How to Transform Legacy Systems to Digital Services

80% of digital transformation projects see major delays or fail due to integration challenges.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Zeev Avidan, Chief Product Officer, and Bo Luongo, SVP Global Alliance and Business Development at OpenLegacy as they were announcing their partnership with Dell Boomi.

Legacy systems hold 80% of the world’s data. Closed legacy systems are not digital-friendly, as such, 80% of digital transformation projects are delayed or fail due to integration challenges. The solution is the creation of legacy system APIs, but they take months.

Legacy systems require special skills of a workforce that is aging out. Layers of ESB/SOA add complexity, requiring more people and specific skill sets. Digital services have to pass through complex layers that negatively impact API speed and performance.

Digital-driven integration reduces risks, costs, time, and resources. OpenLegacy makes legacy assets consumable as a digital asset. The platform enables 10X faster API creation, 5X better API performance, and 75% lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

OpenLegacy enables digital transformation with 1) flexible deployment on-premises or in the cloud as microservices or serverless functions; 2) automatic code generation that enables digitally-ready code in minutes to quickly release new digital services with less manpower; and, 3) direct-to-legacy connections to bypass complex and expensive middleware layers by integrating directly to core systems. Microservices APIs can be applied everywhere addressing key integration challenges and empowering organizations to expand the value they provide to clients.

OpenLegacy works well with other technologies including Apigee, AWS, BigID, Collibra, Compuware, MuleSoft, and now Dell Boomi. Boomi’s integration platform as a service (iPaaS) covers a broad range of customer use cases and connectivity, and OpenLegacy complements Boomi by providing API-driven access to metadata and data from legacy assets such as AS/400, IMS, and VSAM.

According to Reggie Penn, Director of Technology Alliances for Dell Boomi, “With OpenLegacy, Boomi’s more than 11,000 customers will have greater access to complex legacy business logic and data, which can often take considerable time and resource to harness. It’s the foundation of our company to make it quick and easy for customers to discover, manage, and orchestrate data for faster, better outcomes.”

Case Studies

Due to the prevalence of legacy architecture in financial services, many of OpenLegacy’s customers are banks.

• A U.S. financial services company created five key APIs in a two-week sprint versus, one every six months, to kickstart their digital transformation.

• Credicorp bank was able to create 30 microservices and 70 legacy APIs in 10 weeks with 50% fewer resources and 3X greater API performance.

• A leading Israeli bank migrated its mainframe to microservices creating five microservices in two weeks with one developer.