Why You Should Migrate Data From Legacy Systems To Modern Platforms

Data migration can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it’s often well worth the benefits. This is especially the case if you haven’t made the jump from legacy systems to modern data platforms. The benefits of modern systems over legacy systems are countless, and making the transition can lead to more productivity and better use of your organization’s expensive data investments. If you’re ready to unlock the potential of your data, it’s time to migrate to a modern data platform. Read on to learn more about the benefits or click below to book a demo with Secoda and see what a modern data platform can do for your business.

A Brief Introduction

Legacy platforms have been sufficient for years and many businesses still use them today. However, these platforms are quickly becoming outdated and it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to keep up much longer, especially as more and more businesses switch to modern platforms. The benefits of modern data platforms are just too good to ignore. If businesses don’t eventually adapt to changing technology, it’s hard for them to remain competitive. Technology is always advancing, and there are plenty of reasons why legacy systems are no longer going to cut it.

Not only do legacy platforms lack the features and capabilities of modern data platforms, but it’s also hard to integrate them with other modern tools and platforms. In short, legacy systems simply can’t perform at the level needed for modern business.

It’s important to understand the limitations of legacy platforms to recognize the need for migrating to modern platforms. While it may be costly to make the upgrade, keeping legacy systems and missing out on all of the advantages will be much more costly in the long run. With that being said, let’s start diving into the benefits that modern systems can offer.

What Are the Benefits?

Modern data platforms offer a myriad of benefits, especially when compared to their legacy predecessors. Here are some of the benefits you can expect if you migrate your data to a modern platform:

Cost Savings

One of the biggest benefits of migrating from legacy to modern platforms is the cost savings. Legacy systems often require significant investment for maintenance and upgrades, turning them into a money pit just for them to run smoothly. Modern systems tend to be much more cost effective. Modern systems can automate numerous processes and reduce IT expenses while also improving productivity overall.

Modern platforms often have scalable pricing models as well, so they can adapt to the size of your business. Meaning you can get a plan that works for you from a budget perspective and scale up as your business grows. Unlike legacy systems, upgrading storage and processing capabilities is seamless and doesn’t require a significant overhaul and investments.<p>

Improved Data Security

Data security is more important than ever, and ensuring your data systems are protected from data breaches and other cyber threats is essential to the longevity of your business. Legacy systems no longer have the robust security features needed to keep your data secure, and it’s more difficult to ensure these systems are compliant with modern data regulations. Modern platforms come equipped with advanced encryption and security protocols to help protect your organization’s sensitive data.

Features like access controls, automated governance process, and more can help safeguard your data and improve your data security measures. This will also help to save you from costly mistakes and the loss of customer trust that can occur from data breaches.

Risk Mitigation

Along with enhancing your security, modern data platforms also help to mitigate various risks to your business processes. Outdata technologies found in legacy systems are often prone to crashes, data loss, and other technical issues. This can lead to costly downtime and disruptions in your operations. Modern platforms generally prove to be much more reliable in these areas.

Modern platforms also have automated features that can proactively identify and address potential vulnerabilities and inefficiencies in your workflows. Of course, the aforementioned automated data governance features also helps with compliance, which is another risk that is always worth mitigating.<p>

Enhanced Integration and Scalability

Legacy platforms often lack the ability to easily integrate with your other business tools and platforms. At best, organizations typically have to dedicate IT resources to developing complicated APIs to get these legacy systems to work with their other platforms. In the modern business world, your entire organization needs to be interconnected and your business tools need to work well together. Modern data platforms make it much simpler to connect all of your tools and allow them to share data. Modern platforms often come with out of the box connectors to make it even easier to integrate with the tools you use most. 

Additionally, modern data platforms are designed with scalability in mind. While legacy systems often require costly upgrades to scale, you can scale in minutes with a modern data platform. It’s easy and seamless to upgrade your data storage and processing capabilities as your business grows. This flexibility ensures that your business operations don’t have to slow down when you’re ready to scale up and take things to the next level.<p>

Future-Proof Your Business

It’s not always easy to predict what the future holds for data-driven industries, but you can do your best to get your business ready by future-proofing your technologies as much as possible. Doing so will enable you to stay ahead of the competition and take advantage of new opportunities more efficiently.

Modern data platforms are built to be future-proof, allowing you to easily upgrade and adjust your platform as needed. With seamless integration and scalability, you don’t have to worry about your modern data systems becoming outdated like legacy systems did. If you’re ready to future-proof your business and reap all of the above benefits of a modern data platform, then it's time to take the steps to migrate from your legacy system to your new system. We’ll go over those steps next.<p>

How To Get Started With Data Migration

So, you've decided to migrate your data from legacy to modern platforms. But what next? Here are the steps you can follow to get started with your data migration.

• Assess your data - First, you will need to assess your current data infrastructure. Identify the type of data migration you should do and the data volume you’ll be migrating. You should also run an audit to assess data quality and see what data can be left behind and what data moves to the new system. Understanding your data can help you plan your migration and mitigate any potential problems down the line.
• Define goals - Next, outline your general goals for the data migration. What are you wanting to achieve with this migration? Are you wanting to improve efficiency? Streamline processes? This will help you make the best decision for your new data platform. 
• Choose your platform - Now it’s time to choose your new data platform. Research your different options and see which ones best fit your needs. Consider versatile all-in-one data management platforms like Secoda that can help improve numerous data processes.
• Create a comprehensive migration plan - Once you’ve chosen your modern data platform, you should create a detailed data migration plan. Your plan should include checkpoints, contingency plans, resource allocation, and more. Make sure to involve all relevant stakeholders and clearly communicate the plan to everyone that will be affected.
• Back up your data - While a perfect migration will ensure that all of your data is seamlessly transferred without issue, this won’t always pan out. Just in case, make sure all of your data is backed up in case anything goes wrong. It never hurts to have a backup.
• Test migration - When it’s time to migrate your data, start small. Migrate a small set of data to test the process and ensure everything is going to plan. Once you’ve tested the process, you can start migrating larger chunks of data.
• Monitor progress - Make sure to monitor the data migration process as you go, and address any issues or errors that may pop up during the migration. 

Data migration is an involved and complex process, but taking the right steps and making a detailed plan can make it go as smoothly as possible. Once the migration is over, you’ll have a new, powerful modern data system to make your business better!<p>

Try Secoda for Free

Looking for a new modern data platform for your organization? Secoda is your solution. Secoda is an all-in-one data management platform. Our platform includes an AI-powered data catalog, data lineage, data analysis, data dictionary, and much more. With Secoda, you can unlock the potential of your data and make it more usable for every member of your organization. Ready to learn more about Secoda and how it can improve your data discovery? Book a demo and try Secoda for free today.