Banking News – Technology (or Technical) Debt has been emerging issues in the organizations that have Information Technology (IT) as its key drivers of Growth, Product and Services. Technology Debt is defined as “Hidden or Future Cost and Risks” of having Sub Optional Technology Decisions, Outdated Systems and Quick fixes instead of investing in scalable and sustainable IT Systems and related Infrastructure.

The Debt can manifest in use of legacy, unsupported and end of life platforms including software, hardware, networks and database, poor design of platforms, undocumented processes and most importantly insufficiently trained technical staffs managing critical systems. These Debts leads to higher maintenance and upgrade costs, business implications, security breaches and unavoidable higher compliance costs. It means organizations are creating a backlog of issues that are expensive to resolve later (IT Jones, 2021)

Essentially it’s like borrowing against future IT efficiency: you save time and resources today but will “repay” later through costly upgrade, operational risks and solving complexities.

Common Signs of Technology Debt

Aged servers that have exceeded their lifecycle, causing frequent breakdowns and inability to support newer technologies like virtualization or container platforms
Undocumented processes and insufficient tools to monitor and manage system.
Deferred training costs to Technical Staffs operating and managing technology infrastructure
Deprecated or unsupported hardware components and systems that are hard to maintain, pose security risks, or fail to integrate with current tools
Outdated network devices (e.g., old routers, firewall switches that lack modern security and management features) (Jones IT)
Use of consumer-grade laptops, computer, Wi-Fi gears and network setup in professional environments, leading to frequent disconnections, poor performance, and weak security. (Jones IT)

Technology Debt: Consequences and Risks

Reduced business agility and increased burden: As systems become more complex and outdated, adapting to new requirements or deploying innovations becomes slower and riskier (Financial Times, 2023). For instance, financial institutions plagued by tangled legacy systems have faced outages and data errors, highlighting how infrastructure debt can ripple into operational and reputational risks.

Opportunity cost: Resources (time, budget, personnel) tied up in supporting failing infrastructure limit investments in strategic initiatives like cloud migration or automation (IT Pro, 2025)

Higher maintenance costs and downtime: Legacy systems often require more frequent troubleshooting and reactive fixes, increasing operational costs (IT Pro, 2025)

Security vulnerabilities: Unpatched or end-of-life equipment exposes systems to greater cybersecurity threats (Financial Times, 2023)

The impact of technology debt extends beyond financial costs. Business burdened by ageing infrastructure may experience slower innovation cycle, delayed delivery of projects, compliance risk and reduced competitiveness (Financial Times, 2023). As IT grows more interconnected and complex, Technology Debt becomes strategic concern, not just a technical one. Organization are encouraged to implement technology lifecycle management strategies, continuous monitoring and proactive modernization initiatives to manage these kind of debt which later becomes a costly affair.