If there’s one thing the 2021 MemberWise Digital Excellence Report proved, it’s that membership bodies have seriously accelerated their digital transformation.
The report found that Association Management Systems (AMS) were the most popular tools to personalise and automate the online member experience.
Despite this, many organisations have older, outdated systems that are instrumental to their day-to-day operations; we call these legacy systems. As they’re built on old technology, they can be slow and cumbersome, not to mention require specialist support and cyber patching.
Because they’ve been in place for such a long-time, they become deep-rooted into your organisation and stores masses of important data. They’re also super familiar to everyone who has worked at the organisation for a long time.
But, have you thought about what impression a legacy gives off to new staff or members?
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to replace your legacy
“Digital transformation” is a frequently-used term in business and technology, however replacing a legacy system isn’t always practical, affordable, or just simply not essential.
In some cases, new systems do not always perform better or have any added business benefit over existing legacy system software. There can be challenges with ROI and getting staff on board with a digital shift.
When a legacy system has become instrumental to an organisation’s operations, you could argue that the current system fits the brief better than a new or “off the shelf” product.
Putting the cost aside, replacing a legacy system requires meticulous planning to ensure all your systems and data is properly integrated. Your membership organisation will hold masses of sensitive data (membership details, finance, just to name a few) and you want to make sure none of this is lost or corrupted in the switch over.
Extend the legacy system
If your legacy system has clocked up a high mileage but still performs its core functions, you might not need to replace it.
With reliable legacy system support from a specialist vendor, not only can you keep your legacy system performing, but you can also enhance it by extending its capabilities.
For example, by extending your legacy system, or using a solution such as an API to automate the process, you can integrate your systems without the need to take on a massive project.
The benefits on your workforce is great, too. As well as staff retention improving, once your staff see the benefits to the changes, they will be open to more digital advances within the company.
As well as all this, you’ll be freeing up considerable workload for your IT team. A recent report claimed engineers spend a third of their time maintaining legacy systems, with half of this allocation going towards addressing technical debt.
When you free up time for your IT team, they can spend the lion’s share of their time and expertise in actively analysing and reviewing your IT infrastructure; looking for new avenues for growth and innovation. These benefits may not seem like a big deal in the short term at first, however the long-term benefits can see huge success for your organisation.
What about integration?
When your organisation runs on a legacy system, trying to integrate modern technologies is complicated enough to cause anyone a headache.
Whether it’s lack of know-how, insufficient resources, or simply incompatible systems, legacy system integration can be a massive challenge.
Once again, I’ll turn to the Excellence Report to back this up: “35% of organisations have not integrated their AMS with their website CMS. The top three reasons are cost, time and AMS incompatibility.”
The implications for those 35% is huge. System integration within the membership sector can improve some of the most important strategies, including member personalisation and organisational efficiency.
Despite being built on old technology, legacy systems can in fact integrate with newer technologies; you just need to find the right people who know what they’re doing.
PSP IT has worked with membership bodies for a combined 30 years, offering a plethora of services including legacy system support and modernisation. PSP stands for People, Systems and Processes; by understanding these three core aspects, we build a fit-for-purpose solution that is tailored to your organisation. Head over to our Supplier Page and speak to one of our consultants today.
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