Previously on FTI, we shared the first video in a series from Mav Turner, Senior Director of Product Management at SolarWinds, addressing why federal technology leaders must make IT modernization a priority. Mav’s video series aims to share tips and insights for federal IT leaders about the most sensible approaches to tackling IT modernization.

In part two of his video series, Mav discusses how federal CIOs can best minimize the impact of legacy IT solutions on current progress being made in federal agencies. Primarily he urges federal IT leaders to recognize that there will be a sort of hybridization between new applications and legacy systems for an extended period of time. The transition to an entirely new system is not something that will take place quickly.

This means there needs to be a strategy in place that addresses the hybrid nature of the technologies being used at any given government agency. Mav suggests to IT leaders, “Define what specific needs you have, so that as you bring on new applications, you can augment your existing technology with those new technologies.”

A hybrid technology approach also helps with future staffing and employee training. By not completely abandoning an existing system, current employee knowledge can be supplemented with new applications. And new employees will be more receptive, thus easier to train, with a system that is not completely outdated.

System security is also to be considered when looking to minimize negative impacts of older infrastructure. It’s imperative to fully understand where the responsibilities for one system start and another ends. This will reduce information overlap and vulnerabilities across the systems.

Watch the full video below to learn from Mav about mitigating potentially complicating impacts of legacy IT and how to best plan for the combination of new applications and older systems.