Where Dinosaurs Roam

Legacy systems.

They are something we’re all familiar with and virtually every business has. On the IT evolutionary scale, they reside somewhere between an endangered species and extinction.

Nevertheless, legacy systems are the logical fallout from a world where technological change takes place at a dizzying pace. A world where modifications and new functionality are requested almost as soon as a new application is first implemented. Three forces (3) drive this:

1. Operational changes – Customer requirements change. Competitive dynamics change. Business processes and policy change. This means that the systems supporting them have to change too.

2. Technological changes – Improvements and innovations occur in IT technology almost daily. So each day, current applications and systems are rendered just a little less relevant – and eventually become antiquated.

3. Financial changes – In the quest for greater profitability, management continuously seeks to tighten budgets, cut headcount and expenses, and freeze capital investment.

All these forces of change can conspire to force business units to forego investment in new systems or technologies, to delay IT projects, and to hold on to older systems just one more year.

For example, let’s assume that one business unit of a company had a project planned for a major functionality overhaul of a legacy system. But then IT layoffs are announced and a freeze is placed on hiring outside contractors. Oops … project cancelled.

Or let’s say another business unit was planning to buy new software to upgrade the capabilities of its supply chain systems. But then the CFO orders a suspension of all capital investment projects. Suddenly, it’s back to using horse-and-buggy functionality in the ol’ supply chain.

When this occurs, there are two (2) options: a) whine about the lack of resources and cling to those old systems while watching them go the way of the dinosaur; or b) be creative, act smart.

Other than lend a sympathetic ear, we can’t help much with Option A. But thanks to the integration capabilities of Ratchet-X software, we can provide significant help with Option B.

Using the Ratchet-X toolbox, companies can revive those legacy systems and make them more relevant to users. How? The ability of Ratchet-X to integrate data and functionality from System A with that of System B without changing the source code to either application … while delivering new functionality and capabilities directly to a user’s desktop.

That project that was cancelled or that software purchase that was squashed? Who cares? From a functionality standpoint, the integration capabilities of Ratchet-X can serve as a viable and cost-effective alternative to providing the functionality that the cancelled project or software purchase would have provided.

It’s a classic example of doing more with what you have. It’s an opportunity to leverage a greater ROI from an existing system that probably has already been fully depreciated rather than having to justify the ROI for investment in a proposed new system.

If you are like most companies today, you probably are facing the prospect of having to make do with legacy system(s) without the immediate prospect of obtaining funding for the resources and technology to replace those systems. You probably face the same resource, expense and budget constraints as your colleagues in other companies.

If this is the challenge you are facing and you would like to overcome it by being creative and acting smart, then maybe we can help. We’ll look forward to discussing if we are up to the challenge of helping you overcome The Legacy System Challenge.

And we’ll look forward to helping you take those dinosaur systems, and turning that fossilized functionality and decaying data into the new fuel that powers business today: timely, relevant, actionable INFORMATION.

Don't take our word for it

For all their incredible diversity, virtually every blog has one thing in common: they tend to be self-serving forums for their authors. This blog being no exception.

Whether serving as a personal diary, a platform for ranting and rumors or an extension of a business web site, blogs are not exactly the most objective sources of content and opinion. So trying to present honest and objective perspectives about RatchetSoft products and services on this blog can certainly raise skeptical eyebrows from a reader.

To counter this, we thought we would try something a bit different: let someone else do the talking for us.

We happen to think that mashup technology can provide a company with tremendous synergy and leverage from its existing application systems. The idea of doing more with what you already have is certainly appealing to any productivity-driven business. And the ability to it for a lot less than the cost of adding a new application should warm the heart of any budget-conscious manager.

Well, that’s essentially what our mashup is all about: taking Application A and Application B, then adding a mashup to create new and greater functionality without changing the source code in the original applications.

Obviously, we’re bullish on what a mashup can do for the IT portfolio and budget of any company. But don’t take our word for it. For a more objective opinion, check out a what the well-respected Gartner Inc. recently wrote about the value of mashups:

“Mashups are popular because they can be created easily. Because mashup applications can be created quickly and inexpensively, they enable a new class of more-opportunistic and disposable applications that, before mashups, would never have received IT development investment. Another benefit is that users can easily personalize mashup content displays. Thus, mashups seem to be an answer for enterprises that want to roll out content aggregation software to meet the various demands of business unit users, who want the flexibility to do different things by combining available data and functionality from inside and outside the enterprise.” [1]

That’s a pretty compelling statement from a highly regarded and objective source. No bloggers blowing any smoke here.

The report, entitled “Who's Who in Enterprise 'Mashup' Technologies” (available on a subscription basis only), is a comprehensive and objective inventory of current mashup players. In short, it attempts to sift through the mish mash of mashup technologies and vendors.

As early entrants and key players in the mashup arena, we are especially proud that the report categorized us as a “unique vendor.” It went on to label Ratchet-X, our mashup product, as “a good example of a mashup implementation as the ‘face of SOA,’ where services are consumed at the presentation layer rather than the application layer.” (Page 14).

So there you have it. Naturally, we believe strongly in the power of mashup technology, Ratchet-X and its ability to deliver productivity and cost savings to corporate IT applications. More importantly, it is becoming more and more apparent that objective third-party experts are offering testimony for this same belief … and it's certainly one worth exploring for those looking to achieve a greater ROI from their existing IT capabilities.


[1] Source: Gartner Research Publication. Publication Date: 7 September 2007/ID Number: G0015135. Anthony Bradley, David Gootzit (Page 3) © 2007 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.