First, we must do serious analysis. What is the true quality of the existing application portfolio? What does the average minor change cost? What's the minimum number of people who have the required skills we'll need if we keep this system? How well does this system fit the work being done in the business today? If it didn't exist, would we build it -- or something very different? This analysis is not needed only on a system-by-system basis; it must also look across the infrastructure to see where savings could be found through change.

Second, we must sell change. We must talk in terms of business productivity, execution costs, increased responsiveness, information density and usage effects. We need to be the ones who put a pro forma business case down for an architected outcome.

Third, we must execute, and do it ourselves. That will require reorganizing, learning and managing risk. Only by taking on the job -- not by hiring the consultants -- will we be credible rebuilders.

The choice is ours: Leave the next generation with the next generation of systems, or leave them to India. What is your legacy going to be?

-- Bruce A. Stewart is a former CEO and onetime senior vice president and director of executive services at Meta Group Inc. He is now an executive adviser in Vancouver, British Columbia. He can be contacted at bruce@bastewart.com.