Align Your Legacy Modernisation with Your Business Strategy

BY

21 February 2022

Software Development

Legacy Migration

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If your company’s computing software, hardware and IT systems are so outdated that you can’t utilise the latest available capabilities and techniques such as cloud computing, you have to look at possible legacy modernisation.

Most probably you’ve looked at possibilities already but you or your top management are hesitant to proceed. You might be afraid that you would have to change your business strategies to accommodate modern and up-to-date computing systems.

But it is an unnecessary fear. We’ve assisted many companies to modernise their outdated computing systems and our experience is that business strategies are actually strengthened by using new technology. Businesses find that new technologies make it easy to keep abreast of the newest developments in their fields and allow them to fine-tune their strategies.

To assist you in making the right choices with your legacy modernisation, we gladly share what we’ve experienced as the most important aspects to consider to ensure that your new modernisation plan aligns with your business strategies.

Take Business Strategies as Your Point of Departure

Modernisation for modernisation's sake is not the way to think about legacy modernisation. Any modernisation action has to, amongst other things, enhance your company’s goals, objectives and strategies. There must be a reason for every modernisation you consider and you have to verify the influence of introducing new technology on strategic aspects.

Many businesses revise their goals and strategies before they embark on a legacy modernisation process. This is done because the point of departure should be to have all your most updated goals and strategies in place and then find the best new technology to support these strategies. So, from a strategic angle, the main reason for modernisation is to make it easier and more cost-effective to reach your goals.

Alignment with Strategies regarding Clients

A company’s strategy often centres on getting new clients, retaining current clients and making a profit by selling products and/or services to these clients. Because of this, we recommend that you start your legacy modernisation process by getting applicable new technology to enhance the activities regarding your client-related strategies.

If this is the route you follow to replace older systems and software your legacy modernisation can easily be aligned with your client-related strategies. The new technology might open up possibilities for other goals as well, but then only as enhancement or fine-tuning of the existing strategies.

An example of how this has been achieved is through looking at the modernisation of the onboarding process for a new user signing up for Instagram once Facebook (Meta) purchased them, the entire process was simplified allowing for existing Facebook users to quickly and easily set up a new Instagram account giving Facebook greater user diversification across their platforms

Alignment with In-house Strategies

Top management is sometimes worried that new technology will not be aligned with existing in-house strategies regarding teamwork, workflow and production. Generally, they are concerned that new procedures will be so advanced that current employees will not be able to cope and that existing well-organized teamwork will not be possible. They may even be afraid that a “less-human” way of working might have a lower production as result. This, however, is also not something to worry about if handled correctly.

When you take the following into consideration with your legacy modernisation, the process will be smooth and aligned with your in-house strategies:

Don’t Do Everything at Once

Most medium-to-large-sized companies don’t reorganise all legacy IT systems at once. This makes it easier to ensure that the new systems are aligned with the company’s strategies. If you phase in the modernisation, adaptions to the system can be done if discrepancies occur.

Focus on the Business Outcomes You’re Driving

With a modernised IT system, many tasks are automated. This allows employees to be more efficient and productive with activities focused on the outcomes of the business. Senior employees whose work has been reduced or eliminated by the new system can be allocated to monitor that all the goals and strategies are being serviced and upheld throughout.

Ensure That the New IT Solution Drives the Business Strategy

It is not always easy to identify new IT solutions that will align perfectly with your business strategies, especially when your company doesn’t have IT Specialists as part of your staff. There are so many choices available nowadays that you need assistance in choosing the best solution for your company. With the legacy modernisation process, there is not a “one-fits-all” solution.

You need someone to assess the trends in your field of business and then assist you in identifying the right technology to drive your business strategy. That’s where companies like WorkingMouse come in. We can assist you with the process and ensure that your legacy modernisation aligns with your business strategies.

You can check out other blog articles, case studies and free downloads on our Cloud Migration page, or you can simply get in contact to book a strategy session to get started.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Beatty

Account developer and hair gel hoarder

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