Ask a person about the legacy they want to leave, and theconversation will turn reflective and sincere. They may tellyou about their commitment to making sure that their work is solid,delivered with integrity, and enduring.

They'll talk about the responsibility they feel to the peoplethey care about, from the strangers that their work touches toloved ones who rely on them. They'll talk about pride,thoughtfulness, and planning. A legacy is a deep and grandendeavor that is built over time—something that can take alifetime, something not accomplished in a year or even adecade. In this context, a legacy is something to strivefor.

In a field like technology, time has become synonymous withdiminished value—and “legacy” has become as distained as afour-letter word. A technology generation may be no more thana few years, with obsolescence just a version or two away. The past no longer refers to a time long ago, but the time when thelast big idea was popular. According to the EPA, in 2009 over4.7 billion pounds of electronics were thrown away. When aperson's cell phone is considered old in just two years, it's easyto understand why insurance software that's been around for muchlonger than that can be labeled with a bad name.

Unfortunately, “legacy software” has come to refer to anysoftware that is old, whether old in perception or reality. The term can evoke images of DOS screens, dot matrix printers, andbatch processing. It infers to insurance business leadersthat the systems they have in place are inflexible and may beexpensive to support. However, replacement has beenchallenging due to the intimidating cost, risk to the business, orwork effort and time involved. For an IT department, legacysoftware can mean hours spent exception programming and developingtechnology workarounds to overcome limitations. For the enduser, older systems may be painfully slow or unable to support thedesired work process.

In the insurance industry, core processingsystems are often referred to as legacy software because manyhaven't been replaced since they were installed in the 1980 or1990s. Policy administration system replacement is a dauntingprocess that many carriers have been undertaking in the lastdecade, but which has become even more pressing in the 2010s as newtechnology introduction continues to accelerate. Carriershave to respond to the expectations of both customers and potentialcustomers, not to mention employees and distribution channels, withgreater speed and flexibility. To do so, they need to havemodern software at their fingertips.

While legacy in terms of software typically translates to anegative, legacy when describing a software vendor may, in fact, bea good thing and a vendor attribute to search for when consideringnew solutions.

Unfortunately, some policy administration vendors have beenlabeled with the same ill-meaning “legacy” term simply because oftheir longevity in the industry, without taking into considerationhow modern their software may actually be. In fact, just likean insurance company, an insurance software vendor that's beenaround for more than a few years brings with it experience andreliability that the new player on the block doesn't. And,when an insurance company with a legacy to protect is evaluatinginsurance software vendors, they may want to look at technology andsolution providers that have been around long enough to actuallyhave a legacy.

Sure, there's always that exception to the rule and the carrierbuyer who is willing to take a risk on the new and unprovensoftware vendor and their respective unproven solution. But,let's face it, insurance is a business of mitigating risk and themajority of the insurance carriers are looking to minimize the riskwhen it comes to technology and software investments.

Just as the majority of people wouldn't hire a newly licensedbuilder to build their dream house, most insurance carriers willwant to protect their infrastructure by looking at software vendorswith a track record of success. First, a vendor should have asubstantial number of legitimate implementations under its belt,and customers who will share how their implementations went and howthe software has performed year after year. Second, coreprocessing software must have rich and proven functionality thatcan only come from having been used over a long period of time andimproved by carriers in partnership with the vendor. Third,any software that integral to the business should come to the tablewith a great deal of content already established.

Like a house, no two software implementationprojects are the same. An experienced vendor with a good legacyapproaches its projects on a case-by-case basis, adjusting theproject and the deliverable as needed. And when a project doesn'tgo as planned—often the case in implementations as complex asinsurance core systems—that vendor does what it takes to get thejobdone because it has a reputation to protect and a clientcommitment to fulfill.

An insurance company that has spent decades developing itsbusiness has gotten to know its marketplace, territory, anddemographic in a deep and intricate way that a newcomer to any ofthose areas cannot. Any customer approaching a reputable carrierdoes so with the expectation that that interaction will mean aquality customer experience through both service and product. Thesame holds true for a software vendor who is going to be successfulfor the long term. They must have both a legacy of satisfiedcustomers and positive impact on their businesses, as well asconsistent innovation and improvement to its services and productsto ensure they stay at the forefront of technology.

The mislabeling of all core processing systems in the insuranceindustry that may be more than a few years old as “legacy” does adisservice not only to the software vendor, but also to theinsurance carrier looking to replace or enhance a vitalsystem. The dream software and technology is much like thedream house mentioned earlier. In the end, it's thefoundation and structure of the house that makes it a viable homefor the long term, not the shiny new fixtures. And whenchoosing the right software vendor, like choosing the right homebuilder, a good legacy may very well be a key decisioncriterion.