Initial Framework to Designate Legacy Status

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Empirical Findings

In this chapter the empirical data from the conducted survey are presented. The results cover participant demographics, the future-oriented perspective on legacy systems, and the factors that influence the properties of a legacy system in relation to a future-oriented perspective

Participant Demographics

In total 85 potential participants were triggered to fill in the survey. Of those, 76 participants completed the survey. The remaining 9 participants responded, but were unaware of what a legacy system is. Therefore, they were redirected to the end of the survey after question 1.
Most respondents identified themselves as consultant. Respondents in the second largest group are developers, operators and managers. A third group includes C-Level executives, business analysts, academia and scrum masters. Others include an information manager, an intern, two graduate students, a managing director, an IT auditor and a project manager.
Regarding industry, most participants are active in the technology and consulting industries. Industries such as the public sector, retail, transportation, and insurance were not reached. For others participants identified their industry as business services or several industries at once. Three write-ins were provided for other that relate to technology. These three are redistributed to technology. No significant differences in response were found by filtering on industry or function.

Future-Oriented Perspective

Based on Alderson and Shah’ their article (1999) it is known that at least four perspectives within the legacy system definition are acceptable. To test the significance of the future-oriented perspective question (Q2) ”a legacy system is ...?” is asked. The answer options each represent one of the five perspectives. Participants were allowed to select more than one statement.
Significance of the future-oriented perspective is based on the percentage of participants that select the statement related to this perspective: ”a system that is unaligned with future business needs and goals”. It is taken into account that people disagree on what a legacy system is. Therefore, Significance of a future-oriented perspective is not based on obtaining 100% agreement with the statement. Of all participants 60.5% agrees that a system that is unaligned with future business needs and goals can be considered a legacy system. Because this represents significantly more than half of the participants, and because the statement is only trumped by the operational perspective with 86.8%, the future-oriented perspective is considered to be significant as a distinctive perspective.
The first thing that comes to mind with the term legacy system is the term old. Yet, looking at the most often selected value, or mode, participants agree that the age of a system is insignificant if it is performing well and aligned to the business strategy. On average, participants are neutral towards these statements, leaning towards agree. Participants also show neutrality when it comes to the cost of a system as an indicator for legacy systems. Obsolete technology seems to be the most relevant indicator in relation to the other perspectives on legacy systems, as indicated in questions 2 as well.
Significance of a future-oriented perspective is cross-verified with statements in question 5 that touch upon the aspects of feasibility and capability (see Figures 11). On average participants lean towards strongly agreeing on that it is feasible to align an IT system with the business strategy, having selected agree and strongly agree most often. Participants are equally neutral and in disagreement with IT groups predicting business needs, while most participants agree it is possible to predict the future of IT. On average participants agree that business opportunities are lost because of legacy systems, which is also the most often selected value for this statement. Altogether, it can be concluded that having a focus on future possibilities is important, but that it is not always easy to predict what is going to happen in the future both business and technology wise.
Looking at question 4 “aligning an IT system with the business strategy means…?” it becomes clear that it is most important to ensure a system can change in time to support future needs and goals. This highlights the importance of the property flexibility towards change. Knowing a system can already support future needs and goals is considered less relevant with 36.8%. Having the resources available to change a system in time to support future needs and goals is also considered less relevant (47.7%). Both knowing what the organization’s future needs and goals are and ensuring the business strategy takes into account the capabilities of IT score 52.6%, showing more than half of the participants consider this part of aligning an IT system with the business strategy.

Factors Influencing the Properties

Factors that influence the properties flexibility towards change and business alignment are derived from literature. Whether factors are (1) truly a factor influencing their designated property, (2) whether each factor is significant in influencing the property, and (3) whether any factors are missing is explored according to matrix question 6 and 7 in the survey. Figure 13 and 14 on the next page show the survey results.

Analysis

This chapter provides a discussion on the interpretation of the empirical findings. Empirical findings are analyzed according to the literature discussed in the theoretical framework. Where variables have been analyzed individually in the previous chapter, variables are now compared to look for relationships. The first part of this chapter concerns the key concept of a future-oriented perspective, the second part the framework to designate legacy status to IT systems.

Key Concept of a Future-Oriented Perspective

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In response to the open question (Q3) ”In your opinion, is it important that an IT system is aligned to the business strategy (i.e. future business needs and goals)?” two aspects were mention often by participants: the communication between business and IT groups and IT systems drive business innovation. Note that anonymous participants in the survey are quoted in the next paragraphs.

Communication between business & IT Groups

This aspect touches upon the age old divide between business and IT groups. As one participant puts it ”among the risks of misalignment are … mutual dissatisfaction of both IT and business stakeholders with each other due to a lack of common goals and understanding”. Other participants too support the need of business and IT groups to work closely together towards a common goal. ”In current business IT does not have a supporting role. Rather, IT and business cooperate and follow the same paths towards business success”. Many participants talk about the risk of disconnectedness: ”Among the risks of misalignment are: wasteful usage of IT, sunk costs, difficulty to track true value of IT, poor effectiveness of IT in support of business needs, and slow reaction times of the organization to technological or market shifts in the competitive environment”. ”Systems that are not aligned to the business strategy often lead to workarounds and suboptimal solutions”. ”If they are unaligned .. IT systems might.. make the business more inefficient”. Therefore, ”IT and business should be intertwined and in constant communication”.
Constant communication is not surprising considering IT systems are socio-technical, as highlighted under the components of a computer system. Looking at question (Q4) ”aligning an IT system with the business strategy means ...” shows that participants equally agree on the fact that IT groups should know what the organization’s future needs and goals are (53%) as that the business should take the capabilities of IT into account (53%). This relates to how Luftman (2004) describes business and IT alignment: communication, trust, and understanding. ”It is also possible that the business strategy will have to be adjusted due to the restrictions of the IT systems”. In other words, both business and IT groups need to be aware of each other. ”I always think that the CTO should shape strategy through the lens of technology, but the best strategy comes from collaboration”. Good communication thus leads to mutual understanding and effective collaboration which ensures IT system remain aligned with the business.

IT System Drive Business Innovation

Much literature, including the article by Alderson and Shah (1999), mentions how IT systems are vital or core because they support business critical operations. With regard to IT systems supporting potential future business opportunities, it is mentioned by multiple respondents that IT can be the driving force behind business innovation. ”It is absolutely crucial to have IT systems aligned to the business strategy, since IT is an enabler for most business needs in a more and more digital environment. IT can also create business opportunities and Unique Selling Points to not only enable but drive the business”. We live in a much more digital environment now than seventeen years ago when Alderson and Shah studied the different perspectives on legacy systems. It is not surprising that IT driving business innovation was a less relevant concept at the time. At present, however, there are many companies to be found where IT plays a large role in business innovation. ”IT can … be a driving force behind innovation, disrupting industries, e.g. Uber versus the traditional taxi”.
The level of competitive advantage that IT can create varies. ”It depends on the nature of the business whether IT is a strategic driver or a commodity, e.g. a restaurant only needs a registry and ordering system, but for most large businesses IT is indeed a driving factor to accomplish goals”. Instead of solely supporting the business strategy, ”IT systems should impact the business strategy”. ”IT has proven itself to be an enabler for the business … new capabilities allow the business to set new targets and goals. In this view, IT should not only be supporting the business strategy but also be allowed to venture beyond that”. To summarize ”IT can be a catalyst or a drag factor”. When an IT system is rather a drag factor, not allowing new business opportunities to be created, such a system can be regarded as a legacy system.

Table of Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Purpose of the Research
1.4 Research Questions
1.5 Delimitations
1.6 Key Terms
1.7 Paper Disposition
2 Theoretical Framework
2.1 Computer System Components
2.2 Characteristics of a Legacy System
2.3 Four Perspectives on Legacy Systems
2.4 Future-Oriented Perspective
2.5 Initial Framework to Designate Legacy Status
3 Methodology
3.1 Philosophy
3.2 Research Approach
3.3 Research Design
3.4 Data Collection
3.5 Data Analysis
3.6 Research Quality
4 Empirical Findings
4.1 Participant Demographics
4.2 Future-Oriented Perspective
4.3 Factors Influencing the Properties
5 Analysis
5.1 Key Concept of a Future-Oriented Perspective
5.2 Framework to Designate Legacy Status to IT Systems
6 Conclusion
7 Discussion