Application Modernization has long been a significant topic in light of Industry 4.0, which is forcing many organizations to accelerate their plans for digital transformation. IDC predicts that by 2024, 92% of surveyed organizations say their legacy applications will be getting an update. But what is Application Modernization and why its adoption has now become a priority, not an option for an organization to remain relevant in the digital era? This article will shed light on the topic and provide some insightful views from experts for organizations to unleash the true potential of Application Modernization.
Table of Contents
What is Application Modernization?
Gartner indicates that Application modernization is the practice of migrating existing legacy applications to new applications or platforms, including the integration of new infrastructure, internal architecture, and/or features to take advantage of technical innovations. This encompasses 7 “R”s – replacing, retaining, retiring, rehosting, re-platforming, rewriting, and, refactoring, according to vFunction.
The 7 “R”s of Application Modernization. (Source: vFunction)
Forbes suggests that Application Modernization is not only about modernizing old technologies, it also involves reframing people’s mindsets and company culture to enhance the business’s scalability in new approaches.
Application Modernization requires businesses to build a flexible and scalable environment. (Source: blog.quest.com)
The importance of Application Modernization
According to a whitepaper by Avanade, 88% of IT leaders believe that modernized systems are essential to meet digital business demands. Therefore, more businesses are digitalizing their operations and modernizing their applications to optimize technology systems, and automate day-to-day operations, resulting in greater efficiency, and optimal security. Besides, IDC indicates that by providing innovative, fast-to-market apps, a robust Application Modernization strategy can leverage customer experience, lower the time-to-market for new products/services, boost decision-making, and improve stability, and scalability in the long run.
The modernization of existing applications and systems is crucial for every company to embark on digital transformation initiatives, respond to new market opportunities, and take advantage of new technologies to thrive and compete in a tough economy.
Application Modernization is the key to unlocking the true potential of digital transformation. (Source: datafloq.com)
Application Modernization steps
According to akaBot’s experts, there are 4 steps in implementing Application Modernization:
- The first step is assessment and planning where you pick up some initiatives and create the pipeline.
- Next, prepare the infrastructure. We shift everything that we put in the pipeline to the cloud.
- When everything is on the cloud, we do the application modernization. Here, we can add DevOps to combine Development and Operation in a loop.
- Finally, you can apply CI/CD to keep continuous improvement.
There are many rapid-development platforms available in the market, but organizations should embark on the Application Modernization journey with new technologies because these would be adopted to provide a drastic reduction in development time. Also, as new technologies are emerging with ground-breaking innovations, choosing to embrace the latest, advanced technologies is a necessity to meet business objectives and the fast-changing demands of the market.
“What does ‘fast-tracking’ mean in Application Modernization?”
At Panel Discussion II of FutureCIO Malaysia Conference 2023, akaBot’s CEO, Mr. Bui Dinh Giap shared his insights on the topic “Fast-Tracking Application Modernisation and Embracing Agility in Digital Enterprise”.
Mr. Bui Dinh Giap shared his vast experience and insights at FutureCIO Malaysia Conference 2023.
For the question “What does ‘fast-tracking’ mean in Application Modernization?”, Mr. Giap shared his expertise: “Firstly, when we serve customers, we always try to speed up the development life cycle. Nowadays everything is changing very fast. You cannot wait for an application for 1 or 2 years. It should be just 3-6 months maximum. Secondly, we have to see the return on investment quickly too. So, fast-tracking application modernization means that it should be quick both in terms of development and return on investment.”
The success factor
Beyond careful project planning and extensive collaboration, as well as the emphasis on the synergy with data, cloud, and innovation initiatives, the key to success in Application Modernization ultimately comes down to people transformation, meaning involving everyone in the modernization journey. Experts in the industry have shared their key insights on how Application Modernization objectives can be achieved with people’s transformation.
“Application Modernization is something we must do. Besides DX (Digital Transformation) and TX (Technology Transformation), PX (People Transformation) plays a crucial role in modernizing applications, as it involves changing the mindset and behavior of individuals, transforming the way employees and customers interact with your business systems”, shared Mr. Bui Dinh Giap.
Mr. Giap highlighted the necessity of people transformation in building a robust Application Modernization.
“The main complexity that arises during this organizational shift from a monolithic model to a microservices-based modern application is a behavioral shift between people, process, and technology. In order to address the same, organizations need to take small steps while defining smaller metrics, and motivating people to innovate and embrace digital transformation.”, said Mr. Manish Bhatia, President of Technology, Analytics & New Capabilities at Lendingkart.
Read more: Breaking Down Silos Is a Must to Accelerate Digital Transformation
The global application modernization tools market is expected to grow rapidly from 15.2 billion in 2022 and reach the size of 32.8 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 16.7% during the forecast period, according to Markets and Markets. These impressive statistics demonstrate the strong growth potential of Application Modernization. Therefore, although modernizing legacy systems can be intensive and challenging, it is a crucial step for organizations to keep up with the ever-changing tech world and move forward to comprehensive digital transformation.
References
Application modernization: Key to unlocking the true value of digital transformation
Application Modernization Services Market by Service Type – Global Forecast to 2-27
akaBot (FPT) is the operation optimization solution for enterprises based on RPA (Robotic Process Automation) platform combined with Process Mining, OCR, Intelligent Document Processing, Machine Learning, Conversational AI, etc. Serving clients in 20+ countries, across 08 domains such as Banking & Finances, Retails, IT Services, Manufacturing, Logistics…, akaBot is featured by Gartner Peer Insights, G2, and ranked as Top 6 Global RPA Platform by Software Reviews. akaBot also won the prestigious Stevie Award, The Asian Banker Award 2021, etc.
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