Legacy Modernization: The 7 Rs Strategy

Legacy modernization breathes new life into old applications. Threats to security, inefficiencies, and a lack of knowledge and skills are just a few of the issues that arise while maintaining legacy systems. Organizations need to upgrade their business applications and procedures to stay ahead of the competition and help their businesses grow. In fact, the global market for application modernization services is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.8% to reach a valuation of USD 24.8 billion by 2025 due to the surge in the need for modern infrastructure to enhance business processes, as per a recent report.

Suggested read: Legacy modernization, why is it the right time to opt for?

Modernizing legacy systems helps organizations become more adaptable, effective, and future-ready. Legacy modernization entails a transition to new platforms, infrastructure, architecture, and technologies, and it is an essential aspect for enterprises looking to migrate to the cloud. Here are seven strategies for modernizing legacy systems that enterprises need to be aware of:

Retire 

Retiring involves removing obsolete and unnecessary applications to increase efficiency and performance. Programs with unused features and old components can be removed at a lower cost. This process is cost-effective, rids the organization’s need to start fresh, and makes it easier to optimize its current applications with lower efforts.

Rehost 

Rehosting is a migration tactic that moves applications, software, and data to the cloud with minimum effort. It also ensures faster cloud migration – a crucial objective of many companies eyeing cloud migration. This strategy also termed “lift and shift,” involves redeploying apps to a virtual environment. As the application data is migrated without any changes, the application functions smoothly in the new environment. Rehosting is much faster and allows businesses to make future enhancements with minimal upfront expenses.

Replatform

Re-platforming strategy is similar to rehosting and is often used with DBaaS, SaaS, and IaaS solutions. It refers to transferring old apps almost exactly as-is while changing some aspects to benefit from cloud capabilities. This makes it easy for organizations to maintain the fundamental structure of their applications, which saves the time needed to manage the database.

Re-architect

The re-architecting step enables organizations to fundamentally redesign how applications are designed and built with the help of cloud-native capabilities. Application re-architecting is driven by important business needs that demand scalability and improved efficiency. This strategy has a greater transformation cost, but it enables the optimal utilization of the cloud, resulting in cloud-native benefits and making the application future-proof.

Retain

This strategy comprises identifying and retaining apps that need a lot of work but are crucial to an organization’s operations. Only business-critical applications are retained and migrated due to latency requirements or regulatory difficulties.

Relocate

The relocation approach assists organizations in moving their infrastructure to the cloud without the need for new hardware, adjustments to present workflows, or rewriting of apps. Without purchasing new hardware or altering the present procedures, this strategy entails utilizing the current system and shifting the infrastructure to the cloud. The relocation method is usually used when organizations relocate their infrastructure to the Cloud.

Repurchase

Repurchasing is the strategy by which an existing application is entirely replaced with a SaaS solution that provides the same or comparable functionalities. To replace their current on-premise systems, organizations usually acquire cloud-based software licenses. On-premise systems have certain SaaS substitutes, which offer a rapid, simple, or even automatic data migration option. This approach might not work for custom-built applications.

Suggested read: Preparing your organization for Legacy Modernization

All in all, legacy software modernization can be a complex and time-consuming procedure. Organizations can make a smooth transition to the cloud with the help of a good strategy and teaming up with an experienced and right service provider. Vatsa’s team of experts has helped many client organizations simplify their workflows, processes, and interfaces, enabling them to prosper with the latest technology. For a seamless and successful legacy software modernization, write to us today at [email protected].

Challenges in Software Modernization – And How to Overcome Them

It’s no secret in the IT world that legacy systems can become redundant fairly soon and can negatively affect organizational productivity. Businesses can suffer significant losses and the entire reason behind leveraging technology gets defeated. However, enterprises do not need to be pulled down by Continue reading