A new survey has found that 92 percent of US Federal IT managers say it’s urgent for their agency to modernize legacy applications, citing the largest driving factors as security issues (42 percent), time required to manage and/or maintain systems (36 percent), and inflexibility and integration issues (31 percent).

MeriTalk, a public-private partnership focused on improving the outcomes of government IT, today announced the results in its new report, “Future Ready Applications: The Modern Legacy.” The study was sponsored by Accenture Federal Services.

The “Future Ready Applications” report surveyed 150 Federal IT managers familiar with their agency’s applications portfolio to find out how application modernization can breathe new life into legacy applications, deliver much-needed efficiency and security, and – with the right strategy – uncover unrealized potential for an agency’s application portfolio.

Legacy applications are having trouble keeping up with agency needs, and it’s only going to get more difficult with time. Nearly half (48 percent) of Federal IT managers surveyed believe their legacy applications are completely capable of meeting their mission needs today, and significantly fewer – 32 percent – think they will be able to deliver five years from now.

What are agencies' greatest fears if they do not modernize? Survey results show that 52 percent of respondents cite security breaches, 47 percent cite performance issues, and 40 percent cite increased downtime and service disruptions. Additionally, 62 percent say if they do not modernize their legacy applications, mission-critical capabilities will be threatened.

Despite the urgent need for modernization, a little more than half (53 percent) of agencies have a formal application modernization strategy, and just one in four (28 percent) have developed a business case around renewing or replacing existing applications.

In addition, the survey discovered that agencies are delaying the process to modernize for a variety of reasons, citing delays are primarily due to risks (42 percent), failure to execute (34 percent), and the overwhelming amount of options (20 percent).

“Application modernization provides a powerful opportunity for agencies to upgrade to more flexible and secure systems for innovation and cost-cutting in the long term,” said Tom Greiner, who leads Accenture Federal Service’s technology business. “It’s time for agencies to accelerate their legacy application modernization efforts to drive enhanced mission capability and reduce their reliance on outdated technology.”

On average, Federal IT managers estimate that 55 percent of their current legacy applications could be successfully modernized using solutions like re-platforming the existing application (72 percent), leveraging architecture-driven modernization (69 percent), and remediating the existing application to extend its useful life (65 percent).

“The Federal government is running legacy systems from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, which many Feds find outdated, inefficient, and difficult to fix. However, if they take a deeper look into their legacy applications, they will realize that implementing the right modernization strategy can truly uncover unrealized potential,” said David Hantman, general manager, MeriTalk. “The clock is ticking, the time to modernize is now.”

The good news? Three out of four (77 percent) Federal IT managers say application modernization will improve end-user experience at their agency and two out three (66 percent) say modernization efforts at their agency will increase in the next 18 months.

To download the full report, visit http://meritalk.com/future-ready-apps.