Elizabeth Leigh
Modernizing legacy systems is one of the top priorities in federal information technology for addressing adaptability and efficiency, Ann Braley-Smith writes in a piece posted on Dell’s blog Monday.
According to Braley-Smith, agencies stand to benefit from technology upgrades by converting information silos into open data and addressing redundancy issues.
The report cited studies that support the need for transformation, which was part of then-U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra’s 25-point plan to reform federal IT management.
A MeriTalk/VMware poll conducted in June 2013Â says close to 80 percent of most agency IT budgets are spent on maintaining or fixing issues related to old or outdated application environments.
Braley-Smith mentioned another MeriTalk survey sponsored by Unisys that found a majority of IT leaders believe their agency’s capabilities are linked to how they update their applications.
Close to 50 percent of IT applications in federal offices operate on legacy technologies, that survey says.
The report pointed out potential difficulties from aging application portfolios that Braley-Smith believes are complex, threaten security, costly and unable to support new technologies.
She reiterated Dell cloud evangelist Matthew Mikell’s position that going modern in federal government is an overdue exercise.
Being able to choose the right vendor for the job will help in a transition process that could otherwise be a “daunting task,â€Â Braley-Smith concludes.
