Federal Government Information Technology

Spending on legacy IT continues to grow, but there is light at the end of the tunnel

Federal News Radio: After a decade of looking at federal technology spending, Shawn McCarthy doesn’t like what he sees in 2018.

McCarthy, the research director for IDC Government Insights, said spending on legacy systems has increased by 13 percent over the last five years alone. This uptick means agencies need more now than ever to relieve themselves of the burden of older IT systems.

“Legacy systems have been eating up a good chunk of the federal IT budget for most of that time,” McCarthy said on Ask the CIO. “Let’s go back 10 years, it was two-thirds legacy systems spending and one-third modernization enhancement developing spending. What we found over the years is that dropped and it’s much closer to 20 percent to 21 percent going into new systems. That means the remainder is going into legacy systems, which is one of the highest percentage I’ve ever seen.”

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