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February 2009
Industry Focus: Facing up to the legacy IT challenge
Ageing and increasingly costly legacy IT systems are one of the biggest headaches that hinder business transformation and drain technical budgets. Companies which address the issue now will reap significant benefits, enabling them to reduce cost now and be better prepared for an economic recovery.
Today, when we are all being told to do more with less, it’s hard to argue that you need money to move off a system that has been working for 10 years or more.
It’s not uncommon for some businesses to be reliant on one old application that only runs on an old platform. Usually it’s a custom application written just for a particular business and the developer is not available anymore.
Examples of such disappearing skills can be found everywhere. One global insurance company, for example, has its core claims application administered by two people with over 40 years service each, who have been brought back out of retirement because no one else knows the code.
Businesses which remain shackled to such risky procedures and creaking legacy systems will find it hard to compete in the future. Doing nothing is not an option.
So when reviewing legacy applications, which often remain as the transaction engines that process core business functions, where should an organisation start?
First, you need to assess your IT portfolio. How else do you know what to do if you don’t know what you’ve got? This application management (APM) approach allows for informative IT decisions to be made and provides CIOs with fact-based data to back up their actions.
What are the options? Implementing operating systems anew is one solution and modernisation is preferred by many companies. Others look at reducing footprint on the mainframe. Another solution is migration of legacy systems.
Modis Solutions helps organisations to address legacy IT systems that use declining or irreplaceable skills. By using application management-based analysis, the company helps companies to choose the option that is best for them.
Steve Steuart, managing director, says that the economic downturn has given legacy platforms and applications added importance due to the large costs and significant potential for savings.
“Companies now have options,” he says. “Previously, if a company wanted a mainframe, they had to go to a specific vendor. If they wanted to continue maintenance on that mainframe, they had to go back to that same vendor. There was no choice.
“Today, if they opt for modernisation, there is a plethora of platforms to choose from, including UNIX, Linux, Windows and more. They are not confined to one type of system or one particular vendor.
“In addition, with the advent of new technology, chips have the same processing capabilities as the mainframes of yesterday. The variety of choices and new technologies enable companies to find the most efficient, cost-effective solution to fit their needs.”
In the current climate, some companies may be reluctant to invest in a full assessment, in which case they can opt for the alternative solution of a rapid application assessment.
Charlotte Hollingsworth, business analyst at Modis Solutions, describes it as ‘APM Lite’. ”This way, a company can get its feet wet and get the wealth of information necessary for a modernisation project. If they like what they see, they can take it further.”
Among the companies that have used rapid assessment is a major bank, which discovered that it had six versions of the same application. From the initial assessment, the bank looked at the metrics for each application and decided which was the healthiest for its portfolio.
By using the same APM tool, the bank was also able to highlight codes that it was not using and could retire, thus saving maintenance costs.
Modis Solutions can also assist companies prior to modernisation projects, by helping them to understand the information that arises from the assessment.
“We help to train employees, help them understand how to install a specific tool, how to use it and understand the results,” says Steve. “My message is don’t wait. The mentality of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is a very risky approach with respect to legacy technology.”
Contact:
Steve Steuart
Managing Director, Modis Solutions
Steve.Steuart@Idea.com
00+1+904-360-2433