They often had a significant "bus factor" problem as a result of this in the best cases, and in the worst cases these mountains of hacks were a massive impedime

They often had a significant "bus factor" problem as a result of this in the best cases, and in the worst cases these mountains of hacks were a massive impediment to growth and/or evolution to meet changing marketplace demands... despite being a central pillar of data management and revenue as it existed in the status quo.