For enterprises and government agencies, legacy software is more than just outdated code—it's a financial and operational risk. These aging systems drain IT budgets, increase security vulnerabilities, and hinder innovation.

The Legacy Software Crisis: A Growing Risk for Businesses

The Hidden Costs of Legacy Systems

  • 80% of companies' IT budgets is spent keeping old IT systems afloat1
  • 88% of businesses are hindered by their legacy technologies2
  • Over $1 trillion spent annually on IT products, services and staff in the US alone3
  • 3+ hours of productivity lost per employee per day4
  • 85% of employees report being frustrated by workplace technology and software5

Why Is This a Problem?

Most mission-critical legacy systems lack documentation, rely on outdated hardware, and are maintained by a shrinking talent pool. Consider these statistics:

  • 240 billion lines of COBOL code still in operation6
  • Average COBOL developer is 58 years old, with 10% retiring each year6
  • 84,000 unfilled mainframe positions by 2020—and growing7

When these systems break, engineers must sift through undocumented, outdated code, often relying on a single senior engineer with deep knowledge of the system. If that person leaves? Disaster.

How CodeMerlin Fixes Legacy Software Challenges

1. AI-Powered Root Cause Analysis in Unfamiliar Code

Problem:

Legacy code is often poorly documented, patched over decades, and difficult to understand. Engineers waste hours manually searching for issues.

Solution:

CodeMerlin automatically identifies root causes by analyzing repositories, commits, and past Jira issues—even in code that no one fully understands.

  • Scans entire codebases to find breaking changes and dependencies
  • Detects root causes in minutes, reducing debugging time by up to 70%
  • Reduces reliance on manual code review, freeing up engineering time

The Future of Legacy System Maintenance is AI-Driven

  • Cut debugging time in half with AI-powered root cause analysis
  • Reduce key person risk by making legacy knowledge accessible
  • Improve security & compliance by identifying vulnerabilities faster
  • Empower DevOps teams to focus on innovation instead of maintenance

From the Amulent product team

See how CodeMerlin operationalizes this.

CodeMerlin is the development control tower for AI spec-driven software delivery.

Visit CodeMerlin.ai →