In today's fast-paced digital world, organizations can not rely on outdated technology. Legacy applications, once the backbone of organizations, are now becoming a liability to growth. To address this problem, businesses need to modernize their legacy applications, which involves updating the infrastructure, internal architecture, and application features to meet market demands. By modernizing legacy systems to cloud environments and breaking monoliths into microservices, businesses can unlock their full competitive potential and future-proof their applications.
Why Modernize Applications?
As technology advances, modernizing legacy systems is becoming recognized as a necessity. In fact, 87% of business leaders believe that application modernization is crucial for long-term success [1]. Yet, surprisingly, 31% of current IT infrastructures still rely on outdated legacy systems. It is even more shocking that only 33% of technology in large enterprises meet the demands of modernization [2].
Legacy applications pose many challenges. They are difficult to update, expensive to scale, and often incompatible with modern platforms. These systems were designed in an old era, lacking the flexibility to support today’s digital demands. But through modernization, companies can solve these problems, allowing them to meet new business needs and keep a competitive edge with reduced costs.
4 Key Benefits of Application Modernization
With application modernization, organizations can unlock a range of benefits:
1. Enhanced Scalability
Modern applications, built with microservices and deployed in the cloud, allow businesses to scale effortlessly. This flexibility lets organizations adjust resources as needed, working seamlessly with other tools and services. As a result, companies can deploy updates and improvements without the costly downtime that traditional monolithic applications often require. The power to scale is undeniably one of the main concerns for organizations, with 94% choosing this factor as a key driver for modernization, and 74% selecting scalability as a measure for success [3].
2. Improved Security and Compliance
Another main driving force for application modernization is security, with 72% of organizations choosing this element as an assessment for success [3]. Legacy systems are often riddled with security vulnerabilities. Modernizing applications allows businesses to integrate the latest security protocols, including real-time threat detection and state-of-the-art data encryption. This capability supports staying compliant with regulations and reducing the risk of data breaches. It is reported that 58% of organizations have already experienced the benefits of improved security from implementing application modernization [3].
3. Reduced Operational Costs
Cloud environments provide a cost effective alternative compared to expensive on-premise physical infrastructure. Additionally, by adopting a pay-as-you-go model, businesses can further reduce unnecessary costs with only the minimal amount of services required, tailored to their specific needs. According to Microsoft, application modernization can cut infrastructure costs by 40%, while delivering a 228% return on investment [4].
4. Increased Productivity
With modern application platforms, businesses can automate various tasks, which includes load balancing, data backup, performance monitoring and analysis, freeing up time for more innovative work. Modernization can also boost the performance of applications, reducing bottlenecks and improving operational efficiency. These factors can contribute an increase in overall productivity, faster time-to-market, and a stronger competitive edge.
Driving Technologies
At the heart of application modernization lies several core technologies:
- Cloud Computing: When discussing modernization, cloud computing is front and center. Moving applications to cloud environments allows organizations to take advantage of scalability, cost-efficiency, and flexibility.
- Containers: Containers package applications with all dependencies, ensuring they can run smoothly across different environments. Containers enhance portability and efficiency, making it easier to manage apps in multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud setups.
- Microservices: Microservices break down monolithic applications into smaller, independent components that can be deployed, operated, and updated separately. This architecture enables long-term flexibility in development, testing, and scaling, allowing organizations to work on specific parts of an application without disrupting the entire system.
- Automation: Automation plays an important role in managing modern applications at scale. This technology can help orchestrate streamlined workflows to help ensure smooth operation for modernized applications while minimizing human intervention.
Keeping Up with 4 Latest Application Modernization Trends
As technology evolves, application modernization has given rise to exciting trends in recent years.
1. Low-Code and No-Code Development
Low-code and no-code platforms are revolutionizing app development by allowing both developers and non-developers to build applications quickly. By 2025, 70% of new applications are expected to be developed using these platforms [5]. This trend is helping businesses close the talent gap and empower teams to develop solutions faster.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Integration
AI and ML are becoming integral to application modernization, enabling businesses to automate decision-making, enhance user experiences, and offer personalized services. These technologies also offer superior data analysis and predictions capabilities. It is forecasted that AI-driven apps will grow by 20% in the coming years [6].
3. Cloud-Native Development
Cloud-native applications are designed specifically to run in cloud environments, using microservices and containerization. By 2024, 90% of all new applications are expected to be cloud-native [7]. These apps are more reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient, making them an essential part of modernization strategies.
4. Progressive Web Applications (PWAs)
PWAs are web apps that function like native apps on any device, delivering a seamless user experience. With their fast loading times, responsiveness, and harmonious interaction capabilities, PWAs offer businesses the opportunity to reach a much wider range of audience, regardless of hardware differences.
Unlock Business Resilience with FPT Software’s Application Services
Despite the benefits of application modernization, organizations often struggle with limited budgets, inadequate staffing, and insufficient technical expertise, making it difficult to allocate the necessary resources for successful implementation. This scarcity can lead to project delays and a failure to fully realize the advantages of modernization.
Therefore, FPT Software, with a large pool of expertise, cutting-edge technologies, and a wide network of global partners, can help businesses build tailored modernization solutions to stay ahead of the competition.
Learn more about our modernization services here: https://fptsoftware.com/services/it-services/application-services
