A C-Suite Perspective: Bridging the Gap Between Legacy Applications and New Technologies

Legacy applications have served Healthcare organizations for years; however, these applications are causing problems executives must address. Some of these issues include licensing, support and reliability, enhanced data retention requirements and security problems.  Sunsetting these applications is not simple and straightforward though and several factors must be considered when identifying which applications and supporting infrastructure must be updated.

To better understand the challenge that is legacy applications, Healthcare IT Today brought together the following panel of experts:

• Stephanie Lahr, CIO and CMIO at Monument Health
• Shahid Shah, Founder at Medigy.com
• Jeffrey Tang, Chief Technology Officer Healthcare – Americas at Dell Technologies
• John Lynn, Founder and Chief Editor at Healthcare IT Today

 One of the biggest takeaways from the event is that legacy applications doesn’t have to be a bad term.  As Shah pointed out, the key is to determine which of your “legacy applications” are cherished applications and which aren’t.  Just because an application is older doesn’t mean it’s not still useful and important to your organization’s mission.  However, it’s also true that just because an application is cherished by some in your organization doesn’t mean it’s still supporting your mission.  Balancing this is the key to effectively managing applications in your organization.