Scaling business of any size takes a balance of agility and vision. It can be important—critical even—to move quickly and adapt on the fly, but the balance is in not moving so quickly that you accumulate lots of issues that later manifest into big problems. That said, the long-term isn’t always so simple to predict, particularly when it comes to IT infrastructure, which continues to evolve rapidly, growing more complex seemingly by the minute.
This can result in what’s known as “technical debt”: long-term inefficiencies and challenges that arise because of shortcuts, or solutions that once made sense, but are now causing issues. This can apply to software and hardware alike.
For most companies these days, technical debt is a reality of doing business. So long as it’s managed proactively, it can remain under the organization’s control without causing too many issues. But if left unchecked, it can slow down operations, make systems harder to maintain, and ultimately limit growth.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy to control and reduce—especially as many IT departments continue to report feeling stretched beyond capacity, meaning they are often managing their infrastructure in reactive mode, trying to stay on top of issues and fires rather than “paying down” technical debt.
Fortunately, there is a way to address this issue proactively: by leveraging a variety of IT management services. This approach allows organizations to manage, reduce, and prevent technical debt, all while maximizing the value of their IT investments.
What is Technical Debt?
IT technical debt is not altogether unlike financial debt, where shortcuts or compromises are made in the name of expedience or a “fine for right now” solution rather than long-term quality and maintainability. This then accumulates over time, ultimately leading to additional work or challenges down the road.
While these shortcuts may offer quick wins, they often lead to bigger issues down the line. As the business grows, so does the complexity of maintaining these systems. The longer you ignore technical debt, the more expensive it becomes to fix it.
Specifically, technical debt can look like:
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Code Quality: Writing quick, less-than-ideal code that works but is hard to maintain, understand, or scale in the future.
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Outdated Technology: Relying on old frameworks, platforms, or tools that are no longer efficient or supported but have been kept due to time or budget constraints.
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Lack of Documentation: Not properly documenting processes, making it harder for future team members to understand or build upon.
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Suboptimal Architecture: Building systems that are functional now but are not flexible or scalable enough to handle future needs or growth.
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Workarounds and Patches: Implementing quick fixes instead of addressing the root cause of a problem, often leading to more complex and fragile systems.
Over time, technical debt can slow down development, collaboration, and communication, increase the cost of maintaining systems, and make it harder to move the business forward. Organizations need to manage technical debt by periodically "paying it down" through refactoring, upgrading systems, and improving processes to maintain long-term software health and agility.
The Role of IT Management Services in Reducing Technical Debt
An effective way to manage technical debt is by leveraging IT management services. These services are designed to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and ensure that IT systems remain modern, secure, and scalable. By partnering with IT management experts, businesses can take a smarter approach to IT investments and mitigate the risk of accumulating unnecessary debt.
Some types of managed IT services that can help with technical debt include:
Ongoing Monitoring and Optimization
IT management services provide continuous monitoring of your systems, networks, and infrastructure. By keeping a constant eye on performance, potential issues can be detected early before they develop into larger, more costly problems. This proactive approach helps to prevent system failures, security vulnerabilities, and performance bottlenecks that might otherwise result from neglected technical debt.
Moreover, managed services often include regular optimization of both hardware and software. With consistent performance tuning, updates, and patch management, technical debt caused by outdated or underperforming systems can be minimized.
Cloud Modernization and Migration
One of the most effective ways to address technical debt is by migrating legacy systems to the cloud. Cloud platforms are inherently more flexible, scalable, and efficient, making them an ideal solution for businesses that are bogged down by outdated infrastructure.
IT management services can guide your organization through a cloud migration strategy—which can be a hybrid cloud strategy, that offers the freedom and flexibility to leverage both on-prem infrastructure and cloud-based services. This includes identifying which systems can be moved to the cloud, ensuring data integrity, and optimizing cloud-based applications for long-term success. By modernizing legacy systems, companies can de-risk their IT environment, reduce maintenance costs, increase operational agility, and eliminate a significant portion of their technical debt.
Strategic IT Consulting and Planning
One of the key ways to reduce technical debt is by approaching IT investments with a long-term strategy in mind. IT management services often include consulting and strategic planning to help businesses make smarter technology decisions. By working with a Managed IT Provider, organizations can assess their current technology landscape, identify areas of debt, and create a roadmap for improvement.
Strategic planning might involve:
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Upgrading outdated systems or applications.
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Developing a roadmap for cloud adoption or digital transformation.
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Implementing best practices to avoid accumulating more debt.
This level of foresight can help companies circumvent technology decisions that lead to more technical debt in the future.
Compliance and Security
Technical debt also includes vulnerabilities and security risks that arise from outdated or poorly maintained systems. Managed IT Providers can help businesses reduce technical debt by ensuring that security protocols are up-to-date and compliant with industry standards. Regular vulnerability assessments, patch management, and penetration testing help identify and fix security weaknesses before they become larger issues.
By continuously monitoring and addressing security concerns, businesses can increase resilience and reduce the risk of breaches, downtime, and compliance issues, all of which contribute to the growing cost of technical debt.
Designing a Smarter Approach to IT Investments
Reducing technical debt doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a concerted effort to assess current systems, prioritize necessary upgrades, and ensure that new solutions are designed with long-term sustainability in mind. Leveraging the strategic services of a Managed IT Provider helps businesses take a proactive, strategic approach to technology investments, ensuring that technical debt is minimized, and future growth is supported.
When you design a more strategic approach to your IT investments, you can:
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Improve system reliability and performance,
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modernize infrastructure to reduce reliance on legacy systems,
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streamline processes to increase operational efficiency, and
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ensure that IT systems are scalable, secure, and flexible enough to meet future needs.
A technology partner can be valuable in this process, lending strategic ability, expertise, and key services to ensure your business is in control of your technical debt, not the other way around.
Most companies provide outsourcing services to fix the IT issue; at Compugen Systems, we provide upsourcing, which means we fix the issue, and solve the problem, giving you a better process for mitigating future risks.
Our Managed Services are centered around you and your needs. You get a delivery model that is designed to get your organization where it wants to be over the duration of our engagement. We stay focused on the sustainability of your IT program, continual process improvement, and end-to-end lifecycle support.
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