In an environment in which all systems are connected to the internet and an overwhelming amount of data is searchable, your company is doing itself a disservice by not making its older software more accessible to others through legacy system modernization.
A story in the Washington Post by Mohana Ravindranath focuses on the need to keep pace with the sheer amount of data that this will require by having the exact right level of innovation within your company.
But might the "new" skills and services needed come from old systems, brought up to speed for a new age? Ravindranath quotes from Joseph Bradley, who is working for Internet of Things-related projects for Cisco.
"If you looked 10 years ago, across enterprises, 80 to 90 percent of innovation came from within the company," he said. "If you think about that now, it's close to 50-50."
That's not to say that companies aren't ready for this big changeover, just that they might need a fair amount of assistance in reaching it. Rakesh Sharma writes for Forbes that companies on the Internet of Things will also be dependent on having the right technology and materials to meet these demands and keep pace.
This includes endowing existing technology with everything needed to communicate with other systems and exist on a combined plane.
Having information you once thought lost available again can make the transition to a time when such availability will be expected all the more important. Don't be left without the proper preparations when this trend reaches its full potential.