Whether in a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environment, legacy application modernization can change how companies transform their business. But there is a catch and a way around.
Globally the application modernization market is growing at an unprecedented rate. It is set to hit more than $25 billion by 2030. Companies are becoming more aware of their choices and are spending chunks of their budget to make more robust IT systems.
Moving legacy applications to the cloud is a big challenge. However, doing so can create a better competitive advantage. The biggest challenge with companies is trying to build newer systems on old applications.
In the words of Stefan Van Der Zijden, Gartner’s VP Analyst, ‘Companies are at a tipping point where they need to let go of their legacy systems to back business initiatives and processes to secure the company’s future.’
So, how can companies make the most of this growing trend?
There’s no need to replace all your systems with a new one; instead, you can modernize, refactor, or re-platform your applications.
“As an expert in cloud application management, Moin Ahmed, Cloud Solution Architect, Transpire Technologies says, ‘The first step in application modernization is the need to understand that you require it. It starts with cloud adoption where you are moving to the cloud from your on-prem self-managed IT infrastructure.”
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“An on-premises setup, managing a team, and building your own infrastructure incurs a lot of upfront cost. There is a considerable CapEx involved to build the data center on-prem. but with cloud native applications, your Turnaround time from ‘wanting it’ to ‘needing it’ becomes critical.”
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Evolution of the Cloud
Application modernization has taken the forefront over the past decade or less. Today, with the introduction of Web3, companies are evaluating their existing infrastructure and applications and moving to improved and agile ones..
Change is not always a bad thing, especially if it means scaling your business, reducing costs, and seeing an incremental revenue growth.
Example:
A banking institution could function on a legacy or traditional COBOL mainframe, supporting transactional nitty gritty such as ATM, batch processing, etc. But that is not the case today. Customers want personalization, easy digital access to their accounts, and ease of carrying out transactions.
You can tweak certain parts of the mainframe and create new software to support this demand or remodel the bank’s backend by adding new functionality to make this feasible.
Technology has evolved with time, and companies have moved from monolithic → service-oriented → microservices architecture. And infrastructure has moved from physical servers → virtual machines → cloud
Debunking myths around Application Modernization
The increased need for application modernization has coincided with the rise in several myths around implementing it. A quick look at the concerns and myths-
Code converters can completely convert legacy code
This isn’t true. Though code converters play a crucial role, but you do not need to completely change the original code to achieve optimum application modernization.
Business rule extraction is often time-consuming
Extraction is a good step to follow for many projects, especially for those that see many new capabilities. In some cases, successful application modernization can take many years. That’s why you need to know how much time and budget you will spend on a project. You can’t expect a third-party company to solve all your issues and be happy with the outcome.
Customers always know what’s in their code
They might be right in some cases, but most of the time, the code doesn’t follow the latest industry regulation, and they don’t know what exactly is happening.
The benefits of application modernization
Application Modernization or AppMod creates a window of opportunities for your business to scale and match the growing demand of your customers. Let’s understand the benefits of application modernization.
Helps reduce costs
The return on investment (ROI) on application modernization is far greater than the initial investment made to build the system.
Modernizing means moving from on-prem data centers to the cloud. You will have to pay more if you have a large amount of data stored in on-prem data centers. Keeping the same amount of data in the cloud is far less expensive, and you don’t need to pay for additional expenses such as electricity, extra space, cooling costs, and others.
Maintaining these data centers also requires a lot of time, effort, and attention from IT teams. A 2020 report by CISQ mentioned that the cost of poor quality and old software is around $2.08 trillion. This happens because:
Not many people understand old code, and the new generation prefers investing in new frameworks and technology.
Oftentimes, older software ends up without support when the developer launches a new version. This increases security gaps and vulnerabilities..
Developers will have to spend extra time finding bugs in lengthy and messy code. If the system crashes, customers will have to wait for a long time, and the company will lose money.
Better customer experience
Today, businesses face stiff competition due to the influx of similar organizations and business models. To stand out from the rising sea of companies that offer the same products and services, you need to provide a better customer experience.
Legacy software doesn’t offer adequate customer experience. That happens because of two reasons:
They don’t have any proper communication features.
The risk of security and data breaches is high.
Using modernized applications has zero to minimum risks of the above-mentioned challenges. They have more stable systems, offer quick fixes, have efficient operations, and provide better security. In all, they offer a far better customer experience than legacy software.
“I think that companies should consider application modernization when they have a large number of applications and a high number of users. The more applications, the more likely it is that the company would have to consider application modernization. The business should also consider application modernization when they are looking to expand their business into the cloud.”
– Krittin Kalra, Founder of WriteCream
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Improves employee productivity
IT giants such as Apple, Google, and Facebook have set high expectations to offer great services to their customers.
Employees of large companies like these tend to think they will receive excellent technology at work. But it’s not often the case; around 50% of employees are dissatisfied at work because of the poor software they need to use.
Even with the prevalence of modern technology, many employees still have to work with older systems and applications that take ages to respond to and perform simple operations. But by using application modernization, companies using nearly any business model can provide more freedom and flexibility for their employees.
Removes technical debt
Technical debt increases with the frequent use of poor-quality code. As the frequency of tight deadlines rises, code quality is often compromised. A study by IDC mentioned that 80% of businesses will reevaluate their relationships with infrastructure providers by 2024 to properly support all their deployment of resources and more autonomous IT operations.
This also results in:
Increase in the cost of maintenance due to code complexity
Inability to add new features
More time spent on fixing the system
Lack of testing
Inability to find errors and bugs
Eventually, developers face greater increases in technical debt and will not be able to handle the code anymore.
A quick look at a few companies and brands that implemented AppMod
Case 1: A US-based clothing brand
A famous clothing brand in the US is known for its hunting clothes, jackets, overalls, and fire-resistant clothes. Before refactoring its application, the company devoted all its time and efforts to maintaining legacy software, but it needed to spend more time doing strategic work.
To come up with a solution, the company’s developers started digitizing all their work in other departments, giving them free time to focus on more important tasks. As soon as they automated all the repetitive work, they experienced a boost in productivity and efficiency.
Case 2: A big tech company
Another big tech company with expertise in colonization infrastructures and data centers faced difficulty writing and navigating the code because of legacy systems. They were also spending a lot of time and effort in implementing new features, which caused a huge hindrance to their success.
After learning the drawbacks, the company modernized its legacy system. This increased the productivity of the IT department, became more flexible, and provided a better customer experience.
To wrap it up
Application modernization can be expensive or difficult to implement. But, the results will drive more revenue, increase productivity and improve customer experience. It will also help lower expenses from maintaining legacy software and on-premise databases. In turn, it will give you more time to do strategic work.
By the time the code is revamped and converted, there is a new one in the market. There is a newer version waiting to be used. How will it solve the purpose? Thus, it becomes crucial to consider the code you are trying to convert and how old is the legacy application.
With Transpire, you get a whole suite of solutions to address your application modernization requirement. We help you convert or migrate your legacy applications to newer systems, making it easier for you to scale your business and increase your time-to-market strategy.
Want to know more? Let’s get on a call and walk you through the entire process.
