There is a high probability that you may have read about Legacy Modernization multiple times in the last few months. Is it just one of those buzzwords or is there more to it?

Let us first understand what Legacy modernization is.

Legacy modernization refers to the process of transforming legacy systems (applications and platforms) into modernized applications built on new-age programming languages and frameworks that run on modern-hardware platforms and cloud infrastructure.

Legacy modernization enables an organization to optimize legacy investments by migrating functionally and technically relevant applications to the cloud.

Many organizations, today, believe that it makes strong business sense to undertake a legacy modernization exercise. The benefits are as below:

1. Optimize Legacy maintenance costs:

By moving to modernized platforms and pay-as-you-go models, organizations have been able to successfully cut down the huge percentage of IT budgets that were allocated to maintaining legacy applications and the underlying legacy infrastructure. For instance, we are now migrating from on-premise datacenters to the cloud to ensure cost reduction by converting a CAPEX and maintenance cost into an OPEX cost with utmost flexibility. The flexibility enables organization to provision smartly – both upscaling and downsizing resources for network, compute, storage etc. on the cloud.

Isn’t it alarming that 60-70% of IT budgets are used to manage legacy applications? The saving accrued due to a legacy modernization initiative can enable organizations to channelize the money saved into enhancement of processes and systems, and creation of newer and immersive experiences for its customers.

Let us understand the constituents of the legacy modernization cost which are highlighted as below:

• Maintaining old code in old programming languages
• Time and effort taken to diagnose and resolve problems
• Other tickets pile up/ take time to get addressed due to legacy app issues
• The skills and the know-how of such legacy technologies is rare and expensive

However, with a modernized system, you can rewrite legacy code with more fluid open source languages. The result is that organizations need not rely on programmers and developers who are skilled on legacy application languages to solve problems. More importantly, the modernized application will, by itself, ensure that the number of issue tickets raised is reduced drastically.

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Also Read: Digital Transformation goes from being a good-to-have to a must-have, courtesy COVID-19
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2. Build fast. “Go-to-Market” faster.

The customers demand much more from legacy applications today. However, the legacy systems hinder the process of innovation, addition of new features, and in turn, it limits the enterprises ability to extract real value from their IT investments. On the contrary, the IT teams spend a lot more time rewriting code, patching, and maintaining infrastructure and catering to ad-hoc issues that keep arising from legacy software and systems.

However, by moving legacy systems and applications to the cloud and leveraging the benefits of microservices and containerization, organizations can add new and independent functions to leverage more out of the existing IT landscape while also bringing down the number of issues/ tickets that need to be resolved per legacy system.

This enables the Application Development and IT teams to be more agile and the result is faster product builds and much faster and seamless “Go to Market” capabilities.

3. Augment efficiency of human capital:

The very idea of technology and digital transformation is to ensure that productivity increases and drives key business metrics higher. With legacy applications, the technology teams have no choice but to spend time resolving legacy system issues. While it is critical to do so to ensure seamless operations, it does not add much value to business or customer experience and hence becomes a time consuming and non-productive task.

Modernized applications and systems are equipped to adapt to the cloud. The new code for the cloud is also written in developer-friendly and modern programming languages which enable to overcome most of the limitations of legacy systems. With modernized IT landscape, it is easy to remediate issues without having to disturb the entire application as they are more robust and are micro-services based.

Furthermore, with modernized applications, most IT/ software team members are equipped with the know-how to diagnose and address issues as well as build new features in alignment with the respective business teams.

4. Immersive and Curated Customer Experience

Legacy systems can seriously dampen the customer experience. Customers are accustomed to the latest technologies and “one-click” services. They expect no less from enterprise applications. Legacy applications and systems can hurt this experience.

With a modernized application and technology landscape, the systems become more inclusive and the IT ecosystem can accommodate new services, processes etc. that will enable organizations to transform its customer experience by creating a curated, contextual and immersive experience for its customers.

5. Create new revenue opportunities and enhance top line:

Legacy applications and systems often pose technology challenges which require the business and strategic teams to compromise on their vision itself.

However, with legacy modernization, the potential for an application to expand its horizons and create a new revenue stream is immense. A modernized system can ensure a few more services of value to the customer.

These new revenue streams that may be built on a micro-services framework can be built faster, are more flexible and process information seamlessly – essential traits of a robust IT application. Such applications enable organizations to enhance their top line significantly.

In a nutshell, the benefits of legacy modernization are significant. More importantly, they are sustainable and long-term benefits that can enable your organization to win in a digitally transformed world. Are you ready for the legacy transformation of your organization?

Drop a comment. Let us know your thoughts.