Increasing challenges of using legacy systems and what we should do about it

By VSH Tech B.V.  

Despite all the digital transformations that are taking place in the digital age in which we live and work, many companies continue to use legacy software or systems to perform their everyday operations. The aforementioned methods have become critical to how businesses operate and replacing them with modern alternatives isn’t always an easy job. This is one of the main reasons why legacy systems are still used among companies.

Legacy Systems

A legacy system is software and/or hardware that is old or outdated, but still in use by the company because it continues to meet the requirements for which it was initially implemented. However, in general these systems are almost (or completely) at the end of their support, don’t allow for much expansion or flexibility and/or have integration problems with new technology. That being said, as a result of changes in their direct or indirect environment, companies must adapt accordingly and sometimes quickly in order to meet the needs. Maintaining a legacy system mostly limits these changes.   

Challenges

Maintaining legacy systems poses challenges for both the business with their issues and ever changing business needs and the IT Manager who has to fulfill these needs using the same system that created them in the first place.

Do the following challenges sound familiar?

• Organizing a meeting with IT to explain the beautiful new ideas about a “state of the art” customer service process and the IT support needed, only to hear that “it’s not possible”, “that won’t work”, “the system doesn’t support it”?
• Customers who demand better, faster and flexible services, but thinking about what IT said about the new ideas you don’t try to plan a meeting with them?
• IT juggling multiple applications and data silos that are built on different (legacy) platforms to meet business needs, but can no longer see the application landscape and are very careful about modifying anything because it might cause another problem?
• Shortage of IT-administrators with programming knowledge specific to your legacy system, because this generation is increasingly retiring or it’s difficult to find new hires with specific competencies?
• A system that is getting increasingly expensive to maintain?
• Struggling to translate business needs into solutions because the IT Department and the business speak separate languages?
• Development that takes ages to complete.

These are only a few challenges businesses and IT departments, using legacy systems, are facing.

What we should do about it

A platform with shorter development time, short implementation timelines, flexibility, scalability, and that is future proof, must be considered. These are important requirements for both IT Departments and the business.

That is where Low Code comes in. A Low-Code platform is a development environment used to create application software through a graphical user interface instead of traditional hand-coded computer programming.

All VSH Tech B.V.’s products have been created on the low-code platform Thinkwise since our establishment as an Independent Software Vendor. Our customers place a high value on development time and quick implementation schedules. Thinkwise gives us the opportunity to design applications at least 10 times faster than traditional programming languages, easily modernize existing (legacy) software, minimize the risks of vendor lock-in, thus dramatically accelerating the implementation process and future proofing the solution.

Our trust in this development platform has grown so much that we now provide it to our customers, complete with all of its features and benefits.

The ThinkWise Low Code Software is suitable for In-house Software developers who create custom solutions for their business inhouse, Independent Software Vendors specialized in delivering “Commercial-off-the-shelf” software designed for mass or niche markets or System Integrators specialized in creating and implementing custom solutions for their customers.

Our customers may now get started constructing their own core systems, and if assistance is required, VSH Tech has certified developers and consultants on hand to assist them in any way.

Curious about the possibilities of the ThinkWise platform for your organization? Please contact us at info@vsh-tech.com or click here for more information.