Avoiding the Legacy Trap

June 28th marked a notable milestone in technology circles, albeit one that most people likely missed. It was the day that Japan won its war against floppy disks. At least, that's the claim of Taro Kono, the country's Digital Minister, who celebrated the repeal of numerous regulations requiring their use when submitting data to the Japanese government. Mr Kono has previously led a bid to end the use of fax machines, another legacy technology still used in Japanese government and business. In doing so, he has driven the adoption of digital business processes that are increasingly common in the West, but had hitherto been ignored by more risk-adverse executives within Japan.

Marketers stopped using floppy disks and faxes years ago, but their continued usage in Japan does serve as a warning about the risks of legacy business processes and old technology. Both faxes and floppy disks persisted in Japan because the commonly accepted methods for sending contracts and official documents required their use. Like many business processes, the accepted way of doing things was drawn up in the 80s or 90s as new technology became embedded in business. The same process continued to be used until the current day, even after better methods became possible due to the introduction of newer digital technologies. Marketers need to be careful of the same trap. The only constant in modern business is change. It is vital that business processes adapt to fit the current marketplace.