US agencies need to modernise applications

Federal IT managers in the US nearly universally agree that there is an urgent need to modernise the applications used in government, a survey shows.

The survey from MeriTalk, a public-private partnership focused on improving government IT, shows that 92% of federal IT managers believe that it’s urgent for their agency to modernise legacy applications.

Security is the largest driving factor for modernisation, followed by the time required to manage or maintain ageing systems and inflexibility or integration issues.

Less than half (48%) of IT mangers believe that their legacy applications are completely capable of meeting their needs, and only 32% think that they will remain so in five years’ time.

But despite acknowledging the urgent need, only 53% of agencies have a formal application modernisation strategy in place and only 28% have developed a business case around renewing or replacing existing applications.

The main reasons for delays in the modernisation process include risks, a failure to execute and an overwhelming amount of options.

“Application modernisation provides a powerful opportunity for agencies to upgrade to more flexible and secure systems for innovation and cost cutting in the long term,” commented Tom Greiner, the leader of consultancy Accenture Federal Service’s technology business.

“It’s time for agencies to accelerate their legacy application modernisation efforts to drive enhanced mission capability and reduce their reliance on outdated technology.”

Image courtesy of Dejdżer / Digga under CC