Application and Software Modernization: Concepts and Best Practices
It’s no secret that technology is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. Almost everything we do today centers around technology usage. From our smart devices to computer advancements and sophisticated healthcare developments-technology is everywhere! The demands of the modern world involve the need for constantly modernized applications.
Modernizing your applications is a great way to be ahead of the game. This article discusses a few key concepts regarding application and software modernization.
What is Application Modernization?
Application modernization refers to changing how organizations maintain software to achieve greater reliability, portability, scalability, and security. Here are some examples of modernizing applications:
Distributing clusters on multiple cloud environments
Migrating an app from on-premise to the cloud
Replacing relational databases with modern databases
Replacing infrequent deployments with automated deployments
Application modernization updates older software for newer computing approaches, including newer languages, frameworks, and infrastructure platforms. You can equate application modernization to renovating your home; you can keep the structural integrity, but improvements now provide efficiencies and an extended lifespan.
Why Modernize Applications?
Modernizing applications help businesses update and optimize outdated technology systems to achieve agility and boost operational efficiency. Let’s take a look at why it’s important to modernize your software applications.
Innovation
Modernization introduces new business capabilities. Modernizing your system makes an organization adaptable to future technology disruptions and able to handle technological changes and competition.
Adopt Cloud Computing
Do you want to move to cloud computing? You'll need to modernize your system. Application modernization transforms your organization into a cloud-based infrastructure enabling global reach, self-service provisioning, and metered pricing.
Reduced IT Backlog
Agile development implementation frees your organization and allows you to focus on reducing technical debt and delivering new business value. Therefore, you'll have a reduced IT backlog to handle.
Mitigate Risk
Businesses that ignore modernization have a risk of critical compliance and security standards, which can affect their customers. Modernization initiatives allow you to invest in process improvements for your ongoing security improvements.
Competitive Advantage
You can have a head start and enjoy the benefits of cloud modernization while your competitors are still pondering their next move. Modernizing applications gives you a competitive advantage by enabling your organization to integrate modern platforms and technologies and outpace laggards.
Improved Functionality
Modernizing outdated applications directly impacts your company's functionality. Your organization will use modern-day technologies like metaverse, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence. Teams will be empowered since they'll have the resources at their disposal.
Reduced Operational Costs
Modernizing systems and applications by adopting a cloud-first approach could reduce operational costs.
Outdated apps require vast money for maintenance and may not be economically viable for your business. Since the apps are hosted on-premise, they are expensive to maintain. Therefore, you won't reap the benefits that the cloud offers.
It will also be costly to hire a specialist to maintain the application. By modernizing your applications, you could have a 30-50% cost reduction.
The return on investment in application modernization will be higher than the initial investment. Modernization means you move from on-premise to the cloud. With more data, you'll have to pay more for the on-premise data center. Furthermore, you'll have to buy more data with big data.
Improved Employee Productivity
Staff productivity is an essential benefit of modernization that is usually overlooked. Modernizing applications allows developers to access better services and become more productive. Updating your systems boost the developer's productivity by 40%.
Companies have to embrace the latest technology to stay competitive. If you still use old software, your team's satisfaction levels will reduce and affect productivity. With application modernization, your administrative staff will access modern technology that is easy to use and can eliminate repetitive tasks allowing your team to use their time optimally. However, you may have to educate them on running the system.
Eliminate Technical Debt
Technical debt increases when the quality of code becomes compromised. With tight deadlines, it will be easier to miss documentation, lack of testing, and bugs. Technical debt results in the following:
Increasing maintenance costs due to code complexity
Time spent on keeping the system up and running
Inability to add new features
The parts depend on each other, making it easier to fix something without affecting other parts.
Technical debt will grow over time, and developers may need help to do something about the code. A non-tech person will try to cut down on specific improvements they need help understanding, which will only affect the outcome.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Given the number of businesses offering the same products and services, you must look for ways to stand out. Good customer experience is one way to make your brand stand out since 58% of people will pay more for a better customer experience.
Using outdated applications will hurt your customer experience. Customers need organizations to keep up with new technological trends. You must keep up with the demand to keep your customers from losing to competitors. Modernization improves customer experience by creating new features, a front-end user interface, and automating manual processes.
Security Enhancement
Older system applications have several security measures you need to update regularly. Outdated software applications are old technology and may have security vulnerabilities. Since they lack modern security practices, it provides an easy way for attackers to breach the network.
The security of personal data is also a big concern. Modernized applications have regular security upgrades and bug fixes for new threats. Still, with software that is not modernized, it is easy for the data to be compromised both for customers and the business.
Enhances Compatibility
Application modernization enhances interoperability with platforms, new technologies, and code. It also enables your organization to integrate with other applications seamlessly to meet future demands.
Increased Revenue Streams
Modernizing your application is an excellent way to increase your organization's revenue. It allows you to add new functionalities. Customer service also improves due to the new functions, which increases your lead generation.
Cloud Migration Strategies
Several mature, tested approaches to migrating workloads to the cloud exist. A cloud migration strategy is an organization's high-level plan to move existing on-premises and co-located application workloads and their associated data into the cloud. Several options when considering workload migration include the following:
Rehost
Rehosting involves rehosting your application from on-premise to the cloud environment. It is the easiest way to modernize your application. There is no change to the application’s code. It is the easiest way to modernize your application. However, it is only effective if it boosts performance without transforming the system. The approach is the first step in modernization.
Replatform
Replatforming the application modernizes aspects of the platform. You'll have to make modifications to the code base to re-platform. The application modernization strategy means you split the outdated system into services to be managed individually. The approach is complex, and you need precautions since any code changes affect the application's external behavior. However, it is the approach with the most benefits.
Refactor
Refactoring is an effective approach but very demanding. When you refactor the application, you update the code base and improve the code without changing the functionalities.
Refactoring the application will require updating the code base to use modern architectures. The process allows you to enjoy the benefits of cloud-based technologies, such as cost-effectiveness, scalability, security, and maintenance.
Replace
Replacing an application means you begin with a new code base. You can opt for replacing or completely reimagining the application and choosing the new features to implement.
Retiring
Every application becomes obsolete due to redundancy or the availability of better options in a cloud-based offering.
Application Modernization Best practices
You must look for ways to modernize your approach to maximize your chances of a successful application. Here are the best practices you should embrace in your business to have a successful application modernization project.
Automate the Application Testing
Breaking the critical functionality that end users depend on is one common reason application modernization projects fail—for example, changing to a new hosting architecture or introducing new features weekly instead of once a year increases the oversight risks that lead to user-impacting bugs.
Therefore, it is vital to have a test harness that allows you to automate application testing and identify flaws early. Test automation also allows you to address staffing challenges significantly hindering application modernization projects. You can build quality software faster with automated tests without a large staff.
End-to-End Automation
You should automate every stage of your application delivery process — from deployment and builds to hosting infrastructure management.
Full automation allows you to achieve more with few employees. It also enables you to reduce costs and mitigate any concerns about application modernization.
Embrace Portability
Most software modernization projects fail to reach their full potential because teams focus on migrating to a new hosting model without ensuring that it supports the goal of increasing the application's portability.
Portability is an essential context in modern software. Portability allows you to have long-term success since you can easily migrate to a new environment when the time arises. Once you make portability your top priority, you'll future-proof your applications in case of any changes you may not foresee during the application modernization process.
Rethink Your Application Management
Changing how you manage your applications is one of the ways to have a successful modernization. You should avoid manual approvals to ensure applications are deployed, developed, and updated regularly with minimum friction.
Having guardrails to prevent errors that can lead to security issues is also advisable. It would be best to have automated controls that block application networking changes that expose your software to internet scammers.
Once you automate your protections, you are guaranteed a smooth application delivery process without compromising stability.
Application Modernization Tools
You'll only get the best results from the application modernization approach when you use the right combination of technologies and human intelligence. Here are some of the standard tools used in modernization.
Containers
Containers enable the developers to create a scalable and reliable application that is adaptable for running in several settings. It brings the application codes together.
Containerization allows for consistent packaging and deployment regardless of the environment. Consistency is helpful in the software development life cycle process. You can package the application in a lightweight manner, enabling it to run on-premise, workstation, or in the cloud steadily.
Cloud Migration
Cloud migration is crucial in the application modernization process. You can scale to the private, public, and hybrid cloud at a lower cost than the traditional infrastructure.
Cloud computing involves using cloud-based tools to be efficient. The tools are easy to scale. The cloud-native technology outsources the software code to cloud providers. It does away with the server requirement forever.
Microservices
Microservices involve breaking down complex applications into smaller microservices. It makes development easy, allows developers to work on several aspects, and reduces time consumption. With a microservice architecture, you'll enjoy flexibility, faster marketing, resiliency, scalability, and cost reduction.
Examples of Organizations that Have Improved Business Through Application Modernization
Here are some well-known organizations that have succeeded with application modernization.
Carhartt
Carhartt is an apparel company based in the United States. After 130 years in business, Carhartt realized it was time to transform its apparel offerings and business foundation. The company went into partnership with IBM to modernize its applications. Modernization enabled Carhartt to improve employee productivity. Behind the scenes, technology transformation became crucial for Carhartt to keep up with fast-paced growth.
Claro
Claro, the oldest telecommunication provider in Latin America, partnered with Wovenware for software modernization. The company made a shift from a paper-backed system to become fully automated. The company improved its productivity and customer experience and reduced licensing costs by modernizing the old system.
Equinix
Equinix is a leading data center company searching for solutions to help its developers code. Even though its old software system was functioning correctly, Equinix needed a more robust system since it was scaling. Application modernization enabled the company to improve the speed of delivery, quality, and agility of its development team.
Goldman Sachs
The largest financial services company, Goldman Sachs, had a massive problem with its technology division. Speed of execution is crucial for any company in the financial institution sector to perform its activities smoothly. Goldman has a complex toolchain, slowing down the execution process. Application modernization allowed the organization to simplify its workflow, increase developer efficiency, improve customer experience, and achieve faster execution.
Disadvantages of Outdated Software
Outdated software technology is a concept that encompasses software, hardware, programming languages, services, or practices that are no longer used. Hanging on to obsolete software can potentially threaten businesses in any environment.
Lack of Innovation
Without modernization, software applications prove it is challenging to make changes that can benefit your business. Not modernizing your applications will keep your business static and prevent operations optimization. That is a barrier for companies that want more flexibility.
Poor Information Security
Systems without modernizing software have a high-security risk since they rely on old technology. Since the systems lack regular maintenance, the updates, and patches will not be easily visible. The result is poor security for your organization.
It is Not Cost-Effective
Outdated systems have high maintenance requirements. You'll need regular maintenance to keep your system running. Another cost you'll incur is if you need to replace or manage your application software completely.
Difficult to Use
The nature of outdated systems makes them hard to use. Older technology runs slower, takes longer to execute tasks, and requires much more time-consuming maintenance, patches, updates, and helpdesk calls than its newer counterparts. The system affects flexibility and restricts employees from operating out of the office.
Let Mach One Digital Help
Outdated IT systems will not add value to your organization in the long run. Application modernization will help your business in numerous ways. However, as the owner, you have to prioritize your investments.
Before modernizing your existing systems, you need to define your business objectives. Mach One Digital is a full-service company that has helped many businesses to transform through software modernization. With a reputable technology company, you can quickly digitize your business. Schedule a discovery call with Mach One Digital for more application and software modernization information.