“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not a part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”

- Stewart Brand

It is no secret that we are living in the age of automation. And if your business still relies on legacy systems driven by manual processes,  you are missing out on tapping into your company’s true potential.

Of course, there will always be certain activities that would mandate human intervention. However, there is a growing need to modernize business processes and workflows.

We will explore some ways in which legacy systems are stunting the growth and development of your organization:

Drawbacks of legacy systems

Let’s examine the different ways in which legacy systems are holding your business back:

1. Delayed processing time

In the highly competitive environment prevalent these days, businesses can no longer afford delayed processing. Given that companies are now adopting a customer-centric approach, every second wasted contributes to a diluted customer experience.

However, outdated techniques, such as manual data entry, will only cause lags. This delay will accrue in the succeeding stages.

On the other hand, process automation technologies streamline the workflow while maintaining greater accuracy. Hence, your customers and employees benefit from a swift and seamless experience.

2. Inefficient human resource management

As per G2’s State of Software Happiness Report, 51.95% of employees are unhappy with the software solutions that their organizations use. Furthermore, about 75.94% of employees have considered leaving their job due to the lack of the right software. Clearly, now is the time to revitalize your legacy systems and make them more employee-friendly.

Robotic process automation makes efficient use of human resources by eliminating the need for carrying out redundant or recurring tasks. In this manner, you can reserve talent for more challenging work.

3. Higher operational costs

Outdated technologies often rely on paper-based methods to collect data. The additional steps required to digitize and utilize data makes the process even more complex and resource-intensive. Maintaining such records and systems and employing a larger workforce increases your financial liability. Plus, with the passage of time, maintaining outdated systems will get proportionately expensive.

It is also worth mentioning that dated systems lead to unnecessary delays, which could potentially cause revenue losses in certain industries. As such, these are a drain on your finances in more ways than one.

Companies can leverage business process automation to offset such charges and keep to their budget.

4. Poor data quality

When discussing losses caused by legacy systems, the losses due to poor data quality bear special mention. Manual processes compromise data fidelity, which could affect your bottom line. According to a Gartner report, bad data and errors could result in nearly $15 million per year!

Additionally, human error can introduce errors that avalanche and expand exponentially only to hamper the operations and the resultant output. Intelligent process automation weeds structured and unstructured data to mitigate this effect and decreases the likelihood of error occurrences while also bridging organizational goals with reality.

5. Compromised security

If you are handling sensitive or confidential data, then operating through legacy systems could lead to your downfall. Most cybersecurity solutions rely on lean IT infrastructure wherein there is a need for continuous changes and continuous development for protection from the latest threats. On the other hand, legacy systems have already reached their saturation point and can no longer grow or improve. Furthermore, as users migrate from legacy systems to the new and upcoming technologies, support for safety and security also decreases.

Given that your brand’s reputation heavily depends on the data security features that you offer to your customers and employees, security should be your primary concern.

6. Missing out on prospects

If you operate in a B2C environment, it is unlikely that your customers use legacy systems. The modern-day user and consumer keep up to date with the technological trends and moves with them. Hence, if you are using older generation solutions, then you will miss out on your clients, no matter how loyal they may be to your product or services.

For instance, consider the customer grievance redressal through the ticketing solution. Given that customers now want instant solutions through automated chatbots, nobody is willing to wait 24-48 hours to hear from the customer care representatives.

What you need Process Automation in your system?

Legacy systems are quite the opposite of the contemporary state of affairs. They rest on a “start and stop” strategy where major overhauls take place overnight. In contrast, the present industrial condition relies more on the foundation of “continuous everything.”

For the above reasons, businesses must invest in automated systems that can create a fulfilling and competitive work environment. Modern intelligent document processing solutions can overcome all the issues that legacy systems face. In turn, they incentivize digital transformation, which will reap benefits in the long run.