
- No longer supported – security and updates
- Custom built and no inside technical expertise
- Using code that modern developers simply don’t know or use
- Lacking integration capabilities
If your business system is suffering from any of these traits and affecting your business, then it’s probably time to consider upgrading.
Creating a new application these days isn’t actually as difficult as many fear. The technology available reduces the risk of migration, keeps costs to a minimum and enables organisations to create an application that is flexible, scalable and one that can address their business requirements.
Download the eBook below to read more on this subject and/or give us a call on +44(0)330 99 88 700 to discuss how we can help you build a modern, future-proof system.
