By JOEL KROOSWYK

JANUARY 5, 2024

Despite significant industry pressure, many public sector organizations still need to rely on decades-old legacy IT systems that can increase security risks and costs, cause personnel shortages, and slow development groups from delivering mission-critical applications.

Meanwhile, IT modernization can be a lengthy process, given the pervasiveness of memory-unsafe languages in these large systems. In fact, 70% of vulnerabilities may be due to legacy systems and memory-unsafe languages. This code can be difficult to decode and update to a modern memory-safe language.

Many legacy applications are massive and time- and resource-intensive to convert to new languages or modern application structures, which is why modernization initiatives are often deprioritized in government agencies. Developers require experience, deep knowledge of multiple languages, and, most crucially, the time to dedicate to modernization.

Last month, I wrote about the strategic opportunity ahead for public sector organizations to incorporate AI responsibly and sustainably. One way to begin actioning that opportunity is by using AI as a tool for modernization.

There are three key ways that agencies can introduce AI in their modernization efforts: explaining older programming languages, assisting in greenfield code development, and expediting vulnerability remediation.

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