Is your IT estate ready for the digital tsunami?

Recent system failures are well documented and we’ve seen examples where customers have been unable to withdraw funds or pay bills.

Is your IT estate ready for the digital tsunami?

…or is it compromised by legacy systems?

Did you hear the story about the company who used their private jet to collect a retired software engineer from his retirement home on a Greek island, so he could fix one of their legacy issues? It’s the stuff of legends – but it happens to be true.

Did you hear the story about a major-league finance company, who had to coax some of their retired or redundant workers back into the workplace, so they could work out how to migrate from the legacy systems that only they knew about? That’s true as well. I know – I was that particular soldier.

Have you heard of any of the following – Floppy Disks, Rolodexes, COBOL, Fortran, Assembler, IMS DB/DC, JCL, Adabas/Natural, VME, PL/1, EBCDIC, ASCII, Basic or CICS – to name just a few?

There is a strong likelihood that if you have, your estate may well be littered with such components; many will be mission-critical. The systems may lack documentation; they may have millions of lines of uncommented code and they will certainly have some interesting features that only the original developers know about. Do program overlays ring a bell?

This is massive risk to your business

Recent system failures (referred to by the media as glitches) are well documented and we’ve seen examples where customers have been unable to withdraw funds or pay bills or perform transfers -and you can bet your bottom dollar that somewhere along the pain chain, a legacy system “update” was involved.

So, surely Boards of Directors are jumping up and down, demanding these poisoned chalices are removed from their estates – you’d like to think so – but apparently, this is not the case!

There is no perceived business benefit, it’s massively expensive and surely we can live with these systems through one or two more budget cycles, can’t we? After all, it’s a technical problem, isn’t it?

Actually – er, no! It’s a business problem. It’s business data, lots of it, being run out of the dark recesses of computer rooms and network cabinets that are costing huge amounts of OPEX to keep running. It’s not just the software that’s obsolete and unsupported – it’s the hardware – it’s the operating systems – it’s a supplier’s dream! Thank you very much, last one out – turn the lights off and I’m on the beach.

So is it too late to do anything about it or are we stuck with these dinosaurs forever?

It’s never too late, but action is needed and quickly.

Here at Accesa we have the capability, through our powerful partner network and 330+ employees, to perform a digital strategy and come up with a contemporary solution with a variety of options, none of which will create the legacy problem of tomorrow. We can dip in to an IT community of specialists, a blend of old and new, who will work together with you to manage the transition from the old world to a brave new digital world – an enterprise free of legacy and a springboard to exploit your digital transformation.

Why not get in touch? Come and see what we’re all about of one thing you can be sure and that’s a warm welcome and a building full of talented, innovative people who are empowered to do great things. Ok, that’s two things.

Make today’s legacy nightmare a thing of the past – by evolution – one spoonful at a time.

The Cloud awaits you. Come away from the dark side and get in touch.