Survey: CIOs Struggle to Understand Legacy Architecture, Reduce Software Maintenance and Fix Costs

Lack of Software Intelligence among IT organizations points to slow progress in digitizing operations

New York – Oct. 2, 2018 - CAST, the leader in Software Intelligence, ttoday announced new research evaluating the priorities of IT leaders in digital transformation. The Software Intelligence Report surveyed 500 professionals, including CIOs, software architects and application owners, regarding their ability to meet digital business objectives based on the overall health of their software.

“What our research found is that enterprise IT still relies heavily on complex legacy software, and the data IT is trying to protect remains buried underneath layers and layers of legacy,” said Lev Lesokhin, EVP of Strategy and Analytics, CAST. “Teams lack transparency and understanding into software architecture, making it hard to digitally transform. This is a big area where Software Intelligence can help close that knowledge gap and help teams act with confidence and speed.”

Key findings from the report include:

• More than half of IT teams are running 25% of their applications on complex legacy technology stacks that very few understand.
• IT teams are spending at least 50% of their time on software maintenance, cutting into their efforts to modernize.
• 70% of CIOs report their teams spend more than half their time finding the cause before they’re able to fix system problems.
• 45% of IT organizations lack sufficient full-stack developer skills.
• Only 30% of CIOs make build, buy and retire decisions with input from their software architects.

“To remain effective, CIOs must build digital transformation roadmaps based on facts, not perceptions,” said Cristina Alvarez, former CIO of Telefónica. “Transforming business-critical applications is no longer a nice to have, like having milk with your coffee. It’s essential for CIOs to transform the core of IT to support business objectives. This can only be done with the kind of Software Intelligence that delivers an objective view of software assets, including its efficiency, security and robustness, to show how effective an existing portfolio will be at supporting modernization efforts.”

To access your complimentary copy of the report, you can download it here.

About CAST
CAST is the market leader in Software Intelligence, with unique technology backed by $150 million in software analysis and measurement R&D. CAST technology helps digital leaders and doers see the truth, become software geniuses and deliver super software - resilient, responsive, safe and secure software. Hundreds of companies rely on CAST to improve end-user satisfaction and time-to-market, prevent business disruption and reduce cost. Founded in 1990, CAST operates globally with offices in North America, Europe, India and China. For more information, visit www.castsoftware.com.

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Contact:
Britney Schaeffer
communications@castsoftware.com
212-871-8361