Accelerate technology innovation and reduce IT costs within your organisation with Application Retirement
Is a merger of several companies causing your organisation to use different platforms for the same purpose? Is the technology used in your applications outdated? Is your business information scattered in outdated software? Is the current application no longer supported by the vendor which could cause a security risk?
Phasing out these obsolete applications, also known as application retirement, could be the next important step for your organisation.
What is application retirement?
Application Retirement is the process of decommissioning obsolete applications within an organisation. The goal of application retirement is to phase out these systems and replace them with more modern, efficient solutions that also better suit a company's current and future needs.
Why choose application retirement?
The decision to send applications to retirement often has several motivations. The most common cases are:
- Obsolete technologies: Applications become obsolete because the software and technology on which they are built no longer meet modern standards. This threatens functionality, performance and compatibility with other systems.
- High maintenance costs: The sum to keep several applications alive with the same purposes is often a high, invisible cost. This ranges from high licensing and support costs to the cost of maintaining the infrastructure.
- Security risks: Outdated applications can pose a security risk due to unupdated vulnerabilities and lack of vendor support. By taking these applications out of service in time, your business reduces its exposure to security risks. This is how you protect your organisation from data breaches.
- Non-compliant with regulation: Outdated applications may no longer comply with current data protection and privacy regulations and requirements. You reduce legal risks by scrapping outdated applications in time.
- Lack of support: Some software is no longer supported by the vendor. This means no updates, patches or technical support are available. Continuing to use these applications anyway can create operational problems within organisations when the information in these applications suddenly becomes inaccessible.
- Changing business needs: An organisation's needs may change over time due to growth, changes in the market or shifts in business strategies. Outdated applications risk becoming a block in this if they no longer meet changing business needs. To ensure continuous smooth functioning of your organisation, it is important to switch to new suitable applications in time.
Striving for innovation, efficiency and cost savings with Application Retirement
There are several areas in which it pays to map the applications and software used within your organisation and take steps.
- Cost savings: Maintaining outdated applications can be expensive. By decommissioning these systems, organisations can save significant costs on maintenance, licences and support.
- No loss of data and legacy data: Do not face a fait accompli when the data in legacy applications suddenly becomes unavailable. Switch to new applications in good time and migrate the data to these new, secure and sustainable systems.
- Risk reduction: by saying goodbye to insecure and outdated applications in time, you reduce security risks within your organisation.
- Efficiency: When all data from various old applications are brought together in one central information platform, your organisation's employees can find the necessary information much faster. So you increase efficiency within your company.
A thoughtful, phased approach
A good, well thought-out approach with a clear vision is indispensable in the process of application retirement. Only by taking a phased approach can an organisation derive significant short- and long-term benefits from application retirement. After all, there are various challenges that can come your way in the process. Just think of migrating data from the legacy system to the new environment. In addition, certain employees may be resistant, making a clear change management strategy crucial.
Zeticon's experienced experts are happy to help. Thanks to their expertise and phased approach, they guide you through your organisation's application retirement process from start to finish. Based on a scan of the current situation and the intended result, an action plan is drawn up. Thanks to workshops and an intensive and no-nonsense project approach, Zeticon ensures a seamless transition to the new information platform.
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Conclusion
It is crucial to align your business and IT needs or priorities to accelerate innovation within your organisation. Retiring obsolete applications on time plays an important role in this. This way, you achieve cost reduction, efficiency and more security for your business. You also reduce the risks of inaccessible information and data leaks. By adopting a structured application retirement approach with Zeticon, you guarantee the continuity of your business processes.
