DM1805

Dm MANAGEMENT: LEGACY SYSTEMS
A valuable legacy
Legacy technologies needn't hinder your ability to fully
exploit the digital economy, says Nuxeo's David Jones
"CONTENT SERVICES PLATFORMS (CSPS) OFFER PROMISING NEW WAYS OF
CONNECTING DISPARATE SYSTEMS IN A MANNER THAT ENABLES
ORGANISATIONS TO CONTINUE TO GAIN VALUE FROM THEIR LEGACY
SYSTEMS AND CONTENT REPOSITORIES WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY
PROVIDING MODERN CAPABILITIES FOR BETTER MANAGING AND
LEVERAGING VITAL BUSINESS INFORMATION."
The notion of "leaving a legacy" is
typically viewed as a positive thing.
Not so in the IT industry, where
legacy means old, difficult to maintain,
expensive to care for, and something
one often can't afford to replace.
The reality is that if an upgrade or
even a full migration to an alternative
was easy, then it would have been
done already. But in many cases, there
is no easy option. That's because in
order to replace your legacy system,
you usually need to turn the system
off and turn a new one on, which can
be risky.
Another challenge is that even if the
CIO has absolute confidence in the
new system, it simply may not be
possible to complete the
implementation in the time available.
For example, a large financial
institution could easily have more than
a billion content assets stored in a
legacy application, and moving that
volume of assets with the care required
could take well over a year. Good luck
if you think a bank could last without
giving customer access to their online
accounts for 12 months.
These factors are the prime reason
why many legacy systems are still in
place - the organisations running them
simply do not see an easy or realistic
option for getting off the train they're
riding on. But instead of trying to get
rid of the legacy system and all the
pain that can be associated with it,
why not try a different way?
One of the challenges with legacy IT
systems is that they are often isolated
from the other information systems
within the business. But what if there
were a way to get access to all of the
information and functionality within
those legacy systems, without having
to rely on the legacy system to make
this happen?
Most legacy applications can be
connected to other systems via an
Application Programming Interface, or
API. But APIs requires a custom-coding
to work, so to get access to all of the
information and functionality within a
legacy system, and replicate it via a
second interface, requires a lot of work
- and so many legacy systems remain
disconnected and isolated from other
core business solutions.
TOWARD A 360 DEGREE VIEW
But a new approach is changing the
game. Content services platforms
(CSPs) offer promising new ways of
connecting disparate systems in a
manner that enables organisations to
continue to gain value from their
legacy systems and content repositories
while simultaneously providing modern
capabilities for better managing and
leveraging vital business information.
A content services approach means
that useful information and
functionality can now be used in a
number of different ways within the
business, and in harmony with existing
older systems. For knowledge workers,
this means they can access content
residing within legacy interfaces from a
central hub while having the
confidence that they've found the
'single version of truth.'
Think about the possibilities this could
open up. End users can now access
customer-billing details once locked
away in the legacy ERP system from
their CRM application; business users
can build custom dashboards based on
the financial information stored within
that same ERP, but now using modern
visual reporting tools as opposed to
yesterday's text-based reports.
Once your business users can access
information in a way that makes
sense to them, your legacy system will
stop being a hindrance to the
business and instead become a real
asset once again.
More info: www.nuxeo.com
26
@DMMagAndAwards
May/June 2018
www.document-manager.com