Would it surprise you to know that a 60-year-old programming language runs nearly 90% of Fortune 500 business software applications? COBOL, developed in 1959, is also still the engine behind 70% of business logic and general information systems in the private and government sectors. While businesses and government organizations still rely on this legacy programming language for their mission-critical systems, it can be a major stumbling block to the modern enterprise.

To add to this, many finance teams are working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, accessing legacy, on-premise systems via virtual private networks (VPNs) that slow down processes. While organizations have been aware of the problems with legacy systems and on-premise applications (or both) for some time, the current crisis has made the challenges painfully obvious.