ACT-IAC Releases Report on Successfully Modernizing Legacy IT Systems

FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC), the premier public-private partnership dedicated to improving government through the application of information technology, announced today the release of a report entitled, 'Legacy System Modernization: Addressing Challenges on the Path to Success'.

It's no secret the federal government relies on a lot of old, increasingly obsolete information technology systems to run its programs.  The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported "Federal legacy IT investments are becoming increasingly obsolete: many use outdated software languages and hardware parts that are unsupported." And Federal CIO Tony Scott said, "We have a broad surface area of old, outdated technology that's hard to secure, expensive to operate, and on top of all that, the skill sets needed to maintain those systems are disappearing rather rapidly."

Bt, modernizing old technology is fraught with risks. GAO added IT Acquisition and Operations across the government to its High Risk List in 2015 because "… federal IT investments too frequently fail to be completed or incur cost overruns and schedule slippages while contributing little to mission-related outcomes."  Agencies report lack of resources, lack of experience, risk of disruption to mission programs, organizational resistance to change, and risk of failure as reasons for not modernizing more of their systems.

ACT-IAC convened a team of experts, with deep experience in legacy system modernization, to develop this report to help the government increase the success of its modernization projects. The report contains a modernization lifecycle process, modernization strategies, and recommended keys to success. And it's not just an academic thought piece. The report also contains real world examples of government system modernization projects and the keys to their success.

"Legacy system modernization is a complex, challenging issue but it can be successful if it is planned and managed properly," reported Richard Spires, former DHS CIO and senior advisor on the report. "One of the most important keys to success is getting all of the senior stakeholders, from mission leaders to support functions like IT, finance and acquisition, together to actively plan and oversee the effort from start to finish."

For more information on how ACT-IAC is helping to 'Advance Government' and to download this report, please visit the website, www.actiac.org.

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SOURCE American Council for Technology

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