From Legacy Applications to Modern Solutions: 7-Step Enterprise Transition Plan

Welcome to Digital Adoption Insider, your source for common challenges and actionable tips on driving digital and software adoption. If you're interested in staying up-to-date on the latest digital and software adoption trends, click the "subscribe" button above.?

Enjoy the Digital Adoption Insider? Support us by sharing our newsletter with your network and subscribing today!?

Legacy systems helped your company get where it is today — but those same applications, systems, and architecture will become obsolete over time and will eventually hold your company’s growth back.

As legacy systems become outdated, they slow teams down and make it more difficult to achieve business objectives.?

Legacy application modernization, also known as digital transformation, is expensive – but the longer you put off modernizing legacy applications, the more complicated, costly, and resource-intensive the inevitable process will be.?

Investing in a modernization strategy will be well worth it in the long run, but you want to ensure you’re making the right decisions and building a well-thought-out IT strategic plan. Let’s look at what that might look like for your enterprise.?

What Is a Legacy System?

Legacy systems refer to any software, technology, or process a company uses that has become outdated or ineffective.

As your applications and systems start to decay and enter into legacy systems status, you’ll encounter common challenges and risks associated with outdated technologies, like:

• Difficulty to maintain
• Code bloat
• Hacked integrations
• No support for third-party integrations
• Slow load times and performance issues
• Security threats and compliance risks
• Inability to keep up with new tasks and workflows
• Poor customer experience

What Is Legacy Application Modernization?

Legacy application modernization refers to replacing outdated systems with more up-to-date cloud applications and solutions.

Legacy application modernization might involve adding new solutions to improve legacy systems, replacing legacy applications, or even migrating to an entirely new way of doing things.?

Replacing applications and software that your team has been using for years (maybe even decades) sounds like a daunting task — and it can be. But working with outdated systems can cause more significant IT challenges for your team and customers.?

Modernizing legacy applications helps eliminate the problems that arise from using outdated tools, sending a ripple effect across your entire digital workplace. Teams become more efficient, employees and customers have better experiences, and costs and risks are reduced.?

Key organizational benefits of updating outdated legacy systems include:?

• Easier management and maintenance, reducing IT costs and dependency.?
• Improved automation and better process efficiency.?
• Better technical integrations and improved data management.
• Access to more scalable SaaS applications.
• Improved application performance and speed.?
• More efficiently meet evolving customer needs with more agile technology.?

7-Step Legacy Enterprise Application Modernization Strategy

Modernizing your legacy applications can take months (or even years). Here’s a 7-step process to help get you started.?

1. Analyze your legacy IT architecture and systems using six drivers

First, enterprises must evaluate their current legacy systems and understand why they need to modernize these outdated systems.

Six factors to consider when evaluating and modernizing legacy systems fall into two categories: business and IT drivers.

2. Evaluate your modernization approach

You don’t have to replace your legacy application to modernize your IT.?

Before you start making any changes, it’s essential to know all your options so you can make the right digital strategy choices.?

Here are seven modernization strategies to consider when building and modernizing your IT roadmap:

• Encapsulate: Encapsulate the application’s data and use APIs to make it available in other applications
• Rehost: Take your existing application component and redeploy it to the cloud, hybrid cloud, or other physical infrastructure
• Replatform: Make minimal changes to your existing code structure and migrate it to a new platform?
• Refactor: Eliminate technical debt and outdated features and maintain your current legacy application?
• Rearchitect: Move altered code to a new application architecture with better features and capabilities.
• Rebuild: Start an application from scratch to match the new scope and specifications?
• Replace: Eliminate and replace existing legacy systems entirely?

3. Build your legacy application modernization business case

Modernization can bring long-term improvements to your business — but what exactly do you need to improve? Identify why you need to modernize your IT infrastructure and what you hope to achieve.?

Understand exactly where customers and employees are running into friction and frustration, why your legacy environment is causing it, and how you can modernize to solve that problem.?

But you’ll also want to look for areas where your legacy system performs well. Knowing what works is as important for building your strategy as knowing what doesn’t.?

4. Inventory your data and map them to business processes

Regardless of your modernization approach, you’ll want to ensure your most important data remains accessible and protected throughout your modernization process. Taking inventory of the data you’re storing is essential for maintaining uptime as you move or update applications.?

This is also a good time to look for opportunities to eliminate data. Are you holding on to data you no longer need? Finding ways to free up data that needs to be migrated or moved can cut time and complexity from your modernization efforts.?

Continue reading about investing in a modernization strategy for your legacy applications here.?

??Essential reads for digital adoption & enablement professional??

Amarillo Globe-News — Groups give 100 laptops to high school seniors in need, work to lessen digital divide

AT&T and its partners have donated 100 refurbished laptops to high school seniors in Amarillo as part of their Connected Learning program. The program aims to promote digital literacy and internet accessibility, and these laptops will help students continue their education after graduation, especially those who do not have access to computers at home.

Yahoo! Finance — Bright Pattern Partners with MoData in South Africa to Transform CX and AI Capabilities

Light Pattern and MoData have joined forces to enhance customer experience in Africa through the use of advanced digital and AI technologies. Together, they provide a comprehensive range of CX solutions tailored to mid-size and enterprise-level financial institutions. These solutions include omnichannel conversations, quality management, enterprise CX, and conversational AI & automation.

Consultancy.com — Citizens increasing their uptake of digital government services

More Australians are using digital government services, but there are concerns about privacy and data security after breaches in some areas. To build trust and increase usage, data privacy should be a top priority, involve the community in service design, and expand digital offerings in areas like voting and mental health services, according to Publicis Sapient.

Cision PR Newswire — Deloitte Announces Groundbreaking New Initiative With Google Cloud to Accelerate the Adoption of Sustainability Solutions

Deloitte and Google Cloud teamed up to use AI and geospatial data to help clients tackle climate risks and move towards green solutions. Their Electrified Fleet solution, now on Google Cloud, aids companies like Purolator in transitioning to net-zero transportation. The partnership also assists financial firms, such as NatWest bank in the UK, in using geospatial analytics to better understand and report on climate risks.

??Whatfix news bites??

• AkzoNobel (nominated by Whatfix) wins Brandon Hall Awards
• Whatfix has received outstanding customer reviews on Gartner? Peer Insights?!?
• Introducing Whatfix Comments! With Whatfix Comments, we're transforming the way you operate on the web, breathing fresh life into collaboration and communication!

?? Whatfix podcast catch up ??

• Kerri Rivers shared her expertise on digital adoption, defining it as tech that helps users in the moment of need.
• Dawn McKendry gave brilliant insights into how digital adoption is transforming the banking experience for customers.
• Peter Riber introduces the concept of learning analytics, while Ian Cook offers insights into employee retention and engagement through people analytics.
• Ayan Majumdar shared invaluable insights on how HR technology is reshaping post-merger integration.?

Don’t forget to subscribe to this newsletter to receive best practices, tips, and insider trends on empowering employees by driving the adoption of new technologies and features.