How to modernize applications using automation

Automation and adoption of cloud (public and/or private) are the two key components for success of Digital Transformation. 

Automation has been synonymous with agility and scalability of applications and infrastructure. DevOps ensures quick release of apps all the way from development to test to stage to production. Cloud ensures quick allocation of resources (Compute, Memory, Storage, Network, etc) for the applications.

Automation and cloud is mostly used for greenfield applications, which caters to 10 to 20% of the applications in an enterprise. The bigger question is how does one bring the same agility and scalability for the remaining 80 to 90% of applications. How does one modernize majority of apps, especially with limited budget and time? We are yet to see an enterprise which has unlimited budget and time.

Application modernization plan of an enterprise

Over the years almost all enterprises have built / acquired lot of applications:

• some of them they may not even know of, is being used by a silo somewhere
• source code of some apps may not be available
• some apps may just have production environments (no dev or test, just prod)
• some are required for compliance needs and have to incur lot of cost to keep them alive
• COTS application for which the OEM may no longer be around for support
• operating system has gone out of support and is a big security risk
• ….and the list goes on!

 With above challenges it is hard to map TCO and arrive at RoI. Portfolio of applications need to be rationalized to create a modernization plan. Executing a manual approach by looking at documents and talking the business and app users is a long drawn process. Question comes to mind – is there an automation tool?

Enterprises need automation tool(s) for:

• Assessing and analyzing apps
• Modernizing apps
• Deployment of modernized apps
• Monitoring apps

Next set of articles will address these points in details. Stay tuned!