The six drivers for evaluating legacy systems

There is no silver bullet method for legacy modernization. The best approach obviously depends on the problem that need to be solved. But before solving it, the problem must be clearly identified. Gartner defines ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜… ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. 

The first three of these drivers code from business perspective: ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜, ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ and ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† – meaning that if the legacy application is not meeting the new requirements imposed by digital business, it needs to be modernized to fit properly and should be upgraded to provide greater business value. Applications that lack the agility to keep pace with the demands of digital business may be a cost or risk liability.

The three other drivers come from the IT perspective, and involve ๐œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ and ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ค. If the total cost of ownership is too high, the technology too complex, or security, compliance, support or scalability are being compromised, itโ€™s time to modernize.

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฎ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—œ๐—ง ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ.