If your nonprofit organization is anything like most, you probably still use software and systems from a decade ago — possibly even two. They might not be entirely compatible with modern, cloud-based tools, but they still serve their purpose well enough. You can still do your job, even if it requires a lot of manual work.
It's not like cloud migration is on the table, anyway. You've neither the time nor the resources to adapt decades-old systems to modern infrastructure. And that's not even getting into issues like data security, regulatory compliance, and the massive shift in organizational culture that'd be required.
Migration is simply too daunting a prospect. It doesn't have to be, though. Working with the right vendor can provide some much-needed structure to your cloud journey, helping you reach your goals by making more informed decisions.
Their expert guidance can make what would otherwise be an overwhelming undertaking completely manageable, and not a moment too soon. Relying solely on legacy systems only seems like the better option. In actuality, it opens you up to considerable risk, while at the same time causing you to miss out on some equally significant benefits.
In this blog, we'll explore the drawbacks of legacy software, the benefits of a cloud ERP solution, and how Sparkrock can help ensure a successful migration for your organization.
Take a moment to think about how much has changed in the past twenty years.
Modern smartphones didn't exist. Amazon's shareholders were complaining about its lack of profit and slow growth, and Netflix was competing with Blockbuster in the online DVD rental space. MySpace was still regarded as a Facebook competitor.
Technology has evolved at an unprecedented pace since then. It's not inaccurate to say that software from that era is more or less a relic of the past. It was developed in a completely different world and for a completely different landscape — one before IT became democratized and consumerized; before the Internet of Things, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps, or generative artificial intelligence.
Continued reliance on these apps creates several significant problems.
The media likes focusing on sophisticated cyberattacks — state-sponsored black hats with massive resources and peerless expertise. The reality is that most cybercriminals aren't on that level. When attempting to compromise a target, they'll inevitably seek the path of least resistance.
Legacy software can be a goldmine for these criminals.
In most cases, legacy applications are no longer directly supported by their vendors. Any vulnerabilities present in the software will likely remain unpatched. The older the software, the higher the chances that its vulnerabilities will be widely-known.
Architecture represents another concern. Outdated hardware and operating systems may serve as additional points of entry for threat actors, given that both suffer from the same lack of updates and support. To make matters worse, older systems may also be incompatible with security features like multi-factor authentication and zero trust access policies.
In other words, they're both less secure and harder to secure. In certain industries, this also has the potential to create problems from a compliance standpoint due to lack of support for the required controls.
As already mentioned, legacy software tends to fall short with regards to automation. Staff and volunteers must instead rely on manual data entry and version control. While this may be sustainable for smaller operations, it's unsustainable at scale for a few reasons.
First, manual data entry makes mistakes such as typos and missed or incorrect fields far more likely. People are fallible. They tend to make more mistakes when faced with cumbersome, repetitive work. This leads directly into our second problem.
Without a single source of truth for critical data, different departments within your organization may end up having different versions of the same file. At best, this means wasted hours trying to figure out which document is both accurate and up-to-date. At worst, it could impede everything from volunteer resourcing to grant management.
There's also the matter of data integrity. Handling everything manually means there's a larger risk of critical documents being lost, deleted, or otherwise compromised.
Modern, cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software streamlines operations and supports a business as it grows. It's typically designed for ease of use, with an intuitive interface, intelligent workflow automation, and easy integration. The same can't be said about legacy software.
Older business tools tend to be held back not only by performance issues but also by a poor user experience. They may suffer from steep learning curves due to cumbersome, frustrating interfaces. Automation, if they offer it, tends to be quite limited, and the software very rarely scales effectively.
The bottleneck created by these issues has the potential to completely tank productivity as your people are forced to focus more on making the software work than they are on working with the software.
It's pretty common for an organization to cite a lack of resources as one of the reasons it hasn't migrated to the cloud. What they tend to overlook is that, outside of the upfront investment of deploying a cloud solution, legacy software is often more expensive in the long term. With the cloud, you usually only need to worry about licensing fees and network infrastructure — everything else is taken care of.
Legacy software, on the other hand, can have a ton of costs associated with it:
At this point, you've got a decent idea of why you should start planning to either modernize your legacy systems or leave them behind. They're costly, they're cumbersome, and they tend to create a host of security, compliance, and data management problems. Cloud-based ERP software such as Sparkrock 365 doesn't suffer from these shortfalls.
Designed for human services organizations and nonprofits, Sparkrock 365 lives entirely in the cloud. You don't need to worry about investing in or maintaining hardware. Instead, you can direct those resources toward your core mission.
Powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Sparkrock 365 benefits from Microsoft's industry-leading security. In addition to complying with a wide range of regulatory frameworks and industry standards, the platform is protected by robust encryption, granular access controls, and multi-factor authentication. More importantly, the Sparkrock ecosystem is designed with data sovereignty in mind.
You have full ownership of where and how your information is stored, making it that much easier to fulfill your privacy and security obligations.
Legacy systems are typically anchored to a single physical location such as an office. Sparkrock, meanwhile, is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection. This means your people can access the resources they need when they need them.
In addition to real-time data access and reporting capabilities, Sparkrock consolidates your data into a single source of truth. The platform ensures accuracy and integrity through automated data entry — which also frees up your people to focus on more value-driven work. This is in addition to improved grant management, fund management, and scheduling.
You can't always leave your legacy systems behind — sometimes they're mission-critical, and there's no modern alternative that does what they do. With Sparkrock, you can continue using your existing solutions while also benefitting from cloud ERP. Again, Sparkrock's built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, meaning it has access to the Dynamics 365 ecosystem of applications and APIs.
In other words, you can integrate it with almost any software you need to use.
Being built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 gives us another advantage: Integration with Copilot, Microsoft's powerful AI assistant. In addition to taking care of mundane tasks, Copilot can assist with everything from brainstorming to analytics. It's a powerful productivity enabler, and a tool that helps your people focus more on what truly matters.
We've spent a lot of time talking about the shortcomings of legacy software. We've spent just as much discussing how cloud ERP can make life easier for your people. What we haven't yet touched on is the migration process itself.
Here's where we come in. We've designed Sparkrock 365 for the unique needs of nonprofits and human services organizations. More importantly, though, we actively guide each customer from beginning to end, doing everything in our power to ensure a successful migration.
Some of the organizations we've helped transform include:
Cloud migration is complex, but it doesn't need to be overwhelming. With Sparkrock 365, your organization can find its path to the cloud without any of the headaches that usually involves. Instead, you can focus on fulfilling your core mission — whatever that happens to be.