How to Modernize Your Legacy Technology in 11 Ways.

Business technology has evolved a lot in the last few decades, and the speed of this change has increased exponentially in recent years. With mobile devices and cloud computing now a standard in the business world, many companies are moving forward and incorporating technologies like artificial intelligence and automation into their workflows.

Of course, the challenge with adopting new tech tools is figuring out what to do with outdated legacy systems. For many companies, the answer is either modifying their old technologies or scrapping them completely in favor of a more modern solution. To help you decide which path to take, 11 Forbes Technology Council members were asked about their best strategies for updating your business's tech stack.

1. Don't Rewrite It; Build Your Functionalities Into A New Platform
   Whenever I hear a CIO talk about rewriting an old legacy system, I usually advise that the most cost-efficient approach to modernization is to rebuild with new technology. The people who have expertise on your older platform are going to be expensive and hard to find. Your first step is to gain a complete understanding of the old system’s functionality and build it from scratch on a new platform.

2. Eliminate Systems You Can't Afford To Support
   Actively maintain all of your business critical systems. All systems have ongoing costs, whether it's technical maintenance or reduced productivity had that maintenance been done. Keeping up with maintenance reduces technical debt and makes those costs more obvious. Either a system is important enough to support the cost or it needs to be eliminated. Don't drown in maintaining unimportant systems.

3. Release Prototypes For Validation, Then Launch A Phased Migration
   Enterprises need to adopt a two-pronged strategy. First, release prototypes/beta releases to validate the business case for the new technology. Second, implement a phased migration to either replace or augment the legacy technology. The phased migration will enable the enterprise to start leveraging the new technology sooner with a seamless experience for the consumer during the transformation.

4. Adopt Agile Tools That Play Well With Existing Systems
   When looking for new programs, consider how it can integrate and work with other tools in your tech stack. It's not only important that the software can perform its job, but that it can play well with others. Fragmented customer data simply won't work in the customer-focused world, and any budget you would have spent maintaining the legacy tool should go into integrating all your systems together.

5. Implement The Basic Elements Of A Modern System To Start
   If you can’t overhaul legacy systems at once, take a pragmatic approach, initially incorporating elements like open protocols, distributed workflows, machine learning and security. These will serve as the foundation of a modern, end-goal architecture that you can later augment with flexible frameworks and other emerging technologies such as IoT, blockchain, AI and fog computing.

6. Do What's Best For Your Customers
   When adopting new technologies, the only thing that ever really matters is how your customers are affected. Modernizing technology stacks can be detrimental to user experiences early in the adoption cycle, however, they will likely pay dividends in the future. This balance between short and long-term customer satisfaction is always what smart, agile teams are weighing/evaluating.

7. Focus On Solving Evidence-Based Problems
   Most engineers are particularly excited about adopting the latest and greatest technology to whatever problems may be in front of them. Unfortunately, this often results in over-engineering, spending time and money without a cost-effective benefit. With this in mind, it's best to start with actual evidence-based problems. If there are none and your tech is already future-proof, focus elsewhere.

8. Move Your Data To The Cloud
   The first step I would take is to move all data to the cloud so you're not trapped by a specific technology. Then you can take your time researching the new technology. Find out what competitors are using and read to see what tools are trending in your industry. Most technologies offer free demos or webinars for you to get more familiar with the tech before making a financial investment.

9. Design The Rollout
   Poor execution is the death of any technology adoption. Users have a distinct experience when transitioning from one solution to another, or to technology from another medium. If the rollout is designed to be simple, easy and informative, the adoption rate is significantly higher than something deployed poorly with little-to-no information. Your workforce is the ultimate decision maker.

10. Ask Yourself How It Impacts Your Overall Business, Risk Levels And Customer Experience
    Not adopting new technologies can put you at risk -- being slow to change and late to market are just some of the reasons. However, the larger challenge is falling behind on security and remediation. Does the new technology make sense for your business? Does it reduce risk? Will your customers (internal and external) adopt it with ease? If the answer is yes to all three, the path is clear.

11. Find A Hybrid Cloud Solution
    When it comes to legacy systems, you only have two options: rip and replace or hybrid cloud. Rip and replace removes an old, complex and unreliable system with one that is modern, flexible and responsive, but comes with high costs, perceived risk and downtime, making it highly unpopular. However, a hybrid cloud solution allows you to keep your legacy systems and move part of them in the cloud.