Most established organisations have already invested greatly in their software environments and have legacy software systems in place. Often this will involve software products, bespoke applications and systems developed by other software houses or even individual contractors. As systems age and the associated infrastructure are upgraded, contacts with previous suppliers or key individuals behind those systems can be lost and it can become increasingly difficult to move forward critical systems, upon which a business or function is reliant upon. We still encounter many organisations that have key software applications operating on long obsolete technologies which the original vendors will no longer support but which do fundamentally provide the core functionality required. As these systems age, minor additional requirements arise that need small additional add-ons or reports created. To compensate for this scenario, often users will increasingly find themselves having to go through long, convoluted, repetitive and wasteful data duplication and data manipulation working process exercises (Excel normally) as they attempt to generate the required results. T-Commerce Ltd is happy to review any existing Legacy Systems and determine the viability to undertake the necessary enhancements and improvements to normalise the repair and upgrade these applications and to bring them into line with current business operations, requirements and modern working environments. Business demands and technology challenges sometimes create the need for migration of applications or databases from one environment to another, either to improve operational efficiency or to manage risk. As platforms and languages change, an organisation may decide to reduce risks by moving away from an environment that has scarcity of skilled personnel and support issues. The advantage of migration as opposed to e.g. re-engineering is that it leverages the current business model and the features of the application and can often be done in a cost-effective manner. Our job as consultants is to provide the best advice our clients as to what their upgrade options are for a specific application requirement, in order that the optimum and most cost effective software strategy can be established and an informed strategic decision can be reached. Client options for legacy systems strategies can be summarised as being to either: Replace Repair Redesign Rebuild Rethink