Across America, each and every enterprise goes through waves of different experiences. Some move faster than others, while some are still operating with outdated tools. Perhaps even, some companies are quick to always innovate, while others cannot keep up without the daily hesitations. On the surface, some companies even seem to work with no challenges at all, while the rest are burdened by numerous hurdles.
Yet, in today’s modern workplace, one strategic threat that most likely every enterprise is going through is something called technical debt. Technical debt originated in the software industry. It describes the buildup of sub-optimal or shortcut solutions that, over time, can slow progress and increase organizational costs.
In other words, technical debt can be closely related to financial debt but in terms of software. Just like many people have financial obligations they must pay across multiple years, technology also comes with a price. That could include anything from software patches, increased maintenance requirements, restructuring, bug fixes, or lengthy development processes.
While technical debt is nothing new, the idea of it has become increasingly evident over the past few years. According to recent data, the U.S. and Italy carry the most debt, where companies and governments would need to spend 61 billion workdays in software development to “pay off” the technical debt they have accrued.
As it seems, technical debt has become a universal challenge that affects productivity and overall growth for companies. Harsha Kumar, CEO of NewRocket, also suggests it is an ongoing problem, where everyday businesses are still behind in the same old systems that caused the debt in the first place.
“Technical debt isn’t just an IT issue, it slows down the entire business,” he says. “Many enterprises are still operating critical workflows on legacy and siloed platforms, from on-prem CRMs to 15-year-old ERP systems, that simply were not built to connect with today’s AI-driven tools. Every time teams have to manually move or reconcile data across those systems, they lose time, accuracy, and visibility.”
Enterprises often accumulate technical debt by prioritizing speed over scalability.
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- Immediate solutions. Oftentimes, developers resort to making immediate fixes when small problems arise. Eventually, each of these quick resolutions add a little more debt.
- Inadequate training. Technical debt can occur when developers lack proper training or a clear understanding of best coding practices. When improperly educated, this causes poor systematic quality as a whole.
- Lack of documentation. When there is outdated or hidden documentation, this often confuses developers, leading to errors, inefficiency, and missed insights.
- Poor planning. Systems that are not designed well from the start can create unsustainable code that in turn gives rise to technical debt.
To avoid technical debt, there are some workarounds. Solutions like adopting AI-driven platforms, for example, is one way to rid the issues altogether. Especially as AI becomes more of a demand across businesses, it will be important to fully integrate automation into workflows.
Kumar continues, “Agentic AI changes that dynamic. Instead of ripping out legacy systems, organizations can use intelligent agents and automated workflows to connect old platforms with modern capabilities. These AI-driven workflows orchestrate data, streamline processes, and eliminate the manual gaps that create technical debt in the first place. This is how companies modernize with less risk, paying down technical debt while improving efficiency, agility, and the overall customer experience.”
Platforms such as ServiceNow are designed to tackle instances like technical debt. As a cloud-based application, ServiceNow leverages AI to execute tasks across organizations seamlessly, giving enterprises a much better way of connecting workflow.
With ServiceNow, enterprises would not only reduce technical debt, but they would optimize and scale at completely new heights. Last year, ServiceNow subscription revenue even grew to $10.6 billion total, a number further proving that software applications like this are incredibly effective.
For the enterprises with loads of technical debt, it might be worth adjusting and making important decisions now. Outdated technologies often create risk. Replacing them or investing in new tools allows development to move forward with confidence.
The bottom line is, technical debt is real, but anyone can overcome it if they have a willingness to shift in this ever-evolving, AI era.
