How much is it costing us to keep this old system running for another year? The rest – staff hours, missed product cycles, breach exposure, hiring pain – shows up in places the finance team doesn’t tag as “legacy cost.” Delaying modernization feels prudent because the modernization project has a price tag and the old system doesn’t crash today. The word “legacy” gets thrown at anything more than a few years old, which isn’t useful. The point is to start the clock intentionally rather than let the old system pick the moment for you.