Why IT system flexibility is key
The pace of technological change in IT systems has increased exponentially over time and has transformed the structure of the modern corporation.
A revealing example is the frequent updates to operating systems. While before it would have been the case that major patches or new versions were introduced every 3-5 years, this is increasingly becoming a yearly occurrence or more often in some cases. Looking at the cloud, new services are launching almost every week, driven by the major vendors in the sector.
But this is only one half of the story. With the rapid growth in personal devices and technologies available to consumers, there’s a much-increased employee expectation on what their company can and should provide them in terms of IT applications in their job roles. This expectation has been heightened by the move to remote working caused by Covid-19, which has led organisations to completely shift their working models, bring in new services and introduce new solutions quicker than ever to markets. This evolving landscape has brought the need for IT system flexibility to the forefront across a range of industries.
Flexibility across IT systems can provide a range of benefits to organisations, but there are roadblocks that need to be traversed in order to ensure that systems can meet this need. Front-end systems that are customer facing are more commonly updated to ensure a better service is delivered, while the back-end systems that run the key processes for a business can be easily neglected over time as they are less visible. Ensuring a balance is struck and paying attention to the current compatibility of those back-end processes is just as important to ensure flexibility across the organisation. Even one outdated system can prove detrimental as it can stop other IT processes from evolving and developing.
Many businesses have looked towards cloud technology to help facilitate flexibility, but unfortunately it remains the case that many applications on legacy systems can be difficult to move from aging infrastructure to a cloud setup. One of the biggest challenges that remains in the industry is making the old work with the new, and 80% of a cloud migration may be simple to complete, but it’s the last 20% that can be the most difficult part of the project and prove to be most time-consuming. In fact, organisations that fail to take that last step in their migration can end up being in a worse position than before they began. Until all applications are in the cloud and connected to the right ecosystems, organisations won’t fully benefit from the flexibility of updated and automated processes.
While it’s certainly commendable the changes that businesses made to facilitate a remote workforce in 2020, the rush to adapt key systems at the front-end to meet consumer demand may have proven to be short-term solutions that need to be refined for long-term use. As we look ahead to the next few years, flexibility will be needed to ensure that employees can access the correct tools to continue to be productive. Agility to make changes quickly in the coming years will be ever more crucial is we work towards a post-pandemic future, and investing in the right parts of the technology stack will be more important than ever for businesses.
