MODERNIZATION BENEFITS
Legacy Software Costs: Maintain or Modernize?
See maintenance, downtime and manual-work costs together. Compare a modernization investment using your own numbers.
Updated:
SHORT ANSWER
Recurring maintenance and manual work can consume budget you could put into new capabilities. Start by comparing current expenses, the migration investment and future operating costs together.
Why it matters
GAO reports that US federal agencies typically attribute about 80% of annual IT and cyber spending, exceeding $100 billion, to operating and maintaining existing IT.
Source: Information Technology: Agencies Need to Plan for Modernizing Critical Decades-Old Legacy Systems · U.S. Government Accountability Office · Published: · Accessed: Reported by US federal agencies; this is neither a legacy-only measure nor a statistic for all businesses.
KOSGEB supports interest costs on TRY 1–20 million loans for eligible digital transformation investments by small and medium manufacturing enterprises. Applications require an approved digital transformation or maturity assessment report.
Source: KOBİ Dijital Dönüşüm Destek Programı Yönergesi, Rev. 06 · KOSGEB · Published: · Accessed: · Last checked: This is not a direct grant for the investment amount. Micro enterprises are excluded; eligibility, board review, and bank assessment apply.
Is maintenance pushing new work aside?
Repeated data entry, manually assembled reports and an application that needs constant attention compete for the same budget. Making that work visible helps you choose which part is worth changing.
Which maintenance and manual-work costs can be addressed?
- Enter data once: Connect the order or stock workflow instead of typing the same record into several systems.
- Repeatable reporting: Answer the same question from consistent records instead of merging files each time.
- Defined maintenance work: Document installation, updates and ownership so maintenance has a clear scope.
How should maintenance and migration costs be compared?
Choose a task your team repeats every week. Record the time, tools and corrections it requires, then compare current costs with an investment scenario in the calculator. Use that comparison to choose the first implementation step.
If the repeated task is small or does not justify the investment, improving maintenance may be the better choice. Include the cost of running both systems during transition in the comparison.
Doing the same work with less CPU time
The PHP report replaces repeated order scans with a single aggregation pass. The database experiment reduces query work through an index and a grouped query. Both record CPU time separately while checking that the complete output stays identical.
Use each case’s “CPU cost at your workload” section to enter monthly batch runs and your CPU-hour price. One run processes the entire selected data load. The calculation scales the measured CPU difference to that volume; idle capacity, storage, networking and licence charges remain separate parts of a hosting bill.
Measurement approach
We compare preparation, execution and checking time for the same output, alongside transition investment and ongoing costs. Use your own costs and scenario assumptions in the calculator. Explore the calculation and measurement principles.
Evidence from the lab
CPU time for the same task
↓ 99.4%Lower is better · Median of 10 runs
Measurement method →CPU time for the same task
↓ 99.8%Lower is better · Median of 10 runs
Measurement method →CPU time for the same task
↓ 51.7%Lower is better · Median of 10 runs
Measurement method →CPU time for the same task
↓ 99.8%Lower is better · Median of 10 runs
Measurement method →CPU time for the same task
↓ 99.3%Lower is better · Median of 10 runs
Measurement method →Explore your own situation
Frequently asked questions
Which costs should I enter in the calculator?
Enter annual maintenance and development, licensing and infrastructure, downtime, and the time cost of manual work. Avoid counting the same staff hour under both maintenance and manual work; keep the comparison scope consistent.
Does time saved translate directly into cash savings?
No. Time that a person can spend on another task is different from a reduction in payments. Treat its monetary value as a capacity indicator and assess actual budget reductions separately.
Can I compare options before I have an investment budget?
The calculator's unknown-budget option calculates the maximum investment for your chosen payback period and assumptions. This amount is neither a quote nor a market price.
Does modernization always reduce costs?
No. Transition investment and subsequent operating costs can exceed the benefit. The calculator also shows cases with no savings or break-even point; security and continuity remain separate considerations.
Does the calculator include KOSGEB support?
No. The calculator does not automatically apply support, tax or financing conditions. The dated KOSGEB record above provides source information, not a deduction automatically applied to the investment.