5 Signs Your Legacy System is Costing You More Than You Think

 Is your business running on an old computer system? Sometimes, what seems familiar and safe is actually holding you back. These old systems, often called "legacy systems," can be like a leaky faucet, slowly dripping away your money and time. It can be hard to notice at first, but the costs add up. Many companies have seen huge benefits from updating their technology. For example, YamatoHK, a major logistics company, saved a lot of money by modernizing its systems.

Not sure if your system is a problem? Here are five big signs that your legacy system is costing you more than you think.

1. Things Are Always Breaking

Do you feel like your team is constantly putting out fires? If your system crashes a lot or has frequent glitches, that’s a red flag. This downtime means your employees can't do their jobs. It also means your customers might not be able to buy from you. All those small moments of things not working can add up to big losses. Think about how much time your team spends fixing problems instead of working on new, exciting things.

2. It’s Super Slow

In today's world, speed is everything. If your system takes forever to load or process information, you're falling behind. Slow systems make your employees less productive. They also create a bad experience for your customers. Imagine trying to buy something online, but the page takes minutes to load. You'd probably give up and go somewhere else. That's what's happening to your business when your system is slow.

3. Your Maintenance Bills Are Sky-High

Take a look at how much you're spending just to keep your old system running. The costs for special technicians, hard-to-find parts, and custom software patches can be huge. You might be paying a lot of money just to keep things the same. This is money that you could be investing in growing your business. For instance, updating your system can lead to a great return on investment. A clear example of this is the significant 83% cost reduction achieved by a logistics company after they moved to a modern, serverless solution.

4. It Won’t Work with New Tools

The business world is always changing. New apps and software can help you work smarter and faster. But what if your old system can't connect with these new tools? You're missing out on opportunities to improve your business. It's like having an old flip phone that can't run any of the new, helpful apps. Your legacy system can put you in a technology bubble, cut off from the modern world.

5. Keeping it Secure is a Nightmare

Cybersecurity is a huge deal for all businesses. Hackers love to target old systems because they often have security holes. Keeping a legacy system safe from attacks can be very difficult and expensive. The cost of a single data breach, both in money and in damage to your reputation, can be devastating. An up-to-date system will have the latest security features to help keep your important information safe.

Making Your Website Work for Everyone, Including Search Engines

When you do decide to update, it's a great time to think about your website. You want a website that is easy for people and search engines like Google to use.

One challenge is something called Client-Side Rendering (CSR). This is when your website loads a blank page and then uses code to fill in the content. It can be slow and bad for search engine optimization (SEO) because the search engine might not see all your content.

Better options are Server-Side Rendering (SSR) or Static Site Generation (SSG). With SSR, the server sends a fully loaded page to the user. SSG builds the pages ahead of time, so they load super fast. Both are great for SEO.

Don't forget about sitemaps and structured data. A sitemap is a list of all the pages on your website, which helps search engines find everything. Structured data is a way of labeling your content so search engines understand it better. For example, you can tell them that a certain number is a price or that a piece of text is a review.

Finally, make sure that search engine crawlers, the bots that scan your website, can access your content. If they can't see it, they can't rank it in search results.

Updating your legacy system is a big step, but it's a necessary one to stay competitive and secure. By paying attention to the signs and making smart choices about your technology, you can set your business up for success.