Legacy system migration is a daunting task, but it’s an important step in modernizing and improving the functionality and efficiency of an organization’s technology systems. In this piece, we’ll cover the basics of legacy migration, as well as our top picks of industries that heavily benefit from legacy system migration.
What is legacy migration?
All software has a life cycle; there’s a birth, a (hopefully long and productive) life, a death, and an aging process that guides the whole thing. An idea experiences a period of development, and through that a software is born into the world. In its infancy, it has limited abilities, but it evolves as the developers learn what else users need from it. Eventually, It comes into the prime of its life cycle, delivering as much as it can given its conceptual confines.
Eventually, the software begins to go through the process of code rot. This is the deterioration of a piece of software over time that results in its eventual failure. Code rot can be attributed to a lack of responsiveness, as well as software not being updated for long periods of time.
Code rot causes software to become messy, complicated, and harder to maintain and manage. Eventually, it may become an infrastructural risk, whether that’s from a lack of support for new security initiatives or a risk of failure if the system gets overloaded or the developer no longer offers support for the software. All of these issues will have major consequences on your business.
This is where legacy system migration comes into play.
Legacy system migration refers to the process of transferring applications, data, and other technological assets from older systems to newer ones. Legacy system migration is not only for hardware transfers, but software as well. The breadth of legacy system migration covers everything for shifting to modern platforms, updating custom code or integrations to be compatible with newer technologies, or even replacing entire systems with an alternative option.
Legacy System Migration For Different Industries
Legacy system migration is hugely beneficial for almost all industries as it allows for the modernization of technology systems and improves efficiency, security, and flexibility. Here are a few examples of industries that may particularly benefit from legacy system migration:
1. Insurance
Insurance legacy system migration can improve the efficiency of insurance processes, such as underwriting, policy issuance, and claims processing. By automating these processes, legacy software reduces the amount of manual work required. Legacy system migration also allows for a transition towards headless applications.
In many instances, a piece of insurance software may be out of date, but holds too much previous information on the business to remove it entirely. By attaching a custom software solution onto the antiquated infrastructure, the responsibilities migrate from that piece of incapable technology to a more capable option without any data loss.
Common examples of insurance legacy migration include:
Policy management systems
Policy management systems are used to manage the underwriting, issuance, and renewal of insurance policies. Migrating to newer policy management systems can provide modern features such as automated policy issuance and underwriting, making more time available for claims processing.
Claims processing systems
Claims processing systems are used to manage the handling and settlement of insurance claims. Migrating from insurance legacy systems to more modern systems can improve claims handling effectiveness and assist with monitoring potential fraud by raising red flags based on certain triggers.
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are used to manage interactions with customers, including policy sales, service, and retention. Migrating your insurance legacy CRM to a newer CRM system can provide a diversity of ways to interact with customers for more personalized engagement. Newer CRMs also open up the possibility of automated lead generation and customer segmentation.
2. Healthcare
The healthcare industry relies heavily on technology, and outdated systems can be a burden on productivity and patient care. Migrating to newer systems can minimize the resources needed for efficient medical record keeping, streamline billing and insurance processes, and improve communication between healthcare providers. Migration may also help patch security holes in older systems, helping to maintain HIPAA compliance for the provider.
Common examples of legacy migration for the healthcare industry include:
Electronic health record (EHR) & Electronic medical record (EMR) systems
Many healthcare organizations are migrating from paper-based record keeping systems to EHR or EMR systems. These systems provide a more efficient and accurate way to store and access patient health information, and they can also improve communication between healthcare providers.
Older EHRs and EMRs are not tightly connected and can struggle with managing patient needs. Many times, patients find themselves filling out the same information over and over again. With modern record systems, that data is attributed and easily accessible, shortening sign-in time and taking some burden off of the administrative team. All this equates to more time to spend on patients and their health concerns.
Practice management systems
Practice management systems assist with managing the administrative and clinical aspects of a healthcare practice. Migrating to newer practice management systems continues to lessen the load on overworked healthcare administrators, and provide time saving tools such as appointment scheduling, billing management and automatic insurance validation.
Laboratory information systems (LIS)
Laboratory information systems (LIS) manage and analyze laboratory data, such as test results and patient information. Migrating to newer LIS systems can expedite processing times by eliminating the digitization process with incoming requests, and provide advanced features such as automated test ordering and result reporting.
3. Financial services
Financial institutions rely on technology to manage sensitive financial data and transactions. Migrating to newer systems can improve security and protect against data breaches, as well as offer more third party integrations to help service providers compete in a saturated market.
Common examples of legacy migration for the Financial Services industry include:
Banking systems
Many financial institutions are migrating from outdated banking systems to newer platforms that offer advanced features such as online banking, mobile banking, and real-time transaction processing. Migrating to newer banking systems can improve the user experience and increase retention rates.
Accounting systems
Accounting systems are used to manage the financial aspects of a business, including billing, invoicing, and payroll. Migrating to newer accounting systems can provide a deeper look into the finances of a company, and provide advanced features such as automated financial reporting and analysis.
An example here could include a database built using PowerBuilder in the early 2000’s. While still functional, the utility has become quite limited compared to more modern database software. Migrating to a more current database may produce faster response times and more integration capabilities with other providers. These features could even be used to build out a dashboard for action oriented insights to improve the financial performance of a company.
Trading systems
Trading systems are used by financial institutions to execute trades in financial markets. These systems need to run successfully with practically no margin for error, as money is being exchanged constantly across the system. Migrating to newer trading systems can improve the safety and accuracy of trading processes, giving consumers moment-to-moment analysis capability.
Risk management systems
Risk management systems are used by financial institutions to assess and manage risk in their portfolio. Migrating to newer risk management systems can open up the possibility for more high level hypothetical exercises in risk, such as modeling and stress testing for portfolios.
4. Retail & Consumer Services
The retail industry is constantly evolving, and technology plays a critical role in managing inventory, processing orders, and interacting with customers. Being both accessible and accurate is critical for retail or consumer services, and with online delivery expanding all across the globe service providers must be able to reach consumers regardless of the internet quality. Migrating to newer systems can open doors for internet accessibility to low bandwidth areas, as well as provide a better customer experience.
Common legacy migration for Retail include:
Supply chain management systems
Supply chain management systems are used to manage the flow of goods from supplier to customer. Migrating to newer supply chain management systems can improve the efficiency and accuracy of supply chain processes, and provide advanced features such as real-time inventory tracking and demand forecasting.
Real-time inventory tracking is critical for a consumer services site, as without accurate inventory customers could order products that are out of stock, causing delays in shipping and major backorders a manufacturer will have to expedite.
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are used to manage interactions with customers, including sales, service, and retention. Migrating to newer CRM systems opens up the possibility for automated sequencing for segments of your customers. This increases the potential for more sales and follow up opportunities.
E-commerce platforms
Many retailers are migrating from outdated e-commerce platforms to newer platforms that offer advanced features such as personalized recommendations, mobile optimization, and social media integration. Migrating to newer e-commerce platforms can expand your customer base by reaching more users through mobile offerings as well as providing a better experience that motivates larger spending habits.
5. Nonprofit
Migrating to newer systems can improve donor communication by providing a secure, centralized platform for storing and sharing donor information and communication. This can result in increased donor satisfaction and loyalty.
Common legacy migration for Nonprofit include:
Donor management systems
Similar to a CRM, Donor management systems are used to manage interactions with donors, including fundraising, event planning, and communication. Migrating to newer donor management systems can improve segmentation efforts and management of donation requests for multiple fundraising campaigns, leaving more time for outreach and relationship development between donor and nonprofit.
In-the-field software
Many times nonprofits must work in areas where internet access is extremely limited. Utilizing software that is lightweight and globally accessible relies heavily on access to multiple cloud based servers, something antiquated softwares don’t have the capability to integrate. Migrating to cloud accessible software becomes mission critical in these situations.
Financial management systems
Financial management systems are used to manage the financial aspects of a nonprofit, including accounting, budgeting, and reporting. Migrating to newer financial management systems allows for more integration and analysis capability.
Nonprofits must stay within certain government parameters to maintain their 501C status, so having a modern software that can analyze and flag when financial management is in violation of regulatory practices is of huge value to an organization.
6. Legal
Migrating to newer technology can improve the efficiency of legal processes, such as document management and case tracking. Newer systems may offer advanced features and functionality that can streamline these processes, reducing the amount of manual work required and digitizing items that would normally be shoved into dozens of filing cabinets. This reduction in manual labor not only reduces costs and storage needs for law firms, but also reduces risk and the misplacement of files.
Common examples of legacy migration for the legal industry include:
Document management systems
Document management systems store, organize, and provide access to legal documents. Migrating to newer document management systems can provide automated document classification and version control. DMSs also make for easy storage of documents, and can even be used to make documents accessible from anywhere.
Practice management systems
Practice management systems are used to manage the administrative aspects of a legal practice, such as client billing, case tracking, and appointment scheduling. Modern practice management systems have more capability to navigate the complicated nature of legal processes, and can even automate elements like billing and case tracking.
Legal research systems
Legal research systems are resources used to analyze legal information and precedent. Migrating to newer legal research systems opens the door for a totally new tool in law, artificial intelligence. AI can provide suggested answers and search improvements for research, as well as open the door to the possibility of litigation analytics for certain cases.
Legacy System Migration is Agnostic
While these six industries certainly benefit from legacy system migration, this is certainly not an exhaustive list. Most if not all industries see the benefits of migrating to new software systems, and at DOOR3 we can guide your company through that process no matter where your company falls.
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