Danny Major FBCS is an advisor focused on helping tech businesses on the journey from scale-up to enterprise. Here he looks at the key considerations around the decommissioning of systems.
Technology is often viewed as a constant march forward, with new innovations promising ever better efficiency, accuracy and reliability. However, for every new system that enters the enterprise, there are older ones that must eventually exit stage left.
Whether it’s legacy software, aging infrastructure or intelligent automation processes and solutions, system retirement is an inevitable, and often complex, process. As enterprises continue their journey into intelligent automation (IA), even automation technologies themselves will eventually require retirement or replacement. Early generations of RPA bots, for instance, may become redundant as AI-driven automation and workflow orchestration take over.
Within the broader context of IA — where enterprises deploy robotic process automation (RPA), business process automation (BPA), conversational AI and more to drive forward — the question arises: what happens when these systems reach their effective end of life? The answer lies not in an abrupt decommissioning but in a structured and deliberate approach to system retirement.
Costs of legacy systems
It is a common narrative: an enterprise continues running an outdated system because ‘it still works’ or because a system transition feels too disruptive. While understandable, this mindset introduces risks:
- Increased operational costs: legacy systems often require excessive maintenance, consuming both time and budget. As vendors discontinue support, the cost of keeping them operational escalates
- Security vulnerabilities: older systems may lack critical security updates, exposing the organisation to cyber threats
- Technical debt: as enterprises continue layering workarounds onto ageing infrastructure, complexity increases, making future changes even harder
- Reduced interoperability: outdated systems struggle to integrate with modern solutions, limiting the ability to adopt new technologies and remain competitive
In light of these risks, decommissioning systems is necessary; the challenge lies in ensuring that doing so does not introduce more problems than it solves. A successful system retirement strategy requires a structured approach, addressing both business and technical dependencies.
Understanding system dependencies and business impact
Before retiring a system, organisations must conduct a full analysis of dependencies. What processes, departments and external users rely on it? Often, legacy systems remain deeply embedded in operational workflows, with multiple downstream impacts.
Mapping out dependencies helps identify areas that need migration, alternative solutions or process changes before decommissioning. It’s also critical to involve stakeholders — especially those on the front line of operations — early, so that potential risks and business disruptions are addressed.
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Ensure data continuity
Data is one of the most valuable assets within any system. A key question when retiring technology is how to preserve and maintain access to historical data.
Enterprises must determine whether data needs to be migrated to a new platform, archived for compliance reasons or converted into a format that remains accessible for future reference.
This process requires careful planning, as failing to account for data continuity can lead to loss of institutional knowledge, regulatory breaches, and a negative impact on operations.
Validate before you switch off
One of the biggest mistakes enterprises make is shutting down a system without fully validating its replacement. Running legacy and new systems in parallel for a period provides a safety net. This allows teams to identify gaps, correct issues and ensure business continuity before fully transitioning. Monitoring post-migration performance ensures that the new system delivers on its intended benefits. Metrics such as process speed, error rates and user adoption can help validate success.
Retiring a system isn’t just a technical exercise — it’s a change management challenge. Users who have relied on the legacy system for years may be resistant to change. Transparent communication, training programs and hands-on support help smooth the transition.
Beyond end users, IT teams also need clear protocols for system shutdown, ensuring proper documentation, backup strategies and compliance with internal and external regulations.
Treating retirement as a strategic process
Enterprises should shift their mindset from viewing system retirement as a reactive necessity to seeing it as a proactive strategy. Just as businesses invest time in roadmap planning for new technology adoption, they must also develop structured decommissioning plans for outgoing systems.
By embedding system retirement into technology governance, organisations can ensure smoother transitions, reduce risk, and make space for innovation.
Tech retirement, when done right, isn’t an end — it’s a significant part of an evolution.
