Global IT Organisations Slow On Modernising Legacy Apps And Data: Rackspace

A study conducted by cloud computing services provider Rackspace Technology, in association with Amazon Web Services, has found that IT organisations worldwide have been slow to modernise key enterprise applications. These include customer resource management, enterprise resource planning and human resources systems.

According to the study, failure to modernise key apps and data will limit the ability of the organisations to deploy and benefit from cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence. The study was based on a survey of 1,420 global IT leaders across industries.

Key Findings

Nine out of 10 survey respondents said that AI is a reason, or is the main reason that modernisation is essential. Around 80% agreed that failure to modernise legacy applications and data solutions will prevent them from fully leveraging AI. Of the Indian respondents, 75% agreed they will not benefit from AI if they fail to modernise legacy apps and data.

Survey respondents identified increased security (64%), improved efficiency (54%), increased agility/flexibility (42%) and cost (44%) as the leading motivators of modernisation. ERP, CRM and HR were identified as the apps that need upgrading the most.

Yet, organisations have been slow in updating legacy infrastructure. Of the infrastructure that has not yet been modernised, only 25.72% of workloads are considered non-critical, but 24.09% of legacy infrastructure has “not yet been assessed.”  

Gaps In The Leadership Of Modernisation Efforts

The survey also indicated gaps in the leadership of modernisation efforts. Only 30% of local respondents said they deploy cross-functional teams as part of modernisation, while 48% use tech vendors and 33% deploy external consultants. Modernisation initiatives are led by IT departments (68%) and executive leadership/C-suite (46%).  

Modernisation: Benefits And Challenges

When asked about the top expected outcomes of modernisation, survey respondents identified efficiency (54%), ability to adopt more advanced technologies like AI (40%) and greater speed and agility (42%). Respondents also suggested that modernisation has resulted in better data management, integration and quality, along with lower data costs.

The most critical apps and data to be modernised were identified as CRM (57%), ERP (43%), bespoke apps (26%), HR (50%), business intelligence (35%), data storage (58%), data analytics (59%), governance and security (49%), and data integration (49%).

However, organisations worldwide still face challenges to modernisation, including limited resources (28%), resistance to change (46%), integration challenges (43%), lack of senior buy-in (41%), lack of clear roadmap (9%) and communication between stakeholders (8%).

Respondents believe that failure to modernise legacy apps and data systems will lead to increased costs (32%), integration challenges (30%), lack of innovation (29%), the probability of missing out on adoption of advanced technologies (28%), decreased efficiency (26%), lack of innovation (26%), and poor security (23%).