{"id":186017,"date":"2019-11-11T14:08:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T19:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/?p=186017"},"modified":"2022-09-14T16:40:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T20:40:59","slug":"legacy-software-holds-back-b2b-ecommerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/legacy-software-holds-back-b2b-ecommerce","title":{"rendered":"Legacy Software Holds Back B2B Ecommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_186027\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186027\" class=\"wp-image-186027 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Old-computer-example.jpg\" alt=\"Outdated software systems can prevent B2B companies from providing the modern ecommerce experience professional buyers seek. Photo: Andreas160578.\" width=\"700\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Old-computer-example.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Old-computer-example-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Old-computer-example-570x285.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Old-computer-example-150x75.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Old-computer-example-500x250.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-186027\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outdated software systems can prevent B2B companies from providing the modern ecommerce experience professional buyers seek. <em>Photo: Andreas160578.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Most B2B executives believe legacy software and disjointed platforms are bogging down their ecommerce and digital growth.<\/p>\n<p>Some 54 percent of B2B leaders surveyed said that their company&#8217;s technology stack was &#8220;holding them back from their digital agility goals&#8221; and 59 percent believed that legacy software was the &#8220;root cause&#8221; of their business&#8217;s technology problems, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.episerver.com\/learn\/guides\/report-b2b-survey-on-digital-experience-tactics-in-2019\/\">an Episerver survey<\/a> of 700 business-to-business decision-makers.<\/p>\n<p>Many manufacturers and distributors acquired enterprise resource planning software or similar systems decades ago. They made significant investments for servers and &#8220;enterprise&#8221; software licenses. At the time, these expensive systems offered a huge improvement in productivity.<\/p>\n<p>However, the costs associated with buying, upgrading, and replacing these early solutions made some businesses reluctant to purchase up-to-date software and platforms. The result is that some B2B companies are relying on legacy systems that are not capable of providing the modern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/b2b-buyers-have-high-ecommerce-expectations\">B2B ecommerce experience<\/a> professional buyers seek.<\/p>\n<h3>Legacy Systems<\/h3>\n<p>There is a myriad of problems with old, outdated B2B software. But four categories could describe them all.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Cost.<\/em> Many legacy systems are proprietary, requiring expensive license and service agreements. It is not unheard of for a business to spend several hundred thousand dollars for new modules or features that would otherwise cost a few thousand dollars to develop on a modern and open application stack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Security.<\/em> Aged, antiquated systems can be relatively less secure as hackers identify unpatched vulnerabilities. Moreover, legacy systems are frequently not maintained.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Capabilities.<\/em> Legacy systems often limit a B2B business&#8217;s ability to add the features and capabilities to support a robust ecommerce experience. For example, old product management solutions often have no concept of product groups. So a manufacturer or distributor cannot manage, say, the same style of jeans across multiple sizes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Productivity.<\/em> Outdated software could also hurt productivity. No matter how good some employees become at working with or around antiquated software, there is still a cost in time, labor, and general inefficiencies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For example, a multichannel chain in the northwestern United States used a legacy, text-based ERP. One of the company&#8217;s longstanding employees was a master at the system. Having nearly 20 years of experience, she could string together keyboard shortcuts \u2014 sometimes using six or seven in a row \u2014 to reach a particular screen or complete a repetitive task. As good as she was, new employees were clueless and could take months to train.<\/p>\n<p>All of these categories \u2014 costs, security, capabilities, and productivity \u2014 can hinder a B2B company&#8217;s ability to offer a robust <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/category\/b2b\">digital-buying experience<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This is unacceptable. Professional buyers increasingly evaluate their suppliers based in part on the buying experience and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/essential-guide-to-ecommerce-punchout\">efficiency of purchasing<\/a> (i.e., ecommerce).<\/p>\n<h3>Legacy Software<\/h3>\n<p>Manufacturers and distributors can attack legacy software in a number of ways. But there are two common strategies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wrap the old software. <\/strong>A legacy system can be replaced gradually using what some in the software industry call the <a href=\"https:\/\/paulhammant.com\/2013\/07\/14\/legacy-application-strangulation-case-studies\/\">strangler pattern<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Typically this involves placing a facade or wrapper around the legacy system that allows a new solution to access its data and make use of its business logic.<\/p>\n<p>As an example, a company might use GraphQL (a data query language) to create an API that accesses a legacy accounting solution. The GraphQL API could then interact with customer portals, the ecommerce website, and systems from outside accountants.<\/p>\n<p>At first, this GraphQL wrapper might rely on the legacy accounting software completely. But over time the business could replace the accounts-receivable module with something modern. The users \u2014 who would now get their data via an interface connected to the GraphQL API \u2014 see no change, but a piece of the underlying legacy system has been replaced.<\/p>\n<p>One-by-one each remaining module or service is updated.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update systems at once. <\/strong>The slow and patient strangulation method described above doesn&#8217;t work for every business. Sometimes it pays to pull the Band-Aid off entirely, all at once.<\/p>\n<p>In this approach, the company will often target a specific system. For example, imagine your B2B business desires a customer accounting portal as part of the company&#8217;s ecommerce platform.<\/p>\n<p>Your current accounting software won&#8217;t do the trick, so you begin to work with a new system, perhaps an Acumatica module. You implement the new system in parallel with the legacy system. For a while, your business may have to enter invoices twice. But the double entry allows time to test the new system and train your accounting staff.<\/p>\n<p>Once everyone is comfortable, make the switch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some B2B companies are relying on legacy systems that are not capable of providing the modern ecommerce experience professional buyers seek. There is a myriad of problems with old, out-dated B2B software. But four categories could describe them all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":186029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[13094],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b2b",""],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.2 (Yoast SEO v25.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Legacy Software Holds Back B2B Ecommerce - Practical Ecommerce<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some B2B companies are relying on legacy systems that are not capable of providing the modern ecommerce experience professional buyers seek. There is a myriad of problems with old, out-dated B2B software. 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