Legacy system health check and advice

Technology-driven change is seen as a key enabler in delivering greater efficiency and business value in terms of time, cost, and quality. Upgrades to the technology landscape will support these aims and help organisations better manage their longer-term strategic objectives around future-proofing and operational longevity.

The pace at which technology is moving coupled with the proliferation of vendors and systems/services is sometimes seen as an obstacle to change. A clearly articulated vision and objectives in the form of a business and technical strategy can help address an organisation’s needs. This requires a definitive understanding of where the business is today, what it ultimately hopes to achieve, the gap that separates the existing architecture from the aspiration, and how that gap can be addressed.

Knowledge and understanding of legacy systems and how they interact within the wider architecture enables an organisation to consider if/how they still support the business’ strategic objectives, what remains fit-for-purpose in line with the business/technical strategy, what needs to change, and the optimal way to implement the change without disrupting ongoing operations.

• A clearly articulated business strategy that identifies how enabling technology will support the overall business objectives.
• A defined technical/digital strategy that’s informed by the ‘as is’ and proposed ‘to be’ states and aligns with the business strategy.
• Access to technical documentation and/or resources who understand how the systems operate, integrate etc.
• Access to all IT-related contracts and licensing agreements.
• Knowledge of the total cost of ownership (TCO), and a comprehensive breakdown of all capital (CapEx) and operational (OpEx) expenditure.

• Undertake a due diligence exercise and articulate the current technical landscape, including all systems/applications/services, integrations, and data flows.
• Identify opportunities for rationalisation and consolidation of services and infrastructure, including gaps and overlaps.
• Formulate functional and non-functional requirements to inform the sourcing and tendering of new vendors and/or technologies.
• Design the indicative future technical landscape in line with the technical/digital strategy and outputs of requirements identification.
• Conduct a vendor/contract review and understand the organisation’s position with regards to contractual agreements, licensing, entitlements, and rights to use.
• Understand the TCO, including the CapEx and OpEx components.