By Stephanie Glen
Enterprises that want to cut costs or increase revenue can take a slow and steady, exploratory approach to modernizing applications. But if security or staffing are concerns, the time to modernize is now, according to industry experts.
Application modernization includes a range of tasks such as rewriting or repackaging legacy software to run on modern platforms and frameworks to better fit current business needs. While the concept is decades
old, the growing number of data breaches and dwindling staff levels have added urgency to the task of application modernization. It also has garnered more attention over the last five to 10 years, likely because there are more options to make the transition, said Jason Bloomberg, analyst at Intellyx.
Ten years ago, enterprises had two bad options for application modernization, Bloomberg said. One option was rip and replace, but that was risky, expensive and time-consuming; the second option was to keep the old app indefinitely, laying on APIs or virtualization, he said.
“But now with the cloud and all of these different modernization techniques, there are many different ways you can improve dealing with legacy code,” he said.
