What is Application Modernization?

What Is Application Modernization?  

The constant evolution of technology can easily leave companies with outdated equipment. Computer systems, languages, and architectures require constant patching to fix bugs and regressions. Decision makers turn to application modernization for up-to-date computing practices that help them transform their infrastructure.  

What Is Application Modernization? 

Migrating from legacy applications to newer applications is a complex process that requires constant attention and investment. IT managers and small business owners use application modernization to replace or upgrade their outdated software platforms with newer, more efficient options.  

This means looking across the entire IT ecosystem and keeping track of which services or processes need to be updated. By monitoring applications and equipment, you can maintain each component for proper functionality. 

Benefits of Modernizing Legacy Applications 

Although legacy applications may still work, they will likely have some compatibility or stability issues that will create problems at some point. Obsolete applications, operating systems, and network utilities can break, contain exploits, or lack some important functionality.  

Why modernize legacy applications? Businesses that use critical applications for their day-to-day operations will benefit from an updated ecosystem.  

By modernizing legacy applications, IT managers and small business owners can create practical working environments that are better protected and able to keep pace with all the most modern hardware and software requirements. 

Enables All Employees to Work from the Same Cloud 

When dealing with a distributed workforce, it can be difficult for leaders to maintain a cohesive vision. By using the cloud, employees have access to centralized services that give them standardized workflows and practical tools for completing their tasks.  

Many legacy applications don’t have cloud access, making it harder for employees across multiple locations to effectively contribute toward common goals. The cloud gives users access to shared resources, toolchains, and cloud storage capabilities.  

Cloud storage capabilities are a central part of modern application distributions, providing businesses that modernize with practical IT capabilities that they can leverage to improve operational efficiency. 

Legacy application modernization will give your employees powerful cloud-based options when working toward their designated objectives. 

Adds Security 

Security vulnerabilities are an important consideration for IT leaders and small business owners. By modernizing legacy applications, you reduce threats that might potentially harm their systems. 

Legacy applications are often left out of important patches and security updates by developers. Once an application has reached the end of its life cycle, there are diminishing returns in attempting to patch vulnerabilities.  

This decay means that old and outdated software, operating systems, and network tools are primary targets for nefarious actors. Transitioning older systems to more modern ones is essential for better security. 

With legacy application modernization, you can ensure your IT systems and network architecture are protected against malicious threats and attacks. 

Prevents Outdated Applications 

Staying up to date on the latest technologies offers not only better security but more practical management systems and workflow capabilities. With modern applications, IT leaders and small business owners have access to all the potential functionality that their software has to offer. 

As developers continue to refine and polish their code, they can limit potential vulnerabilities while offering more stable software capabilities that users can rely upon over a longer period.  

Modernizing legacy applications means fewer potential problems and the availability of more tightly integrated code. This tight code is essential for users who want the best from their software stack. 

Modernizing your application ecosystem will give you better management capabilities alongside the latest features. 

Keeps Your Company in Compliance 

When businesses operate with private user data, they’re held accountable for any potential loss, theft, or destruction that might occur. Modern legacy applications give IT leaders and small business owners better oversight over the data flows that occur on their networks. 

Outdated applications can have severe vulnerabilities that make it easier for malicious actors to access and take advantage of restricted information for their own ends. Additionally, it can keep your organization from complying with existing data compliance and privacy laws. 

By modernizing their vital IT assets and network architectures, businesses can make sure they are taking all the necessary steps to protect and secure their users’ data. 

You can protect your business from potential liabilities and compliance issues by investing in a modern application ecosystem. 

Common Application Modernization Patterns 

IT leaders and small business owners who want to address their legacy applications should consider the most effective methods for modernization.  

Seeking out cloud-based infrastructure with the most efficient code and diverse platforms gives businesses more opportunities for success within the ever-changing digital landscape. 

Lift and Shift 

Businesses that self-host their application ecosystems often see higher IT costs and more complicated management requirements, meaning fewer resources being allocated where they’re needed most. IT leaders and small business owners who take advantage of the cloud for their hosting needs make it much easier to manage their infrastructure. 

Traditional on-premise applications deployments don’t have the flexibility to scale efficiently. Rehosting applications, also known as lift and shift, is the process of migrating important infrastructure to new platforms. This migration is often done for the sake of better security and lower costs. 

By using lift-and-shift hosting strategies, you can reduce the complexities of internal IT management, leaving you free to focus on what’s important. 

Refactoring 

As applications grow they become more complex, leaving them open to vulnerabilities and potential data leaks. For this reason, developers and maintainers do ongoing consolidation and simplification of internal components. 

Legacy applications can have messy code and unneeded libraries. Refactoring is the process of cleaning up application programming to make it easier to maintain and less prone to potential errors. When adding new features or functions to an application, users need to consider the added costs. 

Refactoring allows you to create consistent, scalable, and easy-to-manage systems that take advantage of cloud deployments for modern functionalities. 

Replatforming  

Migrating important systems and applications is an important part of any modernization strategy. Businesses that want to leverage the power of the cloud should consider which of their applications can be more easily maintained in a cloud-native setting. 

As new opportunities arise, IT leaders and small business owners need the flexibility to adapt. Replatforming is an important practice for keeping up with the ongoing changes in IT and digital resource management.  

Decision-makers should be constantly monitoring their application ecosystem and considering how to take advantage of modern advances. By defining your goals and financial targets, you’ll be better equipped to innovate with new architectures and IT environments. 

Key Tools for a Successful Application Modernization Strategy 

For businesses, effectively modernizing their application ecosystem can be costly and time consuming. These costs mean it’s essential for decision makers to target the most practical solutions when refining and deploying modernization strategies. 

Multicloud platforms, application containers, and automation are all essential tools for any modern application strategy. 

Multicloud 

When creating cloud-based solutions for their application modernization services, IT leaders and small business owners should consider the possibility of deploying across multiple targets.  

Multicloud solutions are an essential tool for the success of application modernization strategies because they give businesses greater flexibility when storing, sharing, accessing, or recovering data and digital assets. 

With multicloud solutions, you’ll be able to distribute assets fluidly, making it easier for your employees and partners to collaborate on important projects. 

Containerization 

Frequently, important software is deployed piece by piece, leaving IT leaders to track multiple libraries, tools, and programs across a variety of different development environments.  

Containerization is the deployment of software applications in self-contained bundles that have all the necessary code and resources packaged in a single place. This strategy makes using application modernization services easier than ever before. 

By deploying containerized applications, you’ll have better control over which libraries and platforms you use for vital operations. 

Orchestration and Automation  

Modern software toolchains give users the ability to simplify their workflows by automating them across different channels. Orchestration is the process of automating a multitude of operations, giving greater control over how and when specific tasks are completed.  

A successful application modernization strategy using orchestration and automation can give managers and business leaders more opportunities for growth by freeing up valuable resources. 

Orchestration and automation give you powerful solutions for reducing workloads and refining task management, letting your team work toward bigger goals. Explore Seagate Lyve Cloud and how it can help simplify and expedite your own application modernization.