Understanding Legacy Applications
Understand with us what are legacy applications, when is an application eligible to be called a legacy application, what are the problems that businesses face with legacy applications, and what solutions you have at hand to deal with such applications.
A growing number of businesses today rely heavily on various pieces of technology to perform their day-to-day tasks, which is all well and good until a few years pass and the software is older. As time goes by, they'll start to have more and more technology trouble as the hardware ages and becomes obsolete, and support for various software ends. These old applications are called legacy applications.
This article will cover exactly what legacy applications are with some examples, what a few of the different types are, and when you should consider modernizing these old applications. One of the most common ways to do this is to migrate legacy applications to the cloud, but we'll cover this when it becomes relevant. For now, let's understand what legacy applications are.What are Legacy Applications?
The definition of a legacy application is very simple; they are obsolete software programs. Many of these applications are outdated as the language they are coded in or the operating system they were initially designed to work with is now obsolete.
While this technology worked in the past, the modern upgrades newer systems integrate have made them obsolete, clunky, and slow, if they still work at all. One good example is the older version of Windows. Currently, Microsoft supports both Windows 10 and 11 until they can finally phase out support for 10.
Since both versions are relatively new, older software that functioned on, say, Windows 8 is likely to either not function at all or potentially require many workarounds to do so. If you have ever looked into playing an old DOS or disk operating service game on a modern computer, then you have a firm grasp of the struggles of using older software with modern hardware.
So why do businesses still use legacy applications? It comes down to two main reasons: how the business functions and the time and effort it takes to upgrade. The main reason legacy software is still in use is that the business has likely gotten used to it—it helps in daily operations in some way, which leads to why upgrading takes time and effort.
Not only do you need to find or create a new application or refit the old one so that it serves the same or similar purpose, but you'll also need to learn the new system and move all of the old information into the new application. In short, legacy applications are still in use because either the value they add to the business has not yet outweighed the costs of using it or because they are working on upgrading to more modern software.What are the Types of Legacy Applications?
There are a few different types of legacy applications. We'll cover a few here but keep in mind that there are many other types and reasons why an application could be outdated and in need of an upgrade.
The first type we'll cover are applications that can't scale very well. These small applications are useful in the beginning but start creating headaches as they can't grow with a business. For example, suppose a small business uses a weak application to process transactions. In that case, they will need to upgrade to a better and more modern software solution as their popularity grows.
These next two types of legacy applications tend to go hand-in-hand: applications without updates and end-of-life applications. Those without updates will still exist and will function, but barely. Any existing bugs will remain, the app will receive no new features or functions, and they will eventually become a security risk. Many applications that fall into this category do so as they are phased out and replaced with newer versions. When this happens, the application is considered an end-of-life or EOL.
Older versions of Windows are good examples of this—when one version is no longer supported, the next is available and probably has been for at least a few months. Some of the types of legacy applications include those that can't be maintained due to a lack of knowledge and those that have received many patches during their lifetime.When Should You Consider Modernization?
Despite what it may sound like from how we've described them so far, many legacy applications that are currently deployed may remain useful for many years to come. Every software solution is different, though, and many may need to be replaced with more modern options in the coming years.
You should consider application modernization when the cost of running it has gotten too high and outweighs the benefits of using it, the software is too buggy or frequently fails, when it poses a security risk, or when it showcases at least one other issue that decreases its usefulness or efficiency by a significant margin.
There are many ways to modernize an application, from rewriting its code to integrating it into the cloud. Each has its benefits, with migrating to the cloud being a common solution as it can increase an application's lifespan by quite a bit. Make sure you discuss this with your IT team to have all of your questions answered and to decide what the next steps need to be.
