Breaking Through the Legacy Systems Strategy Execution Barricade

When a business executive told the board of directors of their financial services firm that their computer systems were preventing them from offering a new type of fund to their customers, he was met with looks of disbelief. While details vary, the storyline is familiar to business leaders across every industry. Legacy software systems that have been running for decades undermine strategy execution across a wide-range of critical business areas. These include customer engagement, regulatory compliance, risk management, security, billing, procurement, production, fulfillment, shipping, payment allocations, and the trading of financial instruments, to name a few. And while new software is created all the time, most of it relies on underlying legacy software systems for core capability automation and access to enterprise data. Legacy software system challenges are first and foremost a business problem and should be treated as such. When business leaders encounter customer discontinuity, a diminished ability to manage risk, regulatory violations, and a wide range of other system-related, strategy-stifling roadblocks, they often make decisions that cost millions and do little to address the underlying issues. One common reaction is to blame the hardware platform, even when the problem lies in the software itself. Moving ineffective, inflexible software systems from one hardware platform to another, or to the cloud, simply moves the problem around, often at the cost of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. This assumes that these projects are not cancelled outright. This episode of The North Star will tackle the issue of how to address legacy software system challenges head on. Host William Ulrich will welcome guest and leading expert Don Estes to discuss the real issues behind the legacy systems challenge, including how one-size-fits-all solutions can be a fast path disaster. Tune in as William and his guest cut through the hype to share insights into the best ways to break through the legacy systems, strategy execution barricade.