CEO Corner: Legacy IT Systems

Are Hurting Your Business

Smartbridge’s CEO provides his expertise on how to know if a company is being affected by outdated and legacy IT systems and what steps to take towards a solution.

at Smartbridge, we are all about simplifying business transformation through digital innovations, data & analytics, and modernizing enterprise systems. Our CEO, Sri “Raj” Raju, has lent his thought leadership on how companies who use antiquated technology (knowingly or not) are ultimately harming their own business’ progression. Here are some words Raj has shared in a recent interview:

What signals that outdated and legacy IT technology is hurting a company?

Companies across every industry are seeing digital transformation happening around them and fear what may happen to them if they don’t transform quickly. Digitally savvy competition, as well as new market entrants who may disrupt their industry, are a threat to any organization.

C-Suite executives are waking up to the fact that the change needed in their organization is fundamentally a business transformation that re-imagines how they must interact and engage with their customers in a whole different way to deliver exceptional customer experience, create stickiness, and capture increased share of their wallet. Digital technologies are the tools to achieve this transformation.

“C-Suite executives are waking up to the fact that the change needed in their organization is fundamentally a business transformation”

Business leaders are focused on transforming their companies and getting ahead of the competition, but cannot execute with agility because they are stymied by their IT people, processes and systems that do not support this vision. This is how IT is killing their businesses. Often they are running old legacy systems that lack functionality and real-time integration capabilities, and don’t have robust data management and business intelligence capabilities to understand their customers. They are unable to move the needle significantly with agility and cannot make the boat go faster.

outdated IT systems_move the needle

What do you consider to be lagging IT technology?

  • Old legacy systems that have not been upgraded and are running old versions that lack modern systems functionality

  • 100% on-premises systems with no cloud applications and infrastructure adoption to gain speed and agility to meet changing business needs

  • No data management and business intelligence capabilities

  • No automation capabilities (this includes Robotic Process Automation)

  • Lack of strong IT leadership to bring change to meet ever-evolving business needs

What solutions would you bring to a company who has outdated IT technology?

  • Educate the business in the promise of digital technologies

  • Establish a digital transformation road map

  • Upgrade legacy systems to the most current versions and take advantage of the new capabilities

  • Leverage cloud applications and infrastructure where appropriate to create scale and agility

  • Integrate systems, create APIs for easy integration where necessary

  • Automate where possible

  • Establish robust data management for key business data assets (customers, products, sales, HR, supply chain etc.)

  • Enable self-service analytics and data science capabilities within the business units

Looking for more on System Modernization?

Explore more of our insights and expertise at smartbridge.com/modernization

Keep Reading: The Impact of Digital Transformation in CIO Leadership Fundamentals

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