No journey is easy…but it is worthwhile

Legacy systems (those systems that have been around for a decade or more) may have become the backbone of the company. Data is tied so tightly to the process that it may seem impossible to change direction. You will get push-back from your IT organization…stating that the impact of the change is too dramatic to initiate. You will get push-back from other business units (initiated sometimes by their IT contact) that the legacy system is too critical to the business-as-usual.

You can change direction. You can get buy-in to initiate technology projects. Whatever has been built, can be changed…it may not be easy, but it is necessary if you want your business to initate a new strategy.

First, you need to know what you have and how it is connected. It doesn’t have to be perfect with every detail. At this point you are looking from a high level to determine if the links are still valid or goes against your updated business strategy.

Contact your CIO to enlist his or her assistance. This high-level information may be available. If not, bring in a Business Architect will be able to help identify what information the business has, what’s missing and how it needs to work with your current strategy. The process will follow the tried-and-true…where you are today…where you want to be…the Business Architect will provide a roadmap on how to get there.

It won’t be an easy journey. Once you suggest tampering with the existing legacy systems, other business units will put up walls because of the fear of the unknown impact. The only way to combat the fear is to show what you have now and what the possibilities are with the change. It may require the assistance of an Information Archtiect and a Technical Architect. Your CIO can assign the right person to assist you.

In many cases that I’ve witness, the changes are not as dramatic as anticipated. Temporary bridges can be built to minimize the impact on other business units. In most cases, the changes can be implemented incrementally to spread out the cost of change. I’ve seen back-end storage (Data Warehouses/Marts) with front-end tools (Business Intelligence) installed to help navigate the migration.

What I have seen more offend than I care to admit is how avoidance leads to doing things the way that it has always been done…creating similarities among the competition…creating a commodity…leading to lost revenue opportunities.