Application modernization is digital transformation

In .Software, Blogfest-en by Baufest

Company applications are a digital asset that must be kept up to date. These solutions are generally custom-developed and are usually a key component of a company, be this because they provide support for central processes or because they administer customer relations.

Monday 17 - January - 2022
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Since these systems are so important, they go through diverse modifications throughout their long life cycles, and this affects their performance, puts their security in jeopardy, and occasions data inconsistencies. The modernization of these systems is crucial, inasmuch as it restores their value while at the same time responding to the company´s changing needs.

Application modernization together with migration services play an important role in accelerating a company´s progress on the road to digital transformation. In the study The State of Application Modernization, about 70% of the organizations surveyed said that at least one out of every four applications was being modernized. 54% mentioned improving customer satisfaction as a reason to modernize their applications, and 47% also attributed their motive to efficiency and employee satisfaction. At the same time, 56% of IT decision makers said that delaying application modernization resulted in a failure to meet compliance requisites and 51% reported that they could not scale critical services when it was necessary.

Technological strategy  

Efforts to modernize must fit into broader digital transformation objectives. They are generally born out of “the need for the flexibility and agility required to integrate IT technologies so that they are in alignment with commercial demands.”

At any rate, the reality is that modernizing applications is not the same as carrying out a minimum viable product (MVP). When we talk about modernization, we are referring to core platforms that are already operative, and since there is no room here for failure, this process normally requires time.

Within this framework, the modernization plan of an organization has to segregate work into stages and aim for critical commercial capacity.

It is necessary to understand that, over the years, technological changes and the need to respond to new business dynamics make systems obsolete in terms of architecture, platforms, applicability, and stability. Hence, it becomes imperative to modernize legacy systems and ensure functional continuity (with a system that supplants the legacy system at the level of functionalities, processes, usability, and performance), the continuity of the people (through user training), the continuity of information (by means of a transactional and historical migration), and the continuity of the company.

User experience   

A modernization project has to recover and restore value to a software “asset,” to establish a base for future evolutions, standardize the technology/platform to reduce costs and/or optimize available resources, increase flexibility in order to add/modify functionality, and migrate to the cloud so as to reduce costs and/or increase scalability. It also has to assist with the new needs of the company and ensure that there is support.

In this way, an application modernization project continues to pave the way to digital transformation and becomes an investment with results that have an impact, especially in the present context that makes rapid innovation necessary for companies if they are to develop and launch new business models and products, optimize commercial processes, and respond to the new requisites of both internal and external interested parties.

If companies do not manage to respond to these new imperatives, they expose themselves to losing brand image and participation in the market; they become vulnerable to the competition, and have problems attracting good talent.

Digital transformation  

The modernization, consolidation, and simplification of applications result in a series of clear benefits. Among these, the optimization of infrastructure and software costs as well as improvements in security and functionalities like operative availability and company agility. To achieve these benefits the new solution must be defined and implemented while choosing the most suitable tool for each case, which may well include migration to the cloud, micro-services, architectures without a server, and integration based on APIs and/or on events.

At Baufest we are specialists in application modernization processes within the framework of digital transformation strategies. We approach the migration of legacy applications as special projects and different from the customized development of software. We have consolidated a specific and proven methodology that allows us to ensure the continuity of the operation, the co-existence of systems during the transition, and high levels of adoption.