Glossary · Platform and software engineering

Legacy modernisation

Updating or replacing ageing software and infrastructure so that it is secure, maintainable and able to support new requirements, such as integration, analytics and AI. Approaches range from rehosting and refactoring to incremental replacement.

Why it matters

Legacy systems often hold critical data and business rules but are hard to change, integrate or secure. They can block analytics and AI initiatives because data is difficult to extract and processes are hard to automate.

Incremental approaches, which replace functions one at a time behind stable interfaces, usually carry less risk than large one-off replacements and deliver value earlier.

In practice

For example, a UK membership body running on an ageing bespoke system might first expose member and payment data through APIs, then move renewals into a new service, leaving other functions on the old system until they can be replaced safely.

Where Rodan fits

Rodan modernises systems incrementally through Digital Products and Platforms and Platform and Cloud Engineering.

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