Bringing legacy applications into the “new normal”

March 2020 brought a sea change to the business world like no other. With social distancing and lockdown measures put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus, many organisations invoked their Business Continuity Plans – only to realise that the instance of a global pandemic was not covered by them. A primary concern for many companies became how to build and enable a remote workforce to keep staff safe and comply with government guidelines without sacrificing productivity or profitability.

Almost six months on, the transition to the current state of affairs has been a relatively painless one for most businesses. Software tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom have allowed colleagues to exchange content and participate in conference calls remotely, keeping productivity levels high even in challenging circumstances. Homeworking has now become commonplace for almost half the British workforce, with 86% of employees stating that they find the setup works so well that they’d like to continue it indefinitely, at least on a partial basis.

While these are encouraging developments for the ability of a business to navigate whatever waters lie ahead, the truth is that many companies prioritised the logistics of enabling remote productivity without focusing on the smaller details. Legacy applications, upon which a huge amount of businesses rely for all manner of day-to-day operations, might have served their purpose in terms of keeping the wheels turning at the outset, but those niggles which seemed small in the grand scheme of things a few months ago can now easily represent a growing irritant that hampers your company’s development.

Modern legacies

With, at least, the bare bones of a modern workplace now in place, it’s time to finesse the finer points of your company’s processes. Bringing your legacy applications up to speed and integrating them more seamlessly into the new normality that you and your team are striving towards is key to unlocking a whole host of benefits. Among other advantages, you can expect a modernisation of your legacy apps to bring the following benefits:

• Productivity and processing speeds. Plodding along with outdated architecture can be like expecting the performance of a shiny new Tesla from a rusty old Reliant Robin. As operations and applications move increasingly online, the shortcomings of your ageing technology will become increasingly clear, manifesting itself in the shape of slow processing speeds and greater lag times, meaning reduced productivity from your workforce.
• System failures. Even worse than a sluggish system is an unreliable one which shuts down altogether, and all for no apparent reason or with any predictability. Apps which might have even seemed futuristic a decade ago may well have functioned satisfactorily in the interim, but the relentless pace of technological advancement means that everything has its sell-by date. Asking too much of older software will inevitably result in an overload of pressure and unplanned system outages and failures.
• Interoperability. Legacy applications are notorious for their monolithic nature, in which each department in an organisation has its own apps operating in silos. Sure, there are complicated workarounds which can link these together, but the time and resources spent on doing so (and on incorporating new programmes as and when they appear) could be far better invested elsewhere. A custom-built system circumvents these nuisances.
• Mobile access. A seamless experience across all devices is not just imperative for allowing employees to easily and efficiently share content and exchange ideas, but also to work from remote locations. Such an outcome was already desirable before the outbreak of COVID-19, but the skyrocketing popularity of homeworking has meant that this has become an essential capability for any business looking to stay competitive in the modern climate.
• Automation. Modernising your applications with an eye to how they can be automated and work with automation tools can massively increase your productivity. An automation focus will allow you to streamline your business processes further without relying on clunky technology workarounds or wasted manual effort. They can even allow your business users to rework automated processes to fit your business
• Outreach capabilities. Even if your company has resisted the digital revolution thus far, it’s undeniably here to stay. As partners, clients and customers upgrade their own systems and move forwards, the ungainliness of your legacy applications will become ever more clunky in conjunction with theirs, making you a less appealing prospect for them to work with. On the other hand, modernising your processes now highlights you as a company that’s planning for the long term.
• Cyber security. Scammers and hackers are becoming ever more sophisticated in their efforts to penetrate the online defences of your company. If you still rely on archaic security architecture to keep your business safe, it’s only a matter of time before they pinpoint your weak spots. What’s more, cyber security is dependent on continual updates and patches to plug the gaps exploited by criminals; if your legacy apps reach end of life status, you’ll become a sitting duck.

That’s just a taste of some of the gains you can expect to make when you fine-tune your internal operations and create a platform for success. The trouble is, many companies have become so reliant on legacy systems, while simultaneously lacking the technical knowhow to bring those systems into the modern era. With a significant chunk of the budget devoted to performance, maintenance and inefficient quick fixes which keep the ship afloat, upgrading them on a wholesale basis can seem like a daunting prospect.

How Quorum can help

That’s where we come in. Quorum have more than 20 years of experience in delivering high quality IT solutions to all and any kind of problem that your company might be facing. We’re intimately acquainted with the love-hate relationships that legacy applications can engender: in the digital workplace of today, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to live with them – but you can’t live without them, either. That’s why we work tirelessly to engineer bespoke solutions which upgrade your existing systems into a fully modernised and supportable environment that will simplify and streamline your business for success.

What’s more, we value the interpersonal relationships at the core of everything we do. We’ll take the time to really understand your business inside out, making sure we comprehend all of its unique challenges and use that knowledge to build solutions tailored to meeting your goals. We pride ourselves on not only delivering impeccable results on every project, but doing so with customer service that’s friendly and approachable. Indeed, our high retention rates for both clients and employees is testament to the emphasis we put on human relationships throughout all of our interactions.

Do your legacy apps seem even slower than before? Do they shut down for no apparent reason? Does the data always seem to be wider than the window? Loss of productivity and efficiency doesn’t have to be the price for working at home. Get in touch with Quorum today by giving us a call on +44 131 652 3954, sending us an email to marketing@qnrl.com or filling out our online contact form and we’ll be happy to discuss the myriad ways in which we can help to bring your legacy applications and your business into the new normal, whatever shape that takes for you.