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Tag: legacy software

Do no harm

First, Do No Harm: What Software Can Learn from Medical Ethics

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

In medicine, the phrase ‘First, do no harm’ is often associated with the Hippocratic Oath and echoed in the Nightingale Pledge. Both remind healthcare providers that their interventions shouldn’t make a patient worse than their original condition. While that phrase isn’t in the ancient oath, verbatim, the principle underpins modern clinical practice: cure, fix, remedy, yes; but never at the cost of worsening health. Surprisingly, this principle has a lot to teach software developers, especially when we’re brought in to work on someone else’s codebase, apply surgical fixes, or help...

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The Bet of 2025

Reflecting on 2025: What We Learned (and Shared) About Legacy Software

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

As we prepare to flip the final page on 2025’s calendar, we’ve been taking some time at STEP Software to reflect — not just on the year in technology, but on the conversations we were fortunate enough to be part of. This year, more than any other, our blogs focused on one topic that kept surfacing in nearly every client conversation: legacy software. That focus wasn’t accidental. Why Legacy Software Became the Heart of Our 2025 Content Throughout 2025, we saw a clear pattern across industries. While AI, cloud platforms, and automation tools were moving at breakneck speed, many...

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Cloud-Hybrid Budget

Justifying Cloud-Hybrid Architecture for Legacy Modernization in 2026

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

As we come to the close of another year, CIOs are continuing to face legacy software challenges and 2026 doesn’t appear to be any different. CFOs are seeing line items for cloud-hybrid architecture on budgets and are pushing back, asking “is this a critical need or a frivolous nice to have?” For our last technical blog of 2025 we dive into this budget line item, breaks down what it is, why it is important (especially when legacy issues are on the radar) and add in some strategies to help get this cost-effective legacy modernization approach on your 2026 budget (if you are still making...

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Budget 2026

2026 IT Budgets – Shiny Stuff vs. Boring Things

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

You want to buy the shiny stuff in 2026 — AI platforms, GPU servers, and all the cloud horsepower, and who wouldn’t? But economic repositioning, geopolitical anxiety and evolving stakeholder expectations are generating uncertainty for many business leaders. With all the chatter on those shiny new pennies, companies often forget the critical, albeit boring parts. Legacy systems, talent reskilling, or smart outsourcing often miss the budget ledger. But those “boring” things are what will let the shiny stuff pay off and help KTLO (keeping the lights on) during the ambiguity of the next...

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Middleware

Middleware: The Smart Path to Legacy Modernization

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Keeping on trend with our focus this year of writing about Legacy Software and budget conscious strategies to modernize them, we turn to Middleware and how it can help bridge the gap between legacy systems and modern applications. For many organizations, legacy systems still power their core operations. They are proven, reliable work horses that are increasingly expensive to maintain. Businesses are continuously looking at ways to do more with less as budgets are trimmed while systems are expected to chug along at the expense of innovation and modernization. Last week we touched on...

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Containerization

Containerization and Orchestration: Modernizing Legacy Systems for the Future

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you may have noticed our recent focus on Legacy Systems and their ubiquitous need for updates. These core systems are running mission-critical workloads but struggle to adapt to evolving business demands, scalability requirements, and cloud-native ecosystems. This is a global problem, eating up 80% of IT budgets annually and contributing to developer burnout and innovation drag. But there is good news! Containerization and orchestration have emerged as a powerful strategy to bridge the gap between traditional infrastructure and modern software...

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Dragging You Down

Innovation Drag: How Legacy Systems Hold Back IT Teams, Budgets, and Modernization

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

In the modern enterprise, agility and speed are no longer competitive advantages—they are survival tools. Yet for organizations, legacy systems act like an anchor, slowing progress and draining resources. “Innovation drag” or the friction that leads to the slowdown, prevents IT teams from kicking off digitization and modernization projects at the pace business demands. Innovation drag can quietly undermine an organization’s ability to compete, and throttle team momentum. What Is Innovation Drag? Innovation drag (from an IT perspective) is the reduction of a team’s capacity to...

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time for a software audit

Software Audits — and Why You Should Get One

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

In today’s complex technology landscape, organizations rely on countless software systems—some developed in-house, others bought or integrated over time.  Software is rarely a one and done situation and unless you are doing deep audits of your tech stack regularly an organization has no way of knowing if they are at risk. Knowing how secure, efficient, and compliant your software is,   quality code that is valuable intellectual property are only a few benefits of a software audit.  In the time of cybercrime and malicious actors proactive auditing is your best safety net...

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A Guide to Custom Software

A Business Executive’s Guide to Custom Software Vendors

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

Whether a corporate strategic plan is driving your search for a custom software vendor, or your legacy system needs life support, finding a vendor that aligns with your vision and budget does not have to be an arduous task.  Often when business executives begin researching custom software vendors, they’re looking for partners who can deliver value, minimize risk, and support long-term growth.  But software vendors often speak a different language and being able to cut through the jargon is critical to project success.   After 20 years in business, supporting some...

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man playing chess

CIO & CTO Strategic Concerns: June 2025

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog.

As summer 2025 approaches tech execs and boards are discussing strategic initiatives for 2026 and beyond. As CIOs and CTOs navigate the complex strategic concerns of 2025 it is shaping the changes needed for Q3 and Q4 of this year and subsequent quarters to follow. The rapid technological change, economic pressure, regulatory scrutiny, and growing demands for agility and innovation are only increasing the optics on technical strategic initiatives.   We’ve created a detailed summary of the concerns we are finding in our research as well as what our Advisory Division clients are...

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