In Stay Sharp Episode 102, The Hidden Challenges When Retiring Systems, co-hosts Jonathan Scott and Juliann Grant are joined by Mark Borcher from Razorleaf Government Solutions. Mark has more than two decades of experience under his belt, helping organizations modernize via PLM, ERP, CRM, and supply solutions. In that time, he’s handled a lot of system retirements, making him the perfect guest to dig into the who, what, when, where, and why—as well as the how—of dealing with old systems when you’re modernizing your enterprise. When and Why to Consider Retiring an Existing Business System The biggest factor that could trigger a decision to retire an existing business platform is unquestionably functionality. Mark explains that some companies, particularly those founded decades ago, may have systems built on very basic programming languages. Not only are those unlikely to give you the functionality you need, but also you might have a hard time getting workers to use it. “You might have some person come into your company and they're trying to figure out how to use DOS, which hasn't been used in the better part of 30 years,” Mark says. Trying to get people to adapt to new software is critical, he…
