Organisations are currently operating within the constraints of outdated IT infrastructures that prevent them from innovating – something I often refer to as an “IT prison”. These prisons are not just restricting businesses, but workforces too – with 91% of employees saying they are frustrated with work tech, and 57% feeling that legacy tech is holding them back.

Often, businesses choose short-term solutions due to fears about the cost of overhauling IT frameworks or disruptions to day-to-day business operations. However, continuing to rely on legacy technology causes technical debt to accumulate, resulting in difficulties maintaining and updating software, integration challenges with emerging technologies and demotivated employees left to deal with slow and inefficient systems.

Companies cannot afford to be weighed down by these disadvantages at a time when they are being pressured to deliver business value despite the fragmented nature of the enterprise IT landscape, the need to balance innovation with stability and risk management and a lack of expertise within workforces.

Here is my advice for why and how businesses can implement a flexible, platform-based approach where they can leverage the benefits of modern technology with their existing legacy systems.

The reuse-repurpose approach

Platform technologies can act as a powerful emulsifier that brings together different software and systems and helps them to work together – and understand each other. With particular platform technologies in place, businesses can get the benefits of emerging technologies, like AI, without scrapping and rebuilding the whole IT system.

I think of this as the reuse-repurpose approach to updating legacy systems, where you aim to reuse existing systems, functionalities and data whilst repurposing and upgrading existing infrastructure. This shift away from the all-or-nothing mindset can help enterprises address digital transformation challenges bit by bit, rather than all at once – gradually unlocking the IT prison.

But how do you go about it?

Start with a clear strategy

To successfully implement scalable platform IT architecture, you should first ask yourself what your business hopes to achieve and where it is in its digitalisation journey. For example, what are its priorities when it comes to innovation?

Then, you can identify the specific technologies and solutions that can help you achieve your goals. Not all platform technologies are equal in terms of integration depending on your existing platform. You need to sift out the technologies that work with your current tech stack.

In industries like healthcare, this is even more important. Right now, in the UK, the healthcare system has been identified as a particularly vulnerable target for cyberattacks due to its “vast estate of legacy infrastructure”. But reducing this danger is not easy.

Replacing a system at the centre of Britain’s critical national infrastructure requires technology that can flexibly upgrade with little interruption to operations and run alongside existing infrastructure.

Take an iterative approach

An essential benefit of the platform approach is that you are not forced to do everything at once – it is modular and allows you to test and deploy as fast as you need to. So, as a business, you need to allow yourself to climb the innovation ladder slowly, with small wins that help you learn from your mistakes as you go before expanding across the organisation.

Since unifying old and new platforms brings together better analysis of data and analytics, you can iteratively improve your decision-making. This should allow you to collaboratively use real-time feedback and adjust digital transformation plans as you go.

Invest in the right people and skills

Ensuring that you have the right team and skills around you is one of the most important aspects of the reuse-repurpose approach.

Right now, businesses are facing both a digital skills gap and legacy skills shortage simultaneously. That is because, despite the rapid advancement of digital transformation projects, many firms still rely heavily on legacy IT, and thus need to continue investing in the knowledge required to understand and maintain them.

Without ensuring these skills are there, businesses will be unable to mitigate risks like data compliance and cybersecurity threats on their journey to digitalisation.

At the same time, businesses must recruit and upskill workers in the advanced technologies and platform software needed to continue digital transformation long-term. If companies can obtain this knowledgeable workforce, implementing platform technologies will be much more seamless.

Cracking the code on business innovation

Organisations have no choice but to break away from obsolete infrastructures to compete and innovate in today’s complex IT landscape. So, cracking the code on increasing business innovation with legacy IT is non-negotiable – it just requires a strategy that can develop the right approach for your company.

Leveraging platform-based technologies provides a unique opportunity for organisations to break free from their IT prisons whilst keeping implementation risks low. By tackling these challenges flexibly, enterprises can unlock the full potential of digital transformation.

Richard Davies, UK Managing Partner, Netcompany.