“The Better Foot Before”: a Vital Part to Legacy System Modernization

Picture a legacy system being used by an organization. The system includes many parts that are directly linked to processors and banks. A number of front-end systems are also connected to the system. The system stores transaction, merchant and any additional data. There are complicated rules the system implements and the people who implemented the rules might not be employed by the company anymore. However, the entire company uses the system and there are many critical operations that depend on it. Concurrently, it is apparent that the system is outdated and needs to be replaced. Therefore, the company has to find an efficient way to implement the new system.

It is a challenging procedure replacing legacy systems with new ones. For the legacy data migration to a more up-to-data solution to be successful, there are some points in the process that the organization has to address.

6 steps to successfully replace a legacy payment system are outlined below:

1. Set up a PCI compliant environment to run your software.
2. Optimize current processor and bank integration.
3. Optimize the front-end system integrations (POS systems, CRM systems, etc.).
4. Optimize business operations associated with merchant life-cycle. Included in this are onboarding, reconciliation, financing, reporting, settlement, chargeback handling etc.
5. Create clear approaches for data migration from legacy systems. The data consist of merchant data, transaction data, recurring billing data, etc.
6. Prepare (i.e. arrange all the paperwork) for PCI audit. Ideally, it is best to document all the required processes earlier in the development stage.

Of course, these are only the overall conceptual steps. The “recipe” will be a little different for every company. “…make haste; the better foot before…” as King John said in Shakespeare, but there isn’t any need to “make haste” unless your timeline is short. However, the great advice “the better foot before” is ideal if you are looking to repair your accommodation, to implement something unique or replace (update) your legacy payment management system.