We are in the midst of an increasingly digital world, and nowhere else is this more prevalent than India, home to the fastest growing digital economy in the world. India\u2019s digital economy is growing at 2.8x the rate of its regular GDP. It was 4.5% of GDP in 2014, over 12% today and projected to be 20% by 2027<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With this rapid digitization, Indian enterprises are facing ever-pressing decisions on whether to <\/span>modernize the legacy applications<\/b> being utilized over the years in the face of rapidly evolving business demands. According to a survey by IBM<\/a>, 83% of C-suite executives say modernizing applications & data is central to their organization\u2019s business strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n Modernization efforts are usually undertaken to optimize performance, but here\u2019s the paradox regarding the current scenario: <\/span>potential performance issues during the modernization process are preventing many enterprises from opting for it<\/span><\/i>. Any issues in business critical applications can damage an organization\u2019s reputation, and the reality is – most legacy systems demonstrate robustness, steadiness and efficiency in providing the desired business outcomes. In fact, there are still many benefits to certain aspects of legacy applications:<\/span><\/p>\n For most organizations, legacy applications are still the centre of gravity within their application portfolio. They contain important data and provide valuable functions to digital products & services. So, while it is a redundant question, it is an important one to ask: why should one modernize legacy applications at all?<\/span><\/p>\n The answer is simple: <\/span>to future-proof your business<\/b>. Legacy applications are not designed to match the pace of digital business demands. They involve a lot of physical footprint, something becoming increasingly obsolete in a cloud-centric world. Their systems may no longer receive vendor support, leaving them exposed to cyber threats. And as they age, they become extremely unwieldy to manage for your teams. It all leads to legacy applications having massive amounts of <\/span>technical debt.<\/b><\/p>\n This is not to say that you should completely eliminate all your legacy applications, but rather use it as a springboard to support your desired business capabilities. A \u2018rip-and-replace\u2019 approach where you completely overhaul your legacy applications isn\u2019t advisable for multiple reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n The truth is, the 80\/20 rule applies in general for current legacy applications – 20% of the functions are causing 80% of the woes, yet 80% of the functions are still fit for purpose. You should keep aspects of it that still provide optimized performance, while creating strategies to modernize all parts of the architecture that create friction points for business optimization.<\/span><\/p>\n To that end, most Indian enterprises are searching for easy & efficient approaches to digital transformation that can provide cost-effective, modernized systems without losing core application functionality. Many modernization pushes must effectively balance performance and security, while taking into account other factors like customer retention, customer experience, business transactions, transformation costs\/efforts, service quality and impact to brand value.<\/span><\/p>\n Taking all this into account, a strategy of <\/span>continuous modernization<\/b> could be highly beneficial for your enterprise. This involves identifying, prioritizing and removing friction points that negatively impact business agility & velocity. Two tenets are at the heart of this increasingly preferred approach: <\/span>composability<\/b> and <\/span>modularity<\/b>. <\/span>Composability<\/b> is a system design approach that enables systems to adapt quickly to changes while staying resilient, creating the perfect blend of performance and security that we are seeking. <\/span>Modularity<\/b>, on the other hand, is creating a system of building blocks that can easily be configured into various solutions. For example, let\u2019s say you need to create an order-tracking function on your customer portal driven by legacy applications. You can use the cloud to build the order-tracking module, link it to your legacy systems using an API and extend it by building a web graphical user interface on top of it.<\/span><\/p>\n It starts with identifying all the business capabilities supported by legacy applications. This involves getting into specifics, i.e. linking each component or part to respective capabilities. Then, using exercises like value-stream mapping and business-capability-impact mapping, you can highlight all the opportunities for optimization.<\/span><\/p>\n This is where you assess all the support structures for every business capability and identify all the friction points. Analysis should follow with regards to why modernization is necessary for each component, whether its poor business fit, high complexity, extra risk or added cost. Once a list of all friction points are gathered, they should be ranked according to importance. A good framework to follow is Gartner\u2019s TIME approach, which categorizes each friction point into one of the following four categories:<\/span><\/p>\n This is where you choose an appropriate modernization approach that proves to be the perfect solution for each friction point. Here are some future-ready approaches we incorporate in our legacy application modernization India suite:<\/span><\/p>\n Doing the continuous modernization process in such a phased way will help you reap all its benefits, like cost savings, scalability, efficiency and future-readiness. It provides you with the application performance India demands in this digital era. <\/span>Click here<\/span><\/a> to get in touch about modernizing your legacy applications.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why Modernize Legacy Applications in India’s Rapidly Digitizing Economy? We are in the midst of an increasingly digital world, and nowhere else is this more prevalent than India, home to the fastest growing digital economy in the world. India\u2019s digital economy is growing at 2.8x the rate of its regular GDP. It was 4.5% of …<\/p>\nThe Paradox: Legacy Applications Offer Robust Performance but Pose Limitations<\/h2>\n
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Future-Proofing Your Enterprise: Why Legacy Modernization is Non-Negotiable<\/h2>\n
Avoiding the ‘Rip-and-Replace’ Trap<\/h2>\n
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Balancing Performance and Security with Continuous Modernization<\/h2>\n
Continuous modernization should ideally be carried out in 3 phases:<\/span><\/h3>\n
Phase 1: <\/b>Identification<\/span><\/h4>\n
Phase 2: <\/b>Prioritization<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Phase 3: <\/b>Transformation<\/span><\/h4>\n
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