SAO PAULO, BRAZIL. May 15th, 2024 – Over the years, technology has become an essential part of the business world, with most companies relying on it for services, customer support, payment processing, and more. However, many organizations face a common problem: using legacy systems.
This term refers to the adoption of outdated platforms developed long ago, which are now considered obsolete compared to today’s technological advancements. Issues such as lack of updates, maintenance or replacement difficulties, discontinued technology, and security flaws are common in such cases.
Paulo Azevedo, Head of Enterprise Architecture & Cybersecurity at act digital consultancy, explains that outdated legacy systems hinder business operations and impede expansion. “In a dynamic world, modernizing these systems is crucial and is on the agenda of the majority of CIOs (Chief Information Officers) in large companies,” he states.
Azevedo cites the example of a pharmaceutical industry client who underwent a modernization process with act digital. The company had an internally developed legacy system for new drug control, serving as a fundamental database but becoming outdated and unused over time.
The focus was on addressing problems caused by instabilities and lack of improvements over the years. According to the executive, after modernization, the company’s system became more secure, experienced a 40% increase in bug and fault resolution, and gained 50% in agility.
Modernization Strategies for Legacy Systems
“There are five main strategies for application modernization, commonly referred to as the ‘five Rs’: rehost, refactor, rearchitect, rebuild, and replace,” explains Azevedo.
Rehosting involves “discontinuing obsolete infrastructure” and migrating applications to a new digital environment. Refactoring entails making specific technical improvements.
“The rearchitect strategy focuses mainly on more efficient use of cloud resources, improved security, higher performance, greater scalability, and better resilience. Rebuild involves digital transformation, addressing not only technical aspects but also process improvements focusing on the customer,” as the expert explains.
Finally, there’s the replace strategy, used “when the system falls far short of business needs, and seeking a market solution or building a new application without leveraging legacy is the most economically viable solution.”
Azevedo notes that many companies still see modernization as a cost. In his view, this is a mistake, as the real cost lies in maintaining obsolete platforms that expose the organization to daily risks and lead to market loss. He also highlights the potential of using artificial intelligence (AI) in developing a new system to optimize business activities.
The company now offers various practices and accelerators to streamline the investment required for the modernization process. Azevedo says, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is a strong ally in this process. Its application in understanding functionalities and their impacts through reverse engineering, and its use as an accelerator in developing the new system, optimizes the effort needed for modernization.” The Head concludes, “AI, at the same time, provides greater predictability and accuracy to the process.”
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