Providing solutions for legacy systems
Origina CEO and founder Tomás O’Leary outlines how they are helping customers to maintain and make the most of their legacy systems.
On the face of it, IT is constantly evolving with a stream of new devices entering the consumer market. Much of the backroom technology, though, remains the same as in the past. Many of the processes involved in banking, supermarket transactions and airline ticketing rely on legacy systems. Our business is building the service company of tomorrow for the technology of yesterday.
Cloud technology has brought about some change in legacy systems as customers can now easily buy technologies that were previously the preserve of the IT department.
Cost is another significant driver in the minds of customers. A UK National Audit Office (NAO) claimed that “at least
£480 billion of the government’s operating revenues and at least £210 billion of non-staff expenditure were reliant to some extent on legacy ICT.”
High costs also have a bearing on the Irish public and private finances and do not seem to bear relation to the cost of the service delivered. These, in turn, are passed on the end user e.g. through banking charges and airline ticket prices.
At the same time, the skills needed to manage legacy systems are becoming harder to come by with fewer graduates being familiar with how the infrastructure works.
Origina was founded in 1998 as Unitech Systems. We recognise that public service organisations want to do more and provide much better public services but the running costs of IT are holding them back. Our alternative disruptive service model can remove significant cost burdens from your budgets.
The industry generally takes a closed and restrictive approach to the IP rights of upgrades, leading to a near-monopoly situation. Developing legal opinion in the USA suggests that a company does have the right to earn an income from copyright but questions how long those rights should last. Increasingly, people are asking whether it is in the public or consumer interest that the economy allows certain organisations to have the sole right of maintenance.
Third party providers such as Origina can provide an equal or better service and should be considered in an assessment of a company’s IT needs. Indeed, the absence of innovation or other major changes in the legacy systems will eventually lead to them being opened up to more competition, in the same way as the pharmaceutical industry has opened up to generic drugs companies.
The Digital Right to Repair Coalition, of which Origina is a member, aims to protect the customer’s rights to repair their IT infrastructure either through the manufacturer or a third party. The ifixit movement has a similar aim but focuses on phones and cameras and gives developers a platform to share their own repair solutions.
Origina has a specific interest in IBM technology i.e. the underlying software on mainframe computers and storage systems. We provide a comprehensive on-boarding process for new customers. Our highly skilled consultants go in and carry out a root-and-branch review of every component in the infrastructure from the stability of its environmentals to the power usage.
Expertise
With almost 30 staff, we bring a high level of expertise to the table. Origina is also pro-actively seeking to improve legacy system skills by bringing on apprentices: initially two and now six. The first stage of the apprenticeship takes two years to bring apprentices up to the first base and a level of expertise from which they can help clients. Investment in people is needed to backfill the ageing profile of skills and the continuing importance of legacy systems shows why this matters for the ICT sector as a whole.
Our managed services division provides an array of support services on a remote basis and on-site for clients to either complement their own internal resources or act as a complete alternative to them. We support multiple technologies, often by using our Rapid Support Platform to securely deliver these services.
In this way, niche technical services can be delivered at 30-40 per cent below the full-time equivalent cost. We do this by breaking down the activities into smaller pieces, blending the skills and experiences required for each piece, and getting increased utilisation by having more clients with similar technologies.
In addition, our 14 years of IBM technical experience, our product certification and our incomparable client experience makes us a genuine alternative managed services and support provider for clients.
Origina is an award-winning IT services company that is offering organisations the possibility of extending the life of their legacy IT assets. Improving the efficiency of these assets and reducing the risk of, often forced, asset changes/upgrades have on their businesses is a key component of our service offering. All coming from a company whose very DNA is legacy technology but without the grey hairs! In contrast to the lack of legacy skills in the industry now, at Origina you will see young people working with this technology every day.
Origina is not just an island of Ireland operation and has successfully expanded into the UK market, where there is substantial potential for growth. The company operates from offices in Dublin and London and has received assistance from Enterprise Ireland and UK Trade & Investment.
This expansion is a testament to Origina’s own success as a company and also a recognition of the widespread nature of legacy systems and the need for proper maintenance. The legacy sector will undoubtedly continue to be an important issue for customers in the decades to come, and we stand ready to meet their needs.
Key clients
• CSC
• Department of Education and Skills
• Friends First
• Henderson Group
• Pepsi
• Revenue Commissioners
Tomas O’Leary CEO & Founder
Unit 1 Block 2, Bracken Business Park
Bracken Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18
Tel: +353 (01) 294 2300 Fax: +353 (01) 294 2319
