In the finance world, legacy systems have represented the foundation that has maintained a business in its traditional activities. Making the decision to move away from legacy systems can be complicated, from a technical and business culture perspective. Many analysts believe that while it may be a challenging move, it is something that must be faced, particularly at a time when organisations are accelerating their business transformation plans.

There is a range of complexities that need to be considered with this move away from legacy systems. From a technical point of view, it can be difficult to extract data from traditional systems and the associated applications that are operated on these facilities. CIOs emphasise the complicated dependencies that have grown over the years as a consequence of implementing a number of various databases and other systems. Nevertheless, ignoring the problem will result in gathering additional IT technology issues for the future, especially as businesses actively seek to find talent to manage the older systems.

Agile and flexible platforms, equipped with data-focused business models and lower overheads are positioning themselves to challenge the traditional corporate models. The financial industry is highly competitive and businesses need to utilise every possible part of agility and information they have to compete with other names, as well as newcomers to the marketplace. There are a number of new organisations capable of disrupting the financial industry. For those companies that contain high volumes of data and lack the modernised approach, there is a likelihood that they lack the ability to assess all their data and respond effectively to new demands and changes in the market.

Innovative business leaders in the finance world understand this challenge but may be struggling to implement the required changes. As a consequence, a business experience considerable fragmentation of their data across various platforms. Many CIOs are making the move to the cloud to attempt to improve the situation, but issues of data fragmentation can continue. While there are multiple benefits in moving to the cloud, many businesses experienced data fragmentation across clouds, making the overall situation actually worse. Fragmentation results in less secure data and the potential for infrastructure costs to spiral.

Taking a more modern approach to data management

The solution to all of this lies in taking a more modern approach to data management. Financial industry businesses to utilise a more software-focused platform approach to managing their data. This will focus on consolidating and managing workloads and data through one singular system. 

FInancial businesses should explore other opportunities to enhance compliance through utilising applications that are located on the platform. These applications measure personal data and play an equally important role in data governance. Businesses can also introduce other applications to improve security or use analytical systems to enhance the overall customer experience. Applying these techniques can help businesses stand from newcomers to the market that is not hindered by legacy systems but lack the volume of data and customer bases.

The financial market is relatively unique in that it still consists of businesses that have existed for many years. However, in order for these traditional companies to survive, they will have to adapt and modernise. The first place to focus on, and probably the most valuable resource they contain is their data.