Much of the focus for the better part of 2020 has oriented around how to get by with each day while keeping the virtual doors open and employees safe and accounted for. Now that the weeks have turned into months, the new term being thrown around is the ‘new normal’ – hearing this repeatedly in every meeting from business leaders, started getting me thinking that the so-called emergency phase we were all consumed in for so long, is now over. It’s imperative that we recognize this shift and begin transitioning towards paving a path to recovery and focusing on how to adapt your business today and ensure it aligns with the new landscape to secure growth for your business tomorrow, the next quarter and well beyond. 

In order to do this, it’s important that you never waste a crisis. The silver lining of a crisis of this caliber is that it will continue to fundamentally shake up the business landscape and significantly accelerate the shift to digital by empowering business leaders to reconsider how digital transformation fits into their post-COVID strategy.

Thinking about your next legacy software upgrade?

Taking it back to just a few months prior, before we found ourselves in 2020, there were several beliefs business leaders shared with regard to Cloud migration that kept them from pulling the trigger and transitioning their legacy on-premise systems to a more intuitive, modern Cloud infrastructure like NetSuite and Acumatica. The commonly shared perception was that migration to the Cloud meant a mirid of compromises, among the most feared was a loss of control and autonomy of crucial business elements such as data, security and privacy. Along with this was the notion of increased costs associated with a move to the Cloud –I like to label all these as false misconceptions.

The perceived reality of moving to the Cloud is far from the actual reality. With respect to cost, the problem with upgrading a legacy system is that it’s not very cost effective. The hidden costs associated with a legacy system upgrade over time regularly outweigh the cost of pivoting your entire business to the Cloud. When you quantify the opportunity cost of growth and standing still, add that together with the direct costs of an upgrade such as purchasing new servers, anti-virus, not to mention the loss of productivity that naturally comes with an upgrade, all that planning to transition to a system that is marginally an improvement in functionality or user experience? Forward thinking business strategy does not have any room left for continued investment in legacy systems that provide minimal return and ultimately keep you from achieving true scalability and elasticity – two terms we will all need in our vocabulary for the foreseeable future.

The last upgrade you’ll ever need

At MIBAR we’ve implemented countless legacy systems, we understand firsthand that although legacy products were acceptable a decade ago, nothing is the same as it was then. The reality is today’s technology fills a need that no legacy system can fill, it connects your people with your business processes, anytime and anywhere without the need to upgrade, ever again. This is has served invaluable for companies who made the switch to a Cloud solution like NetSuite or Acumatica before the COVID-era. Take our client Polek & Polek who have reported overall lower total cost of ownership for their business systems as well as increased productivity.

Thanks to MIBAR and NetSuite our company went from using multiple outdated systems to a unified system that is lower cost, more productive, and mobile. Implementing a new business software solution is always a big leap. The fast and friendly team at MIBAR helped make that a success, and now Polek & Polek has taken the leap from the 20th century to the 22nd century!” – Chris Polek President, Polek & Polek

With this said, companies who got off the upgrade cycle pre-COVID and transitioned to a Cloud solution like NetSuite and Acumatica were significantly better positioned for a crisis of this caliber and as a result will be even more ready for the next one. This is also partly due to the fact that the Cloud poses a far lower risk to data, security and business privacy. Today’s Cloud solutions are built for simple and secure access. Not to mention unparalleled access to your business in ways that you maybe didn’t realize was possible.

Welcome to the new era of doing business, all you need is an internet browser or your cellphone. This era calls for increased accessibility, mobility, connectivity which means as you look to digital to help pave a path to recovery for your business, you’re in fact adopting a new mindset that in a way allows you to operate as a software company in some form. If you’re asking yourself why you would want to operate as such – as Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella puts it, “Every company is a software company. You have to start thinking and operating like a digital company. It’s no longer just about procuring one solution and deploying one. It’s really you, yourself, thinking of your own future as a digital company.”

Don’t let your business keep limping to the next global crisis – reach out to us to see how MIBAR can help take the pain out of making the switch to Cloud and ensure it’s the last upgrade you’ll ever have to do. Visit our recovery resource center to learn more.

Check out our guide: Why Replacing Legacy Systems with a Cloud Solution is Now Mission Critical.

Cloud Solutions Mission Critical