Application modernization is crucial for businesses, enabling scalability, agility, and innovation. Legacy systems are outdated and costly – hindering growth.
While change has long been the only constant, modern technology is always working to increase the speed at which that change occurs. Even applications built three or five years ago are in danger of being outdated, resulting in bogged-down systems and increased security threats. But engaging in application modernization helps organizations maintain resilience and scalability. Businesses embracing application modernization reinvigorate their infrastructure, trim operational bottlenecks, and position themselves for unbounded growth. It is often easy to overlook the many small ways legacy applications stifle innovation and efficiency.
Operational efficiency gained through application modernization can translate into tangible business value. By empowering applications with modern cloud-native features and microservices, businesses can respond to market changes with the agility of a startup, regardless of their size. This, in turn, strengthens their position in the market, fortifying their competitive edge and ensuring sustainable growth.
In this blog we will share insights to help you unravel the costs of legacy applications, spotlight strategies for modernization, and discuss the significance of cloud transformation.
Unraveling Legacy Applications: Time for Change
In today’s rapid business environment, legacy systems are relics of the past. Often built on outdated architectures, these systems have several limitations that hinder an organization’s growth trajectory.
For starters, the maintenance of legacy systems is not always cost-effective and there is often a shortage of experts who know these aging technologies. Additionally, these systems differ from current trends, such as cloud-native features and microservices architectures, which are essential for enterprise scalability and agility.
A critical limitation of legacy systems is their inability to keep pace with the demands of the evolving digital landscape. These systems, anchored in their monolithic architectures, cannot enjoy the benefits of cloud-native features. This imposes a straitjacket on scalability, resilience, and speed – the quintessential components for survival in today’s digital world.
The remedy to the woes of legacy systems lies in modern application development that leverages cloud-native features and microservices architecture. Modern applications elevate the user experience and are pertinent to developing agile business processes. Core BTS embraces this ethos and focuses on designing applications that facilitate a more manageable intake volume and streamline sales processes.
Our article on 4 Ways to Modernize Your Company is an insightful summary on how companies can optimize their businesses through application modernization.
Crafting an Effective Application Modernization Roadmap
Crafting a practical roadmap for application modernization is not one-size-fits-all. It requires a deep understanding of various relevant strategies and the insight to align these strategies with business needs and objectives. The four primary strategies for application modernization are rehosting, re-platforming, refactoring, and rearchitecting.
- Rehosting: Often called “lift-and-shift”, rehosting entails moving applications to a cloud infrastructure without modifying their codes. It is a swift method for cloud migration but does not harness the full potential of cloud-native features.
- Replatforming: This involves making minimal changes to the code before moving an application to the cloud. Replatforming allows organizations to reap the benefits of the cloud while avoiding extensive re-architecture.
- Refactoring: Refactoring necessitates re-envisioning and modifying the existing application code to exploit cloud-native features. This strategy is well-suited for applications that require enhanced scalability and agility.
- Rearchitecting: This strategy involves redesigning the application from the ground up. It is used when the current codebase is outdated or incompatible with modern cloud-native environments.
The selection of a modernization approach is contingent upon several factors, including business objectives, budget constraints, and desired scalability. The modernization efforts must be in harmony with business needs. The goals should reflect an enhancement in customer experience, operational efficiency, and (ultimately) a bolstering of the bottom line.
In addition, a successful application modernization strategy requires a well-thought-out roadmap focused on incorporating technologies that support your overarching business objectives. Technologies like Kubernetes, APIs, DevOps, frameworks, and machine learning are all great tools that can help seamlessly modernize your business.
But how do you know which technologies to choose? By partnering with a consultant like Core BTS, you’ll be able to leverage our expertise to determine which technologies will best support your business in its current and future state.
Cloud Adoption: Catalyzing Application Modernization
Cloud environments are the linchpin of successful application modernization. Their importance cannot be overstated in a world where agility, scalability, and cost optimization are paramount. Various cloud environments can be leveraged: hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and public cloud.
- Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid cloud combines on-premises infrastructure, private cloud resources, and public cloud. This allows businesses to scale up resources as required without forgoing control over sensitive data that can be housed on-premises or in a private cloud.
- Multi-Cloud: Multi-cloud involves the use of multiple cloud services from different providers. This approach mitigates the risk of data loss and downtime and also enables organizations to leverage the best features and pricing from other cloud vendors.
- Public Cloud: Public cloud is where third-party cloud service providers own and operate cloud resources. It offers scalability and low capital expenses as organizations only pay for the resources they use.
Transitioning workloads to the cloud has many benefits. Apart from scalability and flexibility, it lowers operational costs. Most importantly, cloud adoption plays a significant role in accelerating innovation.
However, businesses must sift through legacy applications to decide if modernization is needed. Our article on Modernizing Legacy Systems walks you through this process.
Achieving Competitive Edge Through Application Modernization
In the cutthroat business landscape, modernizing applications is not just a choice but an necessity in order to gain a competitive edge. Here are some scenarios that highlight the significance of application modernization:
- Enhancing Customer Experience: In the era of digital natives, customer experience is king. Modern applications, with their responsive design and faster loading times, ensure customers do not have to wait. By integrating AI-driven chatbots, for example, customer queries can be resolved in real-time.
- Responding to Market Changes Swiftly: New features can be deployed rapidly with modern applications. This is critical, for instance, in the e-commerce industry, where adapting to consumer trends and seasonal demands is essential. A cloud-native e-commerce platform can quickly scale during high-demand periods like Black Friday or Christmas.
- Improving Operational Efficiency: For logistics companies, modern applications can revolutionize the way they operate. Real-time tracking, route optimization, and predictive maintenance are some of the features that save costs and drastically improve services.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Modern applications can collate and analyze data efficiently. This could mean better patient outcomes through data-driven diagnoses and treatment plans for a healthcare provider.
- Compliance and Security: In sectors where data security and compliance are crucial, like in financial services, modern applications can provide robust security features ensuring that data breaches are minimized and compliance is not compromised.
Customer experience is the key in these scenarios. Whether through better engagement, seamless services, or data security, modernization efforts must revolve around the customer. Modern applications provide the channels through which customers interact with your business. It’s essential to ensure this interaction is seamless, secure, and adds value.
For an in-depth understanding, our article on Gaining Competitive Edge Through Modernization outlines specific scenarios where modernizing your applications can give your business that much-needed competitive edge.
Application modernization is not an end in itself but a means to staying competitive through superior customer experiences, operational efficiencies, and agile responses to market changes.
Embarking on Your Application Modernization Journey
Application modernization is now vital since the digital realm is intertwined with every aspect of business. It is a pivotal driver for innovation, efficiency, and competitiveness. From enhancing customer experiences to ensuring operational agility, the need for application modernization is as much about keeping pace as it is about paving the way for future opportunities.
There are many benefits that come with modernizing applications. First, scalability is a significant advantage. Modern applications built on cloud-native infrastructures can effortlessly scale to accommodate varying workloads, ensuring that businesses can adapt to market demands dynamically.
Resiliency is another crucial aspect. Businesses can ensure high availability and fault tolerance by adopting a microservices architecture and leveraging cloud technologies. This provides uninterrupted service despite unexpected disruptions – thus maintaining customer trust and brand value.
Lastly, it delivers business value. Application modernization is an investment in the business’s future. By fostering innovation, reducing operational costs, and ensuring that the organization is responsive to market trends, modernization initiatives contribute directly to the bottom line.
What’s Next?
As a business leader in this fast-paced digital era, embracing application modernization is not just an option, it’s a strategic decision that can shape the future trajectory of your organization. Core BTS stands as a trusted partner in this modernization journey.
We look for ways to craft modern, intuitive applications that don’t just upgrade but revolutionize the way businesses operate. We strive to optimize processes, catalyze solutions, and equip enterprises with the tools to navigate the modern digital world. We accomplish this through a deep understanding of application modernization, the systematic enhancement of functionality, and the deployment of automation. We are here to help you honestly evaluate your organization’s current position and help you understand what next steps may be needed.
With expertise in designing and developing modern applications, we can help you optimize your processes and solutions. Meet with our team to learn more about how we can help you navigate your application modernization journey.
