Today's enterprise apps are more powerful, connected and intelligent than ever before. They can support natural language queries, provide real-time feedback and adapt to changing user preferences.
However, your business apps may find themselves in a precarious position, trapped between legacy infrastructure no longer supported by vendors or unable to keep up with current functionality standards and new cloud services which demand more scalable solutions.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to streamline your organization's applications. Here we look at how application modernization can reorganize your business operations and improve the performance of your software as your business moves forward.
Application modernization is the process of re-engineering legacy applications to make them more flexible, maintainable and scalable. It involves building new features into existing code, which can be done in a number of ways. For example, it can be done by rewriting parts of the application from scratch, or by extending existing functionality using APIs.
One of the primary goals of app modernization is to revise existing systems. This can range from creating a single, unified platform to improving workflow and simplifying processes. By modernizing existing systems, you can minimize downtime and create a more efficient work environment.
Application modernization is one of the most important steps in any digital transformation strategy. Legacy apps waste resources by collecting development costs as a result of ongoing maintenance and upgrades. They also lose time to potential business opportunities as they are unable to respond to changes quickly enough.
In addition, your outdated application may not be compatible with your current infrastructure, which can create other issues, such as incorrect information, slow performance or even crashes. It's vital to regularly check the capabilities of your apps against your current infrastructure and make sure you are running the latest version of each.
Taking steps now to ensure your applications can handle any demands that may come their way will allow your business to adapt quickly and easily to changes in the environment. Upgrading or re-working your application will depend on whether your company has the resources and funding for either option, as well as its specific needs.
Modernization helps to improve the application's performance, security and scalability, as well as making it easier to deploy and scale the application in future to provide a consistent user experience across devices. Your modernized applications can deliver faster response times, higher throughput and better user engagement.
Another benefit of modern application is cost reduction. IBM estimates successful app modernization can boost your annual revenue by 14%, and lower app running costs and maintenance by up to 50%. By creating a modern application you reduce development costs by eliminating technical debt and building new features in shorter timeframes. This will also save money on IT resources such as cloud computing, maintenance fees and support staff.
Finally, modernizing legacy applications can improve the user experience, making them easier to use for both new and existing users. By creating an appealing user experience, you can increase customer loyalty and reduce attrition rates.
Before modernizing your app, you need to decide on the strategic approach which will align with your organization's goals. For example, you may be migrating to the cloud and need to shift your apps; or it may be time to change the code of your legacy apps.
An application modernization strategy can take many forms, but it always involves three basic steps: identifying pain points in existing applications; analyzing how users interact with these apps; and designing solutions to solve those problems.
The most common app modernization strategies are:
Your business apps are critical to the success of your organization. And while they're important, they can also be expensive to maintain and difficult to update. This is why it's important to regularly evaluate their capabilities and make sure they meet current and future business needs.
The cloud specialists at BCS365 have the technology, expertise and resources to help you find the right app modernization solution and fully implement it.