Business application modernization strategies 

Application modernization is one of the IT trends of recent years, but there are still many companies that use legacy software for their core business processes. This represents a limitation on the innovation side because it does not allow the implementation of new technologies, often due to incompatibility issues. However, the move to more modern and flexible IT solutions has become an even more pressing imperative due to the pandemic. Businesses have modernized their software and implemented new IT solutions to remain competitive in the marketplace, to be able to meet online consumer demands, and to reduce time-to-market and respond quickly to new consumer demands. With the pandemic, in fact, 78% of companies have started at least one software modernization project: 66% of IT Managers in the first instance have supported this need, as reported by AppDynamics in their latest report. Among the industries that most need a major investment in legacy software modernization are banking, airlines, and the public sector. But as the pandemic unfolded, all sectors suffered from using technology that wasn't modern enough: online shopping, for example, saw an exponential increase in sales, but order management and preparation software often wasn't ready to support that amount of data and transactions. This resulted in inefficiencies and a failure to meet demand.

App modernization: the key investment for 2022

The growing investment in application modernization is not only a consequence of the changing needs of the end user, but also of the internal IT team, which often sees about 70% of the budget being spent on maintenance, to the detriment of the potential offered by new technologies.

Under the term "software modernization" there are several strategies and approaches:

• Software re-engineering: updating the application with new features and functionality to make it more efficient, easier and less expensive to maintain;
• Code refactoring: the code is modified and updated, without changing its external behavior, thus reducing its complexity and using more modern patterns;
• Service-based architecture: the passage from a monolithic software infrastructure to a service-based one allows to manage the application in independent services and to be able to intervene when hot, without interfering with the functioning of the application;
• Code rewriting: migrating the technology stack to newer programming languages and more flexible architectures;
• Migrate to the cloud: from on premise to cloud space to reduce hardware costs and work in a more flexible and secure environment.

Application modernization benefits: discover the benefits of modernization

The application modernization strategy is identified together with the IT supplier, who will be able to guide you towards the most advantageous choice, following a technological assessment of the application concerned. The choice of the modernization project is based on the starting point and on the end point desired by the customer: following this principle, the IT consultant suggests the most advantageous strategy, which is more in line with the technological and budgetary needs of the company.

Beyond the specific benefits of each strategy, it is possible to define the general benefits of application modernization:

• Reduced maintenance time and costs;
• More dynamic and flexible development;
• Benefits in terms of security;
• Reduced time-to-market;
• Continuous Innovation;
• Reduced disruption and improved user experience.

Investing in application modernization is the necessary step to be able to continue to implement better performing IT solutions and to remain competitive. Request a no obligation consultation to evaluate how our services can meet your needs.