Five Barriers to Managing Legacy Systems for the Purposes of Data Sharing
The sharing and utilisation of data will become the key driver for innovation across the public sector. Data is a strategic asset; making the appropriate data available to stakeholders inside and outside of the organisation can unlock a wealth of advantages.
However, many public sectors organisations still grapple with the challenges that outdated technology systems present when it comes to sharing data effectively. Legacy systems, with archaic structures and technological constraints, pose significant impediments to these efforts.
To unlock the benefits of greater data sharing - whether it’s generating new revenue streams, unlocking greater internal efficiencies, allowing for more accurate forecasting, and better understanding or anticipating the needs of service users – there are five main hurdles that need to be overcome.
Compatibility issues between legacy systems
Disparate legacy systems, sometimes decades old, often use incompatible data formats, structures, or communication protocols that hinder easy data accessibility and sharing. The resulting siloed information restricts an organisation's ability to derive holistic value from its data.
To bridge these compatibility issues, organisations need to leverage a suite of cutting-edge tools and methodologies such as data integration tools, middleware solutions, and API standardisation and development.
Security and compliance risks
Legacy systems often lack the robust security measures necessary to protect sensitive data in today's complex threat landscape and regulatory environment. Outdated software may also no longer receive security updates, leaving vulnerabilities exposed to malware infiltration, ransomware attacks and data breaches. There are several approaches that organisations should employ to address these security and compliance considerations, including encryption and data masking techniques, regular updates and patch management, and compliance frameworks and best practices.
Limited scalability and performance
As a result of rigid architectures and outdated tech, legacy systems often present limited scalability and performance bottlenecks. As businesses evolve and data volumes grow, these systems struggle to accommodate workloads of a size they simply were not designed to handle.
Organisations should therefore leverage the capabilities offered by cloud platforms to enhance the performance and scalability of aging infrastructure, such as cloud migration, hybrid infrastructure and performance optimisation techniques.
Data silos and interoperability constraints
Data silos, prevalent in legacy environments, emerge when information remains isolated within specific departments, applications, or databases, usually exacerbated by the fact that these disparate systems use incompatible data formats and structures. This results in fragmented datasets, which require time- and labour-intensive work to derive coherent, actionable insights in a form shareable with the wider organisation.
Overcoming this challenge involves utilising a couple of techniques to break down silos and enable data flow, including leveraging middleware integration solutions and implementing robust data governance strategies. In this regard, the UK Government’s Nation Data Strategy guidance on Data Governance can help organisations shape the policies and processes to assign responsibilities, authority and control over data assets and how they may be used.
Legacy mindset and culture resistance
One of the biggest legacy barriers to data sharing is human instead of technical. It’s one thing to implement modern data-sharing practices, but it’s quite another to ensure that people adopt and internalise those practices. People are generally averse to change, often clinging to familiar, outdated methodologies and only reluctantly embracing unfamiliar, new processes. This cultural resistance and attachment to old ways of working can obstruct an organisation’s ability to share its data as much as any technology hurdle.
As a result, to push through any change it’s crucial to utilise techniques such as change management and training initiatives, communicating the benefits, and leadership advocacy.
Conclusion
Overcoming the legacy challenges to data sharing demands a holistic approach that encompasses technological, organisational, and cultural transformations. By recognising the five discussed in this article and implementing targeted strategies to address them, organisations can move past the limitations imposed by outdated systems and foster a more interconnected, secure, and efficient data-sharing ecosystem.
Georgie Morgan
Georgie joined techUK as the Justice and Emergency Services (JES) Programme Manager in March 2020, then becoming Head of Programme in January 2022.
Cinzia Miatto
Cinzia joined techUK in August 2023 as the Justice and Emergency Services (JES) Programme Manager.
Ella Gago-Brookes
Ella joined techUK in November 2023 as a Markets Team Assistant, supporting the Justice and Emergency Services, Central Government and Financial Services Programmes.
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