How companies can integrate new digital solutions with old legacy systems
We all know outdated legacy systems are bad news and a huge drain on productivity, but the sad truth is some just can’t be entirely replaced. Not all in one go anyway.
We know it can be incredibly frustrating to keep being told how bad a process or system is when you can’t actually do anything about it. It may be too pricey to replace the whole system or you may not be able to get rid of it because the operational risk of transferring data may be too high, this is especially true if you run the risk of losing key data.
But there are ways in which you can integrate new digital solutions with your old legacy systems which can eventually help you tease out the old and bring in the new. We will tell you how in this article.
So what counts as an old legacy system and how do you know if yours needs a modernisation?
1. It doesn’t work on mobile
In today’s society, it is unusual for a modern software system to not work on mobile. You can’t go anywhere without seeing a mobile or tablet being used. They are in almost every industry from retail, hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals and construction sites. Is your internal system limited to use on a desktop computer? If so, it is a sign that your system needs updating in order to benefit the performance and productivity of your business.
Being able to perform tasks on mobile is particularly crucial for employees that don’t usually work at a desk. For example, if you manage a healthcare business and your care plan software only works on desktop. This means your carers, nurses and doctors won’t be able to update their files whilst they are working on the floor. This can result in information being lost or forgotten which can leave you open to risks in the future.
2. When you’ve had tonnes of different developers and analysts ‘fixing’ your legacy system
Because your system is so old, it can mean that over the years you’ve had too many different people working on it to try and keep it ticking over. The problem with this is that it leaves you with a lot of undesirable source-code. By undesirable we mean duplicate, neglected and unnecessary code which leads to a broken architecture. When this happens it makes it harder and harder to improve your system because no one can work out the tangles which have been made years and years before. This will make your system less responsive and slow which leads us to our next point.
3. When your system is slow and glitchy
This is especially frustrating for those that work in public-facing roles. We’ve all had the experience where we are waiting for an employee to load something up for us and they say “oh when this thing decides to load” “sorry about the wait” or even “this thing has a mind of its own.” This not only makes your business look incredibly outdated and inefficient, but it also slows down your processes. Imagine if you have 500 employees and every employee has to wait a total of 10 minutes every day for your legacy system to load. That is a massive 83 hours!
4. The cost of running the system is out of your control or you are not even sure how much it is costing you
There are a lot of hidden costs besides paying people to patch over the problems which you are having with the system:
The cost for time wasted by employees waiting for it to load, using a bad interface or replacing work which the system has lost because it has crashed.
The cost of training employees on how to use the system because it is very difficult to understand.
The cost of employees leaving your business and having to hire new starters because they can’t bear to work with your slow and outdated technology anymore. In fact, a global study by Unisys Corporation suggested that workers at technology lagging companies were 450% more likely to want to leave to go and work elsewhere.
5. It is difficult to add new features to your legacy system
Like any good professional, their skills have to evolve otherwise they won’t progress and provide the results that they need to succeed. This is exactly true for your legacy system. If it is becoming increasingly hard to add new components to your system and lots of additional code is needed to do very basic add ons. This is a sign that your system has poor inner architecture and it needs replacing in order to move with the progression of the company.
How do you even begin to change or update a legacy system?
As mentioned above, these systems are so ingrained into your business that it is no easy feat to dig them out. But the good news is that there are ways to do it.
1. Start small
Viktoria, our Project Manager suggests taking baby steps to remove your legacy system. She says you can do this by first replacing systems which aren’t business-critical. For example, use new technology to replace your training or onboarding processes. From there you can start to slowly expand the technology by highlighting what the legacy system isn’t doing and using a new system to bridge the gaps.
It is important to look for digital platforms which are extendable. This is because it means you can easily add new capabilities when slowly replacing your old legacy system. If you don’t you will end up with multiple different platforms, this makes it very difficult to work as you won’t have one centralised place of guidance. For example, your training and onboarding system is on one app, your internal comms solution is on another and your sales training software is somewhere else. This means it is incredibly hard to draw insights, look at analytics and delegate tasks because all of the information is spread out.
1.1 Questions which you should be asking potential software providers
Start by asking your preferred supplier what other solutions they can offer. Also, have a look at their case studies and ask them for examples of where they have extended their platform to meet a business’s multiple requirements. This will make it easy to tell who will be able to adapt and change and who may be limited to one specialised area.
Make sure that their platform is scalable, can it grow with the number of users which you might require in the future? Choosing a platform which works for 500 employees might not work so well when you have grown to 5000 employees. Be wary of this if you want a long term solution.
What level of security does your software have? One of the risks with old legacy systems is their outdated security standards which leave you open to issues. You want to make sure that you are not going to face the same problems once again.
How much training will our staff require with your product? One of the main reasons why legacy systems are not feasible to work with anymore is because they are so complex to use and they require hours of training. You want to avoid this at all costs with your new technology provider.
2. Adding user-friendly top layers
Viktoria also draws on her experience of working with a customer who’s internal ticketing system was too difficult to use. Rather than trying to replace the whole system in one go (which would have been near impossible) they decided to create a top layer for employees to use. This made it easier and simpler to input data without actually re-developing the entire system. They saved time and money and it meant that they could eventually chip away at what was underneath.
2.1 What makes a user-friendly interface?
They are simple and require the bare minimum from the user to complete the task. There aren’t any unnecessary elements which could confuse the user.
They are clear, with concise buttons and actions to make it glaringly obvious what the user has to do next to proceed.
They are speedy allowing users to complete tasks with ease and efficiency.
They are familiar, by this, we mean that users can complete their journey without really thinking because the interface is so familiar.
3. Using APIs (application programme interface’s) to integrate new digital solutions with your old legacy systems
Legacy systems were not designed to support new digital solutions because they didn’t even know they existed when they were built. Today’s solutions are able to deliver results and insights in real-time which is an alien concept to your old software. Because of this, IT departments are becoming bogged down with the number of requests they receive from different departments asking to extract data from legacy systems.
API’s are ideal to resolve these issues with old legacy systems because they expose the data in a safe and secure way. They work by allowing your new and old software to talk to each other. These API’s should be reusable which means they work as a long term strategy to keep up with the ever-changing demands of the market.
3.1 What makes a good API?
A good API should be extensively documented, it needs to talk about each data structure (DS) and its’ members with their type and purpose. A great API document is essential because it helps other developers use it. You can have the best API in the world but if no one knows how to work with it, then it is essentially useless.
It should be simple. This means that you can work with it and adapt it without constantly having to look at the document for rules and steps, it allows for fast and flexible working.
It should always be complete. There shouldn’t be missing features or complex code as this make it a pain to work with in the future.
Consistency is very important to have a good API. It should name the same things, in the same way, every time. This makes it predictable and easy to follow. For example, don’t say password in one section and then say the word login in another section. This makes it confusing to follow.
Key mistakes to avoid when integrating new digital solutions with old legacy systems
1. Not asking your employees what they would like to see in a new solution
Your employees are the people who use the legacy system the most regularly. It would be barbaric to implement a new solution without asking them what they do and don’t like about the current system. Find out what they would like in the new system that would make their job quicker and easier. Ask them to describe their idea of a perfect system to get the job done. This will help you identify exactly what you need.
2. Not having a single person who is dedicated to owning the integration project
Because it is such an intricate task it is essential that you have one project owner on both sides of the job, one from your company and one from the supplier’s company. Having multiple people will end up confusing the matter. Having a single person each will make the experience more seamless and easy to follow. A good project manager will be able to get the information you need quickly, make sure tasks are always completed, make sure things are done on time and ensure that the end result is delivered.
3. Replicating your old legacy system but with a newer platform
Yes, your old legacy system needs modernising but this doesn’t mean that you just replace it with a new model. What a waste! There are so many platforms out there with new capabilities that can transform the way that you work. It would be limiting to just go with what you know. Try going to an online discussion forum such as quora. Ask what systems exist that do what you need but with much better capabilities and features.
Be gradual with your legacy system modernisation
Modernising your legacy system isn’t a process that should be rushed. If it is, you may end up in the same place that you started - locked-in and with limited capabilities. You should be taking an evolutionary approach. This way you can properly analyse every amendment and replacement and ensure you are making the right decisions. It also means that costs are kept down as you won’t be paying one big lump sum for something which you may decide you don’t want in the near future.
Are you interested in moving away from your embarrassing outdated legacy system? Ocasta can help you discover the issues and opportunities which you have with the outdated software. Create pilots and prototypes for you to test new designs and solutions with your users and staff. Finally, we can create your ideal solution and support you along your journey.
