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 adds, “So newer and better functionality is typically a big deal.”
Another key consideration is system support or software end-of-life. “That also drives when you need to do something, because they’ll tell you, this thing is not going to be supported in a year,” Mark says. “And you’ve got to try to figure out how to do something in a year to make it work.” Compliance issues can be a trigger, especially if you’re working with government entities that have regulations stating you can’t use unsupported systems. Security is yet another, because you can’t be sure your system will remain secure if you’re not getting updates, patches, and support from the vendor. Beyond those issues, an unsupported version probably won’t include or run the new functionality that could benefit your organization, and when problems occur, it’s going to be harder to get support for the system. Mark notes, “You’ve got to be aware that at some point it’s just going to stop working. And there’s not much people can do to assist you other than trying to get you into something more modern.”
How to Retire a System and What, When, and Who to Consider
The first step once you’ve decided to retire an old system is making a plan. Mark says you have to figure out what to retire and what approach you’re going to use. “One of the things you’ve got to look into is try to start matching the capabilities that you need moving forward into systems that you’re moving to,” he explains.
Next you need to look at your data needs. Plenty of companies must hold onto data that’s decades old, which means considering data archiving. But most importantly, Mark says, “You also need to make sure you’re getting rid of useless data.” Data cleanliness is hugely important, because you don’t want to fill your new system with unnecessary information that your search engine will have to churn through. On that note, you shouldn’t neglect infrastructure considerations, because some systems take more processing power and memory to perform their newer, better, more valuable functions.
The other critical consideration is the people, as always. Mark echoes every guest who’s discussed any kind of technology change in saying, “The most difficult obstacle to overcome, that I have found, is user resistance.” His approach is to welcome the negative and turn it into a positive. That means finding “the obstacle,” usually the person who was the master of the previous system and therefore has big opinions, and get them involved early. Get them excited about what’s coming by focusing on what’s going to make their life easier. He says, “When you find out the things they hate about their current system and you make those a hundred times better, you explain that to them in detail how that’s going to be better, they typically get a little more excited about the process.” Mark adds, “The biggest critic can be your biggest supporter if you do it right.”
Learn More About System Retirement
The full podcast contains more discussion and details on a variety of topics, including how Mark is taking a company from 190 systems to four, why training documents are critical for only the 10% of the new system your organization is really going to use, why you might not want to customize your systems, how to overcome the most common obstacles to system retirement, and more.
Be sure to check out Stay Sharp Episode 102: The Hidden Challenges When Retiring Systems and join us each week for a new podcast.
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