THE IT SYSTEMS OF MANY AUSTRALIAN ORGANISATIONS ARE UNDER IMMENSE STRAIN DUE TO A CONTINUOUS RISE IN THE VOLUME OF ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS. THIS WAS APPARENT WHEN THE PAYMENT SYSTEM OF ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S LEADING BANKS HAD A MELTDOWN THAT RESULTED IN THE DELAY OF TRANSACTIONS ON CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS FOR SEVERAL DAYS.
Many organisations delay the upgrade of their existing systems due to the perceived substantial price tag associated with a new system. However by delaying an upgrade many are risking a major system collapse, which could adversely affect their relationships with customers and ultimately their reputation.
“If you look at the costs at a superficial level,” commented Kareem Tawansi, CEO of software development provider, Solentive Software, “new software costs money while existing software is a sunken cost. This, however, can be a flawed rationale.
“Consider the case of a leading Australian bank which experienced several days of disruption due to the challenges associated with maintaining a legacy system,” stated Kareem.
“Customers were left in great despair and sought financial compensation to recover their losses.
“Organisations ignore the hidden costs associated with maintaining legacy systems because they are concealed within combined accounts. Many also miss crucial components such as the cost of support staff. The biggest hidden cost of all that organisations need to safeguard against is the possibility that a legacy system can fall over.
“I stress to organisations that they need to be assessing the value, strengths and weaknesses they are getting out of their system. A system that hasn’t been upgraded in 3-5 years could cause severe limitations on an organisation.”
“Refreshing software systems is an important part of any IT function, regardless of whether they are housed in ‘the cloud’ or ‘on-premise’,” concluded Kareem.