Data Migration in Social Security: The Hardest Part of Modernization—and the Part You Cannot Shortcut By Francis Tots For social security institutions, “data migration” is often described as a workstream inside a core-system modernization program. In practice, it becomes the single largest determinant of whether modernization succeeds, whether benefits and contributions remain trustworthy, and whether the new platform earns institutional legitimacy. That is because social security modernization is not only a technology change; it is a transfer of legally meaningful history—people, rights, obligations, decisions, and payments—into a new operational reality.  It doesn’t matter which software solution you are implementing; the reality remains the same: the data is key to the success of the project. IT directors across the world already know the basic storyline: legacy systems are aging, policies evolve faster than code, customer expectations rise, and interoperability with national ID, tax, civil registry, and banking or mobile money becomes...