{"id":22935,"date":"2025-05-15T16:26:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T15:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interface.media\/?p=22935"},"modified":"2025-05-15T16:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T15:26:52","slug":"six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An overwhelming 91%<\/a> of CTOs see technical debt as their biggest challenge. Accumulated from a reliance on outdated legacy systems that need constant patching up, technical debt limits network performance, productivity, security and agility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It holds businesses back from achieving their sustainability goals, with inefficient energy consumption and higher rates of replacement, generating costly e-waste. One in five CIOs in our Digital Infrastructure Research elaborated on this, stating that their technology and their sustainability goals are incompatible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is technical debt? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the meaning of technical debt varies, I\u2019m referring to it as the cost generated by legacy systems. This includes infrastructure, software, hardware and applications<\/a> that companies brought in as short-term, quick fix solutions to longer-term issues, but are now holding businesses back. The acceleration of digital services during the pandemic led many businesses to change tack and shift their focus. As a result, many now have to contend with pre-pandemic legacy processes and systems which no longer align with their digital strategy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical debt slows innovation: research from Protiviti found technical debt impacts nearly 70%<\/a> of businesses\u2019 ability to innovate. In the study, respondents reported that 31% of IT budgets are consumed by technical debt, and it requires 21% of IT resources to manage. 46% of respondents in another study<\/a> said technical debt is closely linked to their ability to drive digital initiatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speed, agility and the ability to respond swiftly to changing market dynamics are characteristics shared by today\u2019s progressive businesses, if they are to succeed in the digital economy.  Building an intelligent infrastructure for products and services that don\u2019t exist yet takes vision, foresight and the ability to balance existing technical debt with the need for future investment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not necessarily a problem to have a degree of technical debt: managing and containing it is what\u2019s critical, and taking a proactive, analytical approach is key. Here are six ways organisations can stay on top their technical debt and build the IT estate of the future:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Make the customer experience front and centre<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Are your customers benefiting from the legacy systems and processes which contribute to your technical debt, or are they becoming frustrated? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automating, simplifying and digitalising systems which empower customers with the ability to self-serve will improve their experience and help you allocate your resources more effectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Track and analyse<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tracking, measuring and analysing its impact on your wider budget is critical to owning and reducing technical debt, as well as avoiding further accumulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use analytics to gain a deeper understanding: which parts of your technical debt or legacy architecture are you utilising? Are there parts of it where you won\u2019t realistically achieve an ROI for many years, before it becomes obsolete? Is it costing you more to maintain than the cost of the original investment?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Measure risk and prioritise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some organisations classify technical debt as either intentional, or unintentional. Consider which areas require the highest levels of additional investment (software updates, IT support, investment in developers) and those which generate highest levels of risk; focus your reduction strategies on these. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Commit to the circular economy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Consider whether you can repurpose or recycle some of the hardware you\u2019ve invested in. With carbon emissions from the ICT industry expected to exceed emissions generated by the travel industry, organisations are looking to minimise their environmental impact and drive to Net Zero.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding ways to refurbish hardware components – and incorporating end-of-life processes which promote circular economy principles \u2013 can drive down technical debt and generate a positive impact on sustainability targets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Build in flex<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Flexible solutions \u2013 such as cloud migration and on demand networking \u2013 enable your organisation to scale<\/a> at your own pace and manage growth incrementally.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reduces the need for single, \u2018big ticket\u2019 investments all at once, and helps your organisation to adapt and respond swiftly to fluctuating market dynamics; react to new opportunities; expand geographically into new markets and explore new revenue streams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elements of technical debt with this flexibility are generally considered more manageable than technical debt accrued from single investments with rigid terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Consider the business case for tech investment across the entire organisation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cost or business application are no longer the only drivers of decision-making around digital infrastructure. Instead, businesses are basing these decisions on a drive to solve more strategic business challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We surveyed 755 IT leaders across Europe and Asia, and found respondents hoped intelligent infrastructure would deliver an improved customer experience (cited by 86%); better employee retention cited by almost 9 in 10 (89%); better security (89%). 86% said they hoped it would help them meet their ESG goals. IT investments which work harder for the business generate a faster return and fall into the manageable, intentional technical debt category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT leaders are challenged with the need to invest in infrastructure to meet future business needs: AI and quantum, for example, require huge amounts of compute. Planned, pragmatic, manageable investments can protect a business from future risk. Our study found 83% of IT leaders surveyed expect their IT\/ digital infrastructure spend to grow, to support enterprise applications such as AI. Reframing technical debt as part of a continuous growth strategy and ongoing digital transformation programme will help prioritise and manage resources into 2025 and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Flitton, VP network development and optimisation at Colt Technology Services, breaks down six ways IT managers can reduce technical debt. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":480,"featured_media":22936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-05-15T15:26:49Z","apple_news_api_id":"f96ce492-8e21-465a-848e-d620b8d0807e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-05-15T15:26:49Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A-Wzkko4hRlqEjtYguNCAfg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"topic":[650,652],"class_list":["post-22935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-interface","topic-digital-strategy","topic-sustainability-technology"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nSix ways to manage your technical debt in 2025 - Interface<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"James Flitton, VP network development and optimisation at Colt Technology Services, shares six ways IT managers can reduce technical debt.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James Flitton, VP network development and optimisation at Colt Technology Services, shares six ways IT managers can reduce technical debt.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Interface\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-15T15:26:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-15T15:26:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1615\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"649\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Brightmore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Brightmore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025 - Interface\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-15T15:26:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-15T15:26:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748\"},\"description\":\"James Flitton, VP network development and optimisation at Colt Technology Services, shares six ways IT managers can reduce technical debt.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg\",\"width\":1615,\"height\":649,\"caption\":\"Retro desktop pc interface windows. Vintage colorful digital icons, retro cartoon computer screen, system notifications, applications and folders. Vector set\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/\",\"name\":\"Interface\",\"description\":\"Delivering World Class Content \u201cFrom Executive, For Executive\u201c\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748\",\"name\":\"Dan Brightmore\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Brightmore\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/author\/dbrightmore\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025 - Interface","description":"James Flitton, VP network development and optimisation at Colt Technology Services, shares six ways IT managers can reduce technical debt.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025","og_description":"James Flitton, VP network development and optimisation at Colt Technology Services, shares six ways IT managers can reduce technical debt.","og_url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/","og_site_name":"Interface","article_published_time":"2025-05-15T15:26:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-15T15:26:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1615,"height":649,"url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Brightmore","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Brightmore","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/","name":"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025 - Interface","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-15T15:26:44+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-15T15:26:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748"},"description":"James Flitton, VP network development and optimisation at Colt Technology Services, shares six ways IT managers can reduce technical debt.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/iStock-2186961788.jpg","width":1615,"height":649,"caption":"Retro desktop pc interface windows. Vintage colorful digital icons, retro cartoon computer screen, system notifications, applications and folders. Vector set"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/six-ways-to-manage-your-technical-debt-in-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/interface.media\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Six ways to manage your technical debt in 2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#website","url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/","name":"Interface","description":"Delivering World Class Content \u201cFrom Executive, For Executive\u201c","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/interface.media\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/7c33499ca8e42b097028109cccb22748","name":"Dan Brightmore","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/interface.media\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9ca282f0ef431735a64685769ad57886e24b074c4c58314392755fb79164164?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Brightmore"},"url":"https:\/\/interface.media\/blog\/author\/dbrightmore\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22937,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22935\/revisions\/22937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22935"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interface.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=22935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}