Survival of the fittest in the app modernisation jungle

The phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ is often used in business as shorthand for the need to adopt aggressive, inherently ‘selfish’ strategies to come out on top of the food chain. However, the reality – not just in nature, but in the boardroom too – is that rather than unbound aggression, survival and long-term growth is about adaptability, preparedness and cooperation.

In today’s environment, where business challenges are many and intertwined, cutting away through the jungle of complexity cannot be met by pure aggression. For organisations preparing for the future, the foundation of survival and growth is technological innovation and app modernisation that pivots to answer whatever challenge is around the bend. In the fight to cut through, IT – and developers in particular – are now the Bear Grylls of our organisations, equipping employees and customers with the tools and the mindset shift they need to prepare for any wilderness.

Digital has been front and centre in 2021. However, its crowning glory is owed to the software it enables to affect profound changes in the business. Changes such as new and enhanced customer experiences, operational efficiencies and product diversification make digital-first a compelling offering.

Disruptions that rippled down from the pandemic have already driven companies to accelerate survival strategies – driving cloud investments which have become a lifeline for leaders navigating business uncertainty.

A new culture of modernisation

COVID-19 was more than a social crisis. It turned the business landscape into a wilderness that prompted a shift from on-premise servers to multi-cloud implementations. But this embrace was out of necessity. Businesses have never had to be so agile, so quickly. The operational chasm that followed the mass retreat from the office left many wondering how they managed to miss the wood for the trees.

But choosing just any cloud migration and application strategy won’t up-level business success. For instance, new customer experiences must integrate with core legacy systems that have already taken root while managing ever-growing software volumes. Cybersecurity risks associated with this can be expensive and often hidden.

While the shift to the cloud was inevitable, many remain unprepared for migration despite treading quickly towards the cloud-led territory. Taking advantage of serverless computing and AI tools can be as dangerous as quicksand without the right expertise and guidance. Choosing well-designed applications can help organisations flourish and defend against unseen obstacles and leering predators.

IT teams have to learn the depth of their survival skills to reimagine software modernisation that isn’t a developer time vacuum. No business leader wants to see their prized staff grappling with man-eating (and time-eating) obstacles just to ‘keep the lights on’.

Gartner predicts that leaders who actively reduce technical debt, rather than getting swept away by jungle rapids, are 50% faster on their feet when it comes to service delivery. Ultimately, the companies that will succeed will empower developers to spend less time IT plumbing and more time developing.

This survival strategy demands a new mindset of app modernisation based on cloud-native culture. If you want to know more about our approach to cloud-native modernisation fit for the modern jungle, take a look at my previous post, App Modernization: If You Want to Succeed, Don't Ignore Culture and stay tuned for part two of this blog coming soon.?