If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
While the proverb might be true in many instances, the reality is that many things creep toward failure at an unnoticeable pace. Hairline cracks and invisible issues can lead to a sudden catastrophic failure.
This is especially true in software. Legacy Coding that has run without issue for years may suddenly fail in way that does severe damage to a business.
Yet even with the risks, many companies resist updating their code sooner.
Why?
Updating legacy code can be unnerving. What if it breaks? Why update when it still works fine right now? What if important information gets lost?
While the fear of updating might make companies resist change, the reality is that technology doesn’t stop. Old and outdated code might not just be slow. It might be putting your company’s security and operations at risk.
Swan can help!
Technology doesn’t stop. And neither do bad actors. The older the code is, the longer bad actors have had to find potential gaps. While one may be able to patch a balloon with gum, there will come a point when the gum can no longer stave off the balloon’s burst. If the old code and languages worked perfectly, what would be the need of new ones? New code has new security technologies and tools to ensure that an application is as safe as possible from bad actors.
Old code isn’t a fine wine. It’s more like milk. The older it gets, the less likely it is to be beneficial–and more likely it is to become harmful. Inevitably, performance will slow, integrations will grow more fragile, and eventually, they will break completely. As surrounding technology continues to evolve, your legacy systems fall out of sync with modern APIs. Outdated applications will lose compatibility with tools necessary for them to function. The application won’t just be inconvenient to use. It will morph into a system that is isolated and limits what your business can build, connect, and scale.
Most developers enjoy learning new things, but if that new thing is actually a very old thing? Old and outdated code will make it harder to find and keep a team. Trying to patch and mollycoddle old code into maintaining function can put serious stress on a staff. Worse, when your old team retires or moves on, potential new team members might not be willing to learn old and outdated technology to maintain the programming. Worse, if the code is old enough, you may only have that one staff member who can keep it running. Entrusting your system’s health to one person is never a good idea.
of enterprise infrastructure still runs on decades-old codebases
Spent by U.S. organizations to maintain aging systems each year
Of potential Technical Debt incurred per 100K lines of legacy code
Hours more time required to make simple changes in a legacy system versus a modern system
Of companies are at risk of knowledge loss due to retiring legacy system experts
Of organizations cite legacy systems as a major source of security risk
Of organizations cite improved performance as a key reason to modernize
Of IT budgets are used to maintain existing systems
of organizations rely on legacy infrastructure
Assessment
Swan begins by assessing the existing code and analyzing the technology and available upgrade paths. With our team’s help, clients can decide on whether modernizing the code within the existing programming language or migrating to a new language is a better choice. For most organizations, updating or refactoring code in the existing technology stack is the best choice. For companies where a technology no longer supports updates, upgrading within the same stack may not be feasible and could require migration to a newer solution. Swan’s team will help choose the best options for their specific needs. In Swan’s experience with PHP, WordPress, React.js, and Node.js, legacy code can usually be updated within the existing technology. The most common challenge is outdated or unsupported plugins/extensions. In such cases, Swan will either find suitable alternatives or develop custom solutions, which may require additional time.
Information Security
One of the biggest fears when updating a legacy system is what happens if that update wipes out years of information, knowledge, and files. At Swan, we work to secure all that information so moving it over to a new system is seamless and none of the valuable content is risked. This allows for a seamless transition from the old to the new and eliminates one of the most overwhelming and unnerving parts of updating legacy systems.
Modernization
While we modernize, we help you to keep your business functioning. No long downtime or critical gaps in your services. Instead, Swan allows a business to continue operating while being modernized. As most businesses cannot afford to risk their reputation or finances on a long period of downtime, Swan’s commitment to keeping operations running smoothly throughout the process helps companies continue to function. Typically, updates are implemented and tested in QA or development environments while the production environment remains stable. We avoid making direct changes to production whenever possible. Any downtime usually occurs during deployment from QA to production and is minimal, often completed within a few hours. We aim to schedule deployments during off-peak hours (late night or early morning EST) to minimize impact.
Performance Optimization
When assessing whether to update code in an existing language or migrate to a new one, one of the biggest driving factors is evaluating whether the code in the existing language can scale and evolve fast enough that your business will not be held back. Making things work is great, but if slow and lagging processes are diminishing your employee’s production or driving away potential customers, then it is not really making things work. It is risking the long-term health of your company. Swan’s new code will optimize processes and performance.
Security
Perhaps one of the biggest objections to making the move to update a legacy system is that the existing system might still work. However, even though the code might work, the world around it has moved on. One might still fit into an outfit one wore ten years ago, but odds are that style, maturity, or preferences have changed enough that the outfit no longer fits into one’s life. Just because something can work doesn’t mean it should work.
Swan Software Solutions is a reliable, scalable, and affordable technology partner. We have extensive experience working with clients to update their legacy systems to new and better ones that are safer, more economical to maintain, and perform better.
