Why do Companies Keep Using Legacy Systems?
When it comes to running a business smoothly, business leaders often face a crucial decision: should they stick with their familiar old systems or opt for something new and untested? If you’ve found yourself in this dilemma, you’re not alone. When you’re struggling with the decision process about how to handle the future of your internal systems, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind.
In this article, we’ll explore why many companies continue to rely on their trusted legacy systems, even in the face of tempting alternatives. We’ll break down why the saying “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” rings true, the challenges involved in making a change, and the financial realities of system upgrades. This is your guide to understanding why staying true to your business foundation and ensuring day-to-day efficiency can sometimes mean sticking with what you know best.
Full Fit: Legacy Systems Can Still Serve Their Purpose
The system you have fits your business model. You’ve invested time and effort in creating a system that aligns with your processes, systems and employees. There is beauty in a system when it gets out of the way and lets you execute your business goals smoothly and efficiently. This might be the very reason why you started down the path to develop a system tailored to your business. Now, you’re at the point where you’re unsure of the next step. Is it time for maintenance, replacement, or perhaps building a new system? One thing is certain – you want a system that fits your business rather than forcing your business to fit the system you buy.
Change is Hard: Navigating the Shift
Changing a system means changing the way people work. Not only does your legacy system fit your business, but your employees also understand how to use it and navigate it comfortably. When you transition to a new system, you need to change your employees’ approach to how they work and handle daily tasks. This could mean adjusting to buttons in new places, potential loss of familiar functionality, and more. Large-scale changes, like rolling out an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system deployment across your company, can take months or years. Retraining employees is a time-consuming process, and there can be a temporary drop in efficiency as they adapt to the new system.
Think about it like this – you know that app you use every day, it gets upgraded to the “coolest/latest” version. Suddenly, you can’t find the features you need, and the changes seem to focus on design over functionality. Changing your core business systems can feel like that and it’s important to understand the impact this has on your workforce. So, why not consider the option of sticking with your existing system and making the upgrades needed to support your business? This way, you can continue to benefit from using the familiar platform while making micro upgrades to its efficiency.
Change is Expensive: Financial Hurdles
Many software developers love to throw away old systems and build new systems from the ground up because it is perceived as better and cleaner. However, this perspective often overlooks the fact that it entails a significant expenditure of both time and money to rebuild functionality that is already in place. The question that comes to mind: why reinvent the wheel?
On the other hand, if you opt for an “off-the-shelf” system, you need to recognize that this system wasn’t designed specifically for your business. Inevitably, there are going to be customizations required to make it work with your business needs, and some options may even be limited in the types of customizations available.
The approach we prefer ensures your ability to continue using your existing system while adding features and addressing issues in place. By avoiding a complete replacement, the cost is much lower.
When you consider replacing your system with an off-the-shelf solution or rebuilding from the ground up, there are drawbacks to keep in mind. These options may not provide the tailored fit you want, and the process of changing systems can be both challenging and expensive. Take the time to evaluate the short-term and long-term financial implications when making decisions about your business systems.
Looking for Guidance?
At Code Pros, we’ve developed an approach to legacy system maintenance that ensures no downtime and disruption to your existing processes, and incremental upgrades to help your systems stay in lock step with your business.
