How to choose your partner for application modernization
Application modernization is a necessary operation to adapt business solutions to new cloud environments, ensuring performance and efficiency. However, this path of technological innovation is not taken for granted and requires specific skills: it is therefore preferable to have the support of a qualified partner who can guide the company towards optimal strategic and methodological choices.
Application modernization: which path to take?
In fact, there are many ways of application modernization:
- rehosting consists in the migration of the application and associated data to the cloud without carrying out interventions;
- replatforming involves modifying the code to optimize the operation of the application in ecosystems and according to cloud models;
- rebuilding implies the complete rewriting of the code, maintaining the basic application functionalities but exploiting modern development techniques, such as microservices architectures;
- the replacement of the application with cloud-native solutions with similar functionality.
However, application modernization is not just a technological issue, but rather requires a major cultural change: IT staff and business lines must work on common ground, introducing agile collaboration methods from a DevOps perspective.
The choice of the partner for application modernization
In this complex scenario, the need for an expert and referenced partner emerges, with expertise in consulting, technology and change management.
A first criterion for the choice of the supplier concerns his experience on application modernization projects, as well as his level of specialization on the subject. Better to opt for established companies, which can boast a good number of references, especially on customers similar to their sector, size and IT organization.
The first step for a successful application modernization initiative lies in the ability to perform an accurate analysis of the existing application park and the underlying infrastructure. The applications – and their related data flows - must be cataloged and mapped: it is necessary to identify the methods of use, the functions covered, the types of users. It is important to detect any performance inefficiencies and possible security flaws. Only the know-how of a qualified supplier can allow an effective assessment, returning a complete view of the company's hardware and software resources.
From here, the partner must be able to work synergistically with the customer to identify the priority applications on which to intervene, excluding the less relevant software for the company business or even close to being discontinued, because they are useless and underused. For each of the selected applications, the partner must be able to recommend the most effective modernization techniques (also on the basis of previous experiences), offering concrete support in the rewriting and migration phases.
It is therefore a question of offering an end-to-end service, which starts with methodological consultancy and continues with operational support, making qualified resources and skills available.
A partner as a facilitator of DevOps methodologies
The partner must also be a facilitator in the dialogue between IT and business within the company.
In fact, the use of new software development techniques based on microservices presupposes close collaboration between the technical team and Lob. The applications are built as an aggregate of functional units, on which it is possible to intervene individually without compromising the overall functioning. This accelerates the process of changing and adding functionalities according to requests, with the advantage of improving the responsiveness of information systems to the needs of the business.
This is why it is important that the partner has solid knowledge also in the DevOps field, to implement and transfer an effective method of collaboration in the company.
In short, when choosing a partner for applications modernization projects it is important to consider a variety of aspects, ranging from technological knowledge to methodological skills to consultancy for change management. Only in this way will you have the guarantee of obtaining effective end-to-end support, which will also allow you to manage future developments in technology and activate a cycle of continuous improvement, based on the measurement of results.
