The current business and consumer sector is moving faster than ever before, demanding not only a high range of IT applications but also agile approaches for the organisations.

This leads to a growing urgency for companies to use complex app modernisation strategies and migrate from legacy technologies to cloud-based solutions without risking downtime, technical debt, or data gaps and inconsistencies.  

Outputs, Blind Spots, and Risks in Manufacturing Legacy System Enhancement  

The fear of disruption, lack of knowledge regarding new technologies, or how an integrated system will work further are just a few concerns in the migration that most companies in the Manufacturing industry face. This is why making an informed decision before investing in app modernisation is key to turning traditional companies into a disruptive market force — and this article aims to uncover the process of how to successfully run an app modernisation project and migrate from legacy systems without blind spots.  

The Accesa approach to application modernisation and migration

 01 Discover

The discovery phase is key in making sure we are building the right solution for your needs and your organisation's resources. In this stage, even if, at a company level, the requirements are already written and decided, the best approach is to go through them together.   The focus at this stage is to run assessments, research, and understand the full perspective and key indicators in the company and discover all the possible facets of the projects. This ensures we will not only focus on the core outputs but also cover any blind Spots and mitigate further risks and costs.

Identifying Blind Spots when migrating from legacy systems  

1. Technical Debt and Legacy Issues: Uncover hidden technical debt, outdated software, and integration challenges that could hinder the enhancement process. 

2. Data Gaps and Inconsistencies: Identify data quality issues, inconsistencies, and missing data points that could impact the effectiveness of the enhanced system. 

3. Process Bottlenecks and Interdependencies: Uncover hidden process bottlenecks, dependencies, and workflow disruptions that could impede system optimisation. 

4. Human Factors and Organisational Change: Anticipate potential resistance from users and organisational change management issues during the implementation phase. 

5. Integration Challenges and Vendor Lock-in: Assess the complexity of integrating the enhanced system with existing legacy systems and the potential for vendor lock-in. 

Identifying Potential Risks before you start an application modernisation project 

1. Project Overruns and Budget Deviations: Accurately estimate project timelines, resource requirements, and potential cost implications. 

2. Data Loss and Security Breaches: Implement robust data security measures to safeguard sensitive information and prevent data breaches. 

3. Compliance Failures and Regulatory Issues: Ensure adherence to industry standards and regulations throughout the enhancement process. 

4. System Instability and Performance Issues: Address potential compatibility issues, performance limitations, and integration challenges. 

5. User Adoption and Training Difficulties: Effectively communicate the enhanced system's benefits and provide adequate training to ensure user adoption. 

02 Validate to reduce risks 

Starting an application modernisation project can come with an overwhelming amount of unknown factors and risks - but there are solutions to reduce them! To ensure internal buy-in, user and market validation, or just to test out a few components within your own system, PoC can be developed.

03 Develop

Once all the requirements were debriefed and the discovery phase took place, an agile delivery for the entire process of modernisation, migration, and integration is key. This will ensure fast iteration, continuous roadmap, user acceptance checks, and usability testing on the go, leaving enough space to adapt on the go and ensure knowledge transfer as well.

04 Manage

Leverage performance monitoring, support, and evolutive performance to manage ongoing operational performance. This step, combined with the previous one, creates an iterative improvement cycle, ensuring long-term software efficiency and effectiveness and generating continuous business value.  

Key action points for discovering the Outputs, Blind Spots, and Risks in Manufacturing Legacy Systems

• Identify gaps, pains, and challenges in the current landscape and experience. 

• Identify the opportunities for modernisation by assessment (audit), research, analysis, and user and stakeholder research.  

• Improve predictability and make sure you are building the right future solutions through discovery and co-creation by addressing aspects of main interest like scope, budget, and timeline.  

• Have a strong business case for modernisation.  

 Whether you are in Manufacturing, Finance, or any other industry, keep in mind that a strong discovery phase will ensure the project will navigate the application modernisation and legacy system migration effectively and ensure all the other stages will be implemented successfully. 

Are you ready to enhance your legacy manufacturing software? Let’s get in touch and start modernising!