If you are running a business that relies on legacy software applications, you are likely facing challenges such as: high maintenance costs, poor performance, security risks, and lack of innovation. These challenges can affect your customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and business agility. To overcome these challenges, you need to consider these legacy application modernization strategies applications and align them with your current and future business needs.
What is Application Modernization?
Application modernization is the process of transforming your legacy software applications to newer computing approaches, such as: cloud, mobile, web, or microservices. Application modernization can help you improve the velocity of new feature delivery, expose the functionality of existing applications to be consumed via API by other services, and re-platform applications from on-premises to cloud for the purpose of application scale and performance as well as long-term data center and IT strategy.
Legacy Application Modernization Strategies to Consider for Your Business
There are different strategies for application modernization, depending on your goals, requirements, budget, time, and technical skills. Here are the most common strategies:
Rehost
This is the simplest and fastest of the legacy application modernization strategies, where you move your existing applications to a cloud infrastructure without changing their code or architecture. This can help you reduce operational costs and improve scalability and availability. However, this strategy does not leverage the full benefits of cloud-native technologies and may limit your innovation potential.
Refactor
This strategy allows you to make minor changes to your existing applications and optimize them for cloud platforms. This can help you deal with frequent updates and take advantage of cloud services and features. This strategy may not address the underlying issues of legacy applications and may require more testing and validation.
Rearchitect
This strategy redesigns your existing applications to adopt a cloud-native architecture, such as microservices. This can help you reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), improve performance and reliability, and enable faster and easier development and deployment. However, this strategy may require more time, effort, and resources, as well as a cultural shift in your organization.
Rebuild
This is where you discard your existing applications and create new ones from scratch using modern technologies and frameworks. This can help you achieve the highest level of innovation and customization for your business needs. However, this strategy may be risky and costly, as you may lose some of the functionality and data of your legacy applications.
Replace
With this strategy, you replace your existing applications with off-the-shelf software solutions that meet your business needs. This can help you save time and money on development and maintenance. However, this strategy may not offer you the same level of control and flexibility as custom-built solutions.
How to Choose the Right Application Modernization Strategy
To choose the right strategy for your business, you need to consider several factors, such as:
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The value and complexity of your existing applications
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The alignment of your existing applications with your business goals
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The technical feasibility and compatibility of your existing applications with cloud platforms
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The availability of skills and resources for application modernization
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The expected benefits and risks of application modernization
Properly evaluating your current environment is important to understand where you are on your application modernization journey. Consider speaking with an expert to assess your current state and create a roadmap to move forward.
Connect with an RDA Application Modernization Expert
Application modernization is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires a careful assessment of your current situation and a clear vision of your desired outcomes. By choosing from the legacy application modernization strategies, you can unlock the potential of your applications and drive digital transformation for your organization. If you are ready to take the next step, contact us today for a free technical consultation.