Application modernization has multiple benefits from offering high flexibility to keeping your business competitive. It also lets you take advantage of key technologies like machine learning, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. Moreover, it is also crucial for improving customer engagement and extending your customer base.
However, one should be aware of the best practices to modernize applications to do it the right way. App modernization goes way beyond changing the interface of the app. Let’s find out the best procedures to modernize applications.
1. Understand the Application in Detail
During cloud native application modernization, the first step should be to understand the application and its dependencies. You need to understand the way the application operates in a specific environment under different conditions. Additionally, it is also necessary to understand how the application integrates with other systems in the ecosystem.
Without this understanding, it becomes difficult to make informed, data-driven decisions. Moreover, it also helps with creating modernization roadmaps.
2. Prioritizing Applications to Modernize
Once you gain a robust understanding of the application that you need to modernize, you will have to focus on prioritizing. Consider every application and determine whether it can be modernized at a later point. If not, the applications should appear at the top of the modernization priority list.
Additionally, you will have to focus on the risks associated with the modernization of every application. Risk analysis is one way of identifying what would be the correct approach for modernizing a particular application.
Assessing the cost of each application modernization is also important. Professional mainframe modernization services will help you quantify benefits according to performance, scalability, agility, and reliability.
3. Set Modernization Goals
Mapping out primary application modernization goals at an early stage seems pointless. It can eventually lead to late or incomplete projects. However, you can still iterate on smaller goals to increase your chance of success.
While planning major milestones during the application modernization procedure, your focus should be on the small steps in between. Fragmenting the goals into subgoals ensures that you can quickly respond to the changing needs. It will also ensure that you are able to adjust your long-term modernization goals easily.
4. Focus on the Modernization Strategy
Cloud-native application modernization requires a shift in the organization’s mindset. Innovative thinking comes into play to execute the application modernization process smoothly. You will come across multiple strategies for application modernization.
Some common modernization procedures include the following:
- Rehost your application by lifting it from your current on-premises environment to the cloud.
- Replatform your application by sending key components to the cloud.
- Refactor your application and leverage modern technology by completely rearchitecting it.
You must figure out which modernization strategy best fits your business requirements. Depending on the complexity of your legacy application and the level of modernization you wish to achieve, a professional app modernization service will figure out the right strategy.
5. Concentrate on App Portability
Modernization projects often fail to unleash their maximum potential because development teams are more focused on migrating to a new hosting platform. Instead, developers should focus more on application portability. Avoiding portability is a huge mistake because it matters a lot for all applications.
Equipping your apps with portability will ensure that they are future-ready against massive changes in the industry. It will also support quick migration to a new environment without overhauls.
6. Embed Security at Every Step
A poor level of security is a matter of huge concern for all legacy applications. If the security issues are not addressed, it can even lead to security challenges throughout the entire organization. Therefore, a core step during the application modernization procedure is implementing security at every step.
Inspect the security challenges of your systems dependent on legacy applications to fix them as early as possible. Safeguarding your business from threats using the latest tools will also help reduce losses. Encrypt data and take strong authorization measures to restrict access to third-party users and hackers as much as possible.
7. Keep Monitoring Your App
Your job isn’t over after implementing the application modernization procedure. You must constantly keep track of the different aspects of your organization using its logs, performance data, and metrics. You also need to capture consumption data from other clouds to check platform availability and security vulnerabilities.
Configuring different open-source tools like Jaeger, Grafana, and Fluentd helps establish a comprehensive application monitoring dashboard. Additionally, you can also use a DevOps solution to improve cloud observability and containerized apps.
How Can Mphasis Help You?
If you are struggling with application modernization, Mphasis will always come to your rescue. We have the tools and resources to speed up the cloud native application modernization process in your organizations. We use a combination of different approaches, including rehost, replace, replatform, refactor, rearchitect, retain, retire, and rebuild.
We have experts with years of experience to carry forward the application modernization procedure with ease. As we deconstruct your legacy systems, our mainframe modernization services that you don’t have to struggle with cost and maintenance.
Final Words
Considering the quick shift to the cloud, modernizing legacy applications is no longer a choice but a necessity. However, applying application modernization and finding success seems like a difficult thing to do.
But in the end, implementing application modernizations boils down to one important concept, which is keeping the right mindset. You must focus on the features of a modernized app that your business will be able to leverage.
After that, you can focus on the way to support what your business needs. Also, remember that modernizing your application is an ongoing process due to the changing customer needs.
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