What is Application Modernization?

Pandera
3 min readJul 14, 2021

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Application modernization is the process of updating older “legacy” applications by replacing or updating each with modern features and capabilities. This is also referred to as legacy modernization or legacy application modernization. The process allows organizations to extend the longevity of applications without removing them.

Some ways of modernizing existing applications include:

  • Updating older systems and software while adding new functionality
  • Replacing the older system entirely
  • Rehosting the applications off of the mainframe

At first glance, application modernization seems complex and costly. Yet organizations can take advantage of modernizing apps to realize immediate operational cost savings, reduce dependencies on high-cost proprietary software, and even increase software delivery speed.

Legacy Applications

Companies using existing monolithic systems are holding back initiatives and processes that rely on them. Typically, monolithic applications are difficult to update and costly to maintain.

As organizations across various industries begin to adopt digital infrastructure, legacy applications and systems become more costly to upkeep. For example, if one component of an app was to fail, the entire system may have to scale up for the one component.

Essentially, monolithic applications can be a waste of resources and time. But with a thorough application modernization strategy, organizations can take advantage of many benefits to innovate faster and deliver new experiences for customers.

Benefits of Modernizing Legacy Applications

There are a variety of cloud-based solutions for modernizing legacy applications. For instance, Google Cloud’s application modernization solutions help customers modernize a wider range of applications with fewer development cycles and manage those applications consistently across on-prem and multi-cloud infrastructures.

Other benefits include:

  • Speed and scalability: Modernized applications can be updated faster, enhancing the agility of operations to respond quickly to needs.
  • Business alignment: Integrated modern platforms and services enable teams to work more seamlessly, effectively, and securely across geographies, business units, and partners.
  • Innovation acceleration: Innovation increases when you give everyone a better user experience and provide a platform for increased productivity, engagement, and creativity.
  • Reduce operational cost: Faster modernization by simply migrating to containers without rewriting them while reducing operational expenditure.

Not one enterprise will have the same journey. However, there are multiple benefits to modernizing applications. This is especially true when an enterprise is considering a digital transformation already. Modernizing legacy applications is a vital part of that transformation!

Accelerate Your Application Modernization Journey

Strategizing the application modernization can be stressful and complex. However, there are plenty of industry-veteran experts who are able to kick-start the process in a streamlined way. Having the right tools and a secure and consistent process is key to modernizing efforts.

At Pandera, a Google Cloud Premier Partner, our Application Modernization services don’t just drive reduced cost and risk and increase agility. By focusing on the user experience, our approach also creates additional business value. This results in increased collaboration, productivity, and revenue. We do this by consolidating, re-architecting, migrating, replacing, and automating your legacy systems!

For more information, please contact us and learn how Pandera can help accelerate your application modernization efforts on Google Cloud!

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