Mainframe and Legacy Databases are the Hidden Barriers to Federal Efficiency

According to a 2023 GAO report, the federal government spends over $100 billion annually on IT and cyber-related investments, with about 80% on operations and maintenance of existing IT, including legacy systems. The voices to reduce their over-bloated budget are louder, making matters a bit more complex than ever. This critical situation creates a compelling need for:

1. Cost reductions
2. Resource overhead savings
3. Overall efficiency improvements

However, as the GAO report suggests, a massive barrier to achieving these goals is buried deep in the federal agencies' IT infrastructure: mainframes and legacy databases. Once rugged and reliable, those earlier systems slow creativity and inflate costs while posing risks to mission-critical operations.

Hundreds of federal agencies still rely on mainframe and legacy database systems created decades ago to store and process information. While these systems were innovative in their era, they were not designed to address today's digital environment's scale, complexity, or requirements.

A wide range of modern government functions requires agile and data-driven solutions, from citizen-facing services to inter-agency collaboration. Additionally, mainframe and legacy databases often lack interoperability and flexibility to build bridges to modern systems and also result in data silos that block the flow of information.

The ramifications of these limitations are mission critical:

• Soaring Costs: The maintenance and hosting legacy databases is expensive. This domain knowledge is increasingly becoming a specialist skill that is costly to recruit.
• Higher Risk: Legacy systems, which hold sensitive federal data, are susceptible to cyberattacks.
• Inefficiencies: Workflows are complex and rely on human intervention to fill gaps between legacy systems and modern applications.
• Ageing workforce: One of the more underappreciated effects of continued reliance on legacy systems is the rapidly retiring workforce of mainframe programmers and administrators, which leaves an acute and critical skills and domain expertise gap.

The importance of mainframe and legacy database modernization within federal agencies has never been more evident. Legacy systems aren't designed for the scalability, performance, and security that modern solutions—such as cloud-native databases—offer. These modern-day solutions offer scaling, performance, and security that legacy systems could never provide. Modern platforms like newer databases, NoSQL IT systems, and/or hybrid cloud architectures can greatly affect how federal organizations manage data.

Modernization of mainframe and legacy databases makes federal agencies more efficient and resilient. Modernization offers game-changing benefits—from increased access to data and heightened security to cost savings and sustainable depth of workforce—to meet current and future demand.

Modern-day databases allow constant data access and enable the government to make quick, informed business decisions based on real-time data. This also avoids lags involved in manual data pull or batch processing, allowing them to respond better during emergencies or evolving conditions. More than this, making data more accessible enables sharing across divisions, fostering inter-agency collaboration and streamlining operations.

Legacy systems leave agencies prone to hacking with less than up-to-date security protocols. In contrast, modern-day cloud-based solutions use algorithms, advanced coding, multi-factor authentication, and artificial intelligence, so you do not have to worry about staying secure against increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats. Federal guidelines, such as FISMA (the Federal Information Security Management Act) and FedRAMP (the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program), have been built into modern systems to offer a degree of compliance that provides peace of mind to the agency and helps keep sensitive data secure.

The move to modern platforms dramatically reduces operational overhead by empowering operational teams with unified environments. By automating repetitive tasks and reducing the need for manual intervention, new systems consume less energy and hardware maintenance costs, making operations more sustainable and eco-friendlier. These savings can be diverted to innovation and mission-critical initiatives.

State-of-the-art databases quickly scale with the increasing volume of data and changing agency needs. They're built on a modular architecture that accommodates integrating new technologies and features without compromising existing workflows. This flexibility helps agencies prepare for future demands without the costly and time-consuming need to overhaul their underlying infrastructure.

Mainframe programmers and administrators are scarce, driving up costs and creating continuity risks. Modernization minimizes dependency on this dwindling pool of talent and suits the skill sets of the next-generation IT workforce. Whether leveraging the latest tools or having the right talent back in their organizations, agencies become sustainable with the proper infrastructure and reduce long-term staff costs once they become scalable with contemporary platforms.

Modernizing legacy databases is not only about fixing present inefficiencies but also about laying the ground for the future. Agencies that modernize their architectures drive a ripple effect with systems that scale, secure, and interoperate, systems that evolve with the technologies that lay ahead. They drive innovation to be integrated with new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

Legacy databases are no longer mere nuisances, they are obstacles to growth. Federal agencies can no longer view modernization as an option but rather as a strategic imperative. By clearing away the roadblocks posed by archaic systems, agencies can pave the way for a new era of agility, innovation, and excellence. Modernization is not just about efficiency; it's about improving citizens' outcomes.

Selecting the right approach to migration, including re-hosting, re-platforming, or complete re-architecting is key to mitigating disruption and ensuring alignment with the agencies' long-term goals. Each method has benefits, and carefully analyzing an agency's unique needs and limitations will lead to a successful transition.

Any modernization project starts with a thorough needs assessment. By analyzing existing systems, upstream and downstream applications, data dependencies, and bottlenecks, agencies can prioritize modernization efforts, identify potential risks, and outline the migration process.

The modernization journey should be data-driven, with detailed planning for the resources required and the associated costs. Assessing infrastructure needs, staffing, and potential long-term savings also helps clarify that the project can be delivered within a reasonable budget and be demonstrably beneficial. Ensuring that you can manage all variables related to refinishing costs is an active role in preventing unknown costs and becoming a reason to slow down your progress.

This may sound a bit cliché, but it's worth repeating: Successful modernization requires strategic prep work. Establishing well-defined goals, benchmarks, and KPIs ensures all parties stay aligned. Good planning mitigates risk, makes things smooth, and maximizes the benefits of modernization efforts.

These guiding principles will help federal agencies overcome modernization challenges and reach efficiency, security, and innovation goals.

With the challenges of legacy modernization, federal agencies need a partner with deep expertise and innovative approaches. As a leader in IT modernization, mLogica has successfully spearheaded numerous prominent legacy databases and mainframe migrations to modern environments.

Agencies can achieve their modernization goal via mLogica's innovative and agile, AI-based solutions, such as high-speed STAR*M Distributed Workload Modernization for distributed database migrations and LIBER*M Mainframe Modernization Suite for mainframe modernization. Powered by mLogica advanced technologies, these solutions ensure a seamless transition to more modern platforms maintaining federal compliance and security mandates.

mLogica's solutions further ensure unparalleled support for scaling operations, refreshing technologies, and maximizing the data ecosystem. These opportunities also ease the technical debt imposed by legacy systems and future-proof federal IT infrastructure for decades.

As a trusted partner, mLogica empowers federal agencies to unleash the full potential of data, maximize operation, and enhance the delivery of services to citizens. mLogica, an experienced mainframe and database modernization leader, brings decades of experience in the pursuit of modernization solutions that address federal agencies' unique challenges.