Announcement
Feb 3, 2026
Why Enterprises Still Run on Legacy Systems (And Why Replacing Them Keeps Failing)
By Darko Jovišić, CEO at Robotiq & RPA by Workato
If you look inside almost any large enterprise today, you’ll find the same paradox. On the surface, everything looks modern. New dashboards. New cloud tools. AI copilots. “Digital transformation” initiatives with impressive names.
But underneath? The core of the business still runs on legacy systems - ERP platforms, desktop applications, internal tools, and custom software that have been around for decades. This isn’t a failure of ambition, it’s a failure of approach. Over the last 20 years, enterprises have spent billions trying to replace legacy systems. And most of those attempts have failed, stalled, or quietly scaled back.
Let’s talk about why.
The Reality of Enterprise IT
A typical enterprise doesn’t run on one or two systems.
It runs on:
Hundreds, often thousands of applications
A mix of ERP platforms (SAP, Oracle, Dynamics)
Legacy desktop software
Custom-built internal tools
Shadow systems built by teams just to get work done
Studies consistently show that less than 30% of enterprise systems are fully integrated.
The rest survive through:
Manual work
Copy-pasting
Email handoffs
Scheduled scripts
Human “glue” holding processes together
This is the uncomfortable truth: people are still the integration layer.
Why “Replacing Legacy Systems” Sounds Right - But Rarely Works
On paper, replacing legacy systems seems logical.
In reality, it usually fails for four reasons.
1. The Business Is Too Intertwined
Legacy systems aren’t isolated tools. They’re deeply embedded in business rules, compliance logic, reporting structures, and operational workflows. Replacing them means rewriting how the business actually works. That’s far riskier than most transformation plans admit.
2. The Cost and Timeline Are Always Underestimated
Large-scale system replacements almost always take longer than planned, cost more than expected, and require years of parallel systems. By the time a replacement goes live, the business has already changed.
3. Compliance and Security Slow Everything Down
Enterprises operate under regulatory requirements, data residency rules, and internal security policies. Legacy systems may be old, but they’re understood, audited, and trusted. New platforms must earn that trust, a process that takes years, not quarters.
4. “Modern” Often Just Adds Another Layer
In many cases, modernization doesn’t remove legacy systems. It just adds another UI, data layer, or integration tool. Now, instead of one complex system, you have three.
The Hidden Cost Nobody Talks About
The highest cost of legacy systems isn’t the software itself. It’s the manual work around them. You have employees navigating multiple systems, re-entering the same data, running reports by hand, and fixing errors that automation was supposed to eliminate.
This manual effort quietly scales with the business and becomes normalized until it breaks.
Why AI Alone Doesn’t Solve This Problem
Recently, many enterprises turned to AI assistants and copilots. They help, but only to a point. AI is best at answering questions, summarizing information, and generating recommendations. But the thing is, most enterprise work isn't about knowing, it's about doing. Submitting invoices, updating ERP records, reconciling data across systems, triggering downstream processes, and much more.
Without the ability to execute actions inside existing systems, AI remains advisory. Helpful, but incomplete.
A Different Approach: Modernize Execution, Not Systems
The enterprises making real progress today are not replacing their systems, they are modernizing how work gets executed across them. This approach focuses on keeping existing systems and automating the work between them, while reducing manual effort without huge IT rewrites.
This is where RPA combined with AI-driven orchestration becomes powerful. Instead of forcing every system to change, you allow digital workers to operate interfaces the same way humans do. AI decides what should happen, and automation handles how it happens.
The result is a faster time to value with lower risk.
Why This Matters for Enterprises Today? Enterprises don’t need another transformation roadmap. They need measurable efficiency gains, reduced operational risk, and faster execution. The goal isn’t to make legacy systems disappear. The goal is to make them stop slowing the business down.
Final Thought
Legacy systems aren’t the enemy. The belief that they must be replaced to move forward is.
The enterprises that win in the next decade won’t be the ones with the newest software stack, but the ones that execute work more efficiently across the systems they already have. That’s where real modernization begins.
Resources
Agentic Automation for Enterprises: Bridging the Legacy Gap
Darko Jovišić, Robotiq & RPA by WorkatoRPA by Workato – Enterprise Automation Platform
https://rpabyworkato.com
FAQ
1. Why don’t enterprises just replace legacy systems?
Because replacements are risky, expensive, slow, and often disrupt critical business processes. Most enterprises choose stability over uncertainty.
2. Are legacy systems inherently bad?
No. Many are reliable and deeply integrated into business operations. The issue is how much manual work they require to operate at scale.
3. Can AI replace legacy systems?
AI alone cannot replace enterprise systems. It can enhance decision-making, but execution still requires automation inside existing applications.
4. How does RPA help with legacy systems?
RPA automates tasks at the interface level, allowing work to be executed without changing or replacing underlying systems.
5. Is this approach secure and compliant?
Yes. Modern enterprise automation platforms are designed with governance, auditing, and compliance in mind, making them suitable for regulated environments.
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