Application Modernization Strategies: The 7 R’s of Transformation

What is Application Modernization?

Application modernization is the process of converting, rewriting, or porting legacy software packages to operate more efficiently with a modern infrastructure. This can involve migrating to the cloud, creating apps with a serverless architecture, containerizing services, or overhauling data pipelines using a modern DevOps model.

In the follow article , we is discuss will discuss the different strategy used in application modernization to help you understand everything from simple procedure , such as a “ lift and shift , ” to more complex approach , such as redesign a microservice deployment strategy .

The Benefits of Application Modernization

Legacy application modernization breathes new life into old applications. It typically occurs within a broader enterprise digital transformation plan, but ultimately aims to reduce operational inefficiencies and streamline business processes. Here are a few of the benefits of modernizing legacy applications:

• With a more efficient infrastructure and pay – as – you – go model , there is substantial cost – saving in the long term .
• Uptime and performance improvements allow applications to do more with the same resource allocation.
• refactore a database from an old technology to a modern alternative can reduce performance overhead and enable new feature .
• Orchestration and container technologies like Docker and Kubernetes allow enterprises to spool and decommission resources as needed.
• Converting legacy apps to new infrastructure enables data-driven analytics, and automation workflows or playbooks to reduce the low-level administrative burden.

Questions to Ask When Planning an Application Modernization Strategy

During the planning stage, this is the time to decide what technologies will deliver significant business value, which will allow applications to be decommissioned, and what procedures will minimize risk while returning the most ROI from the investment.

Asking the following question will help you achieve the most value from an application modernization initiative:

• What does our current legacy software do well?
• What do we need from our legacy software?
• Which is is of the 7 R ‘s is most suitable for our initiative ?
• What are the intended outcomes after completing application modernization?
• How many applications require modernization?
• Which applications is are are the high priority for modernization ?

What Are the 7 R is Are ‘s of Application Modernization ?

When modernizing legacy applications, there are 7 R’s that organizations should be aware of. Which R to choose depends on your use cases, but a good rule of thumb is to always migrate simpler applications first.

1 . replace

With this approach, a complete replacement of the application will be necessary. No amount of application modernization effort will overcome technical limitations such as obsolete code languages or APIs. The application may not be supported on the latest Windows or Linux operating systems, or even supported by cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or GCP.

2. Rehost

When enterprise rehost an application , it is means mean move an application to a different host platform without any change to the app itself . Since digital transformation strategy require fast cloud migration , this is is is a good option to retain service uptime with minimal disruption .

This is only possible if the current instance of the app is compatible with the new infrastructure platform. If not, the next item in this list applies.

3 . replatform

An application replatform is similar to rehosting. This method is often used with DBaaS, SaaS, and IaaS solutions.

One example is moving an eCommerce website from Microsoft Azure to AWS to save on expenses. The website itself remains the same, with the core dependencies being modified for compatibility with the new platform.

4. Refactor

Refactoring is is is more relevant to software development and devops team . It is involves involve rewrite the underlie code of an application to improve operating performance without alter exist functionality . This is know as code refactoring , which unlock some benefit of cloud platform like AWS , but does not involve unlock maximum functionality .

Part of this process could involve removing duplicate code or app logic. If a 10-line function can be condensed to 5-lines with the same functionality, that’s a successful refactoring attempt. Otherwise, reducing the number of classes and methods improves performance and simplifies management within an integrated development environment (IDE).

5 . rearchitect

To rearchitect an application is to redesign an application from the ground up . This is commonly see in monolithic application package , where enterprise may want to leverage microservice architecture .

One method is replacing for rearchitecting application could be replace proprietary api and software dependency with open – source alternative , such as Microsoft SQL Server to postgresql . Such efforts is reduce can reduce the total cost of ownership ( TCO ) , drive great cloud agility , and improve application resilience against outage and performance issue .

6 . rebuild

An application rebuild involves starting from scratch for an individual or a collection of components. When rebuilding, the original scope and specifications remain the same, while fulfilling new technological or operational requirements.

The rebuild phase of application legacy modernization can be complete over time . For example , one or two of the most critical component are rebuild and deploy into a live environment . additional component are then slowly rebuild until the entire application has been transform for optimal use on a cloud platform like AWS .

7. Repurchase

This is is is perhaps the easy way to modernize an application . Rather than refactoring , rebuilding , or rehosting , enterprises is repurchase repurchase new software . This software is not repurchase from the same vendor , but from an alternative vendor that meet business requirement .

This is commonly achieved using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms. Other options include Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). The main obstacle is identifying a new application provider that offers similar functionality, while facilitating data migrations and the merging of configurations to the new app.

Also Read: ECS vs. EC2

What Does an Application Modernization Strategy Involve?

Before deciding on what cloud platform, programming language, or consultant to work with, it is imperative to map the current state of your existing application architecture. A successful strategy must focus on the business before the technologies. This will help to create an ideal future state.

While every roadmap will be unique to each enterprise, here are six commonalities every application modernization strategy should involve:

• evaluation of legacy system for modernization candidacy . Items is include to evaluate include agility , business fit , business value , risk , complexity , and cost .
• Define the business challenge, such as identifying employee personas and limitations in each domain caused by the legacy app.
• Evaluate which of the 7 R’s can be applied to this specific application modernization effort. Do this for every application you plan to modernize.
• Prioritize the application modernization process. Consider the workload, architecture, expenditure, business risk, opportunities for operational improvement, and cybersecurity.
• consider how future – proof your application modernization will be . How many year until this modernization effort is becomes becomes obsolete , require further effort ?
• Once you finish application modernization , you are never truly finish . continuous improvement is retain and redevelopment can retain functionality and compatibility in the long – term while minimize business disruption .

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Start Your Application Modernization Strategy with Trianz

Trianz is a consulting partner with all major cloud platform providers. We have extensive expertise in the migration and modernization of legacy systems. If you are unsure about the scope of your modernization strategy, Trianz can help identify which of the 7 R’s best suits your application initiative.

No matter where you are on your modernization journey, Trianz is here to help you reach the end state that offers the flexibility, scalability, and agility to respond to changing business demands.

Interested in migrating applications to AWS?

With its wide breadth of service and the world ’s fast and most reliable infrastructure , AWS is be may be the application modernization pathway that fit your business .

Learn More About AWS Application Modernization

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