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Have you noticed how quickly cutting-edge inventions become obsolete nowadays? Only a few decades ago, modern technologies and devices were ushered to stay with us throughout our lifetime. In the early third millennium, the pace of development in all spheres of human activity has accelerated so much that almost every week some ground-breaking innovations are introduced, ousting the ones that had seemed all the rage just a couple of years before.
The IT industry is an abject lesson in such processes whose breakneck headway is a marvel for average users but often a challenge for business owners. The latter have to adopt novel solutions in order not only to stay precariously afloat in the circumstances of cut-throat competition but to get a powerful edge over their rivals in the niche and live up to their client’s expectations, turning the challenge into a success story.
However, many egg-walking entrepreneurs cling to the good old software, partly because of the why-ditch-what-works-well attitude and partly because they realize what a bother legacy software modernization might be. The greater the complexity of the system and the higher the number of businesses it covers, the harder it is to modernize legacy applications and transfer to new technologies.
Yet, whatever the excuse for the reluctance to switch to state-of-the-art technologies and products, this transition is imminent. Delaying it will only make the changeover more painful. Having three decades of experience in custom mobile app development, we at NIX have come to realize that this simple truth holds for any hardware or software and legacy applications are no exception.
Before starting to modernize legacy systems it’s necessary to get down to the basics and deal with the pivotal question: “What is a legacy application?”
An archetypal definition would qualify all old solutions as legacy. But this diagnosis is at fault on two points. First of all, the very understanding of “old” is vague since some apps stay relevant and efficiently perform tasks for years while still being considered alive and kicking. Second, solutions may become obsolete several months after their release in case breakthrough alternatives have appeared to render them old-school.
Evidently, there are other factors to mark a piece of software as a legacy application.
Have you recognized any of these features in your business app? Then you are face to face with a legacy application.
Legacy modernization is the transformation of outdated mainframe systems into more agile and scalable infrastructures. This process involves migrating the legacy applications and data from the mainframe to a more modern platform. Modernization of legacy systems is a step-by-step process that involves updating IT systems (or certain components) according to up-to-date or future business requirements and goals. The implementation of this process lays a solid foundation for the introduction of new advanced technologies and tools that have not previously been adopted in a particular solution.
What are the pitfalls and bottlenecks that await you when you postpone legacy app modernization and keep using your merry old app of Oz?
Everybody around is traveling in supersonic jets, but you huff and puff along on your treasured steam engine. Eventually, you will reach your destination, but your competitors will be miles ahead of you by that time. It means the business will not be able to adapt and fulfill client needs potentially leading to clientele outflow. Plus, your app will repeatedly reveal new issues and failures that cannot be fixed without applying legacy application modernization strategies.
Cybercriminals are on a perennial hunt for holes in the safety armor. Over time its strength will become ever flimsier without an opportunity of fix it. Without legacy app modernization, it is only a question of time when the security defenses will crumble, rendering the app vulnerable.
Apps rarely function in isolation. As a rule, they operate with a broad range of third-party tools, libraries, and platforms (for instance, social media and payment systems) to provide a satisfying UX to clients and employees. Often, legacy apps are unable to leverage services outside the inner infrastructure to expand functionality. As a solution, it can be achieved only at the cost of a prodigious amount of custom code writing, which makes such solutions financially and chronologically inappropriate.
Typically, legacy apps rely on monolithic architecture that presupposes single-block software with all modules drawing on a universal code base. Such a system is highly inflexible since introducing changes to various modules piecemeal is impossible without rehashing the entire app.
This problem has two dimensions – technical and human.
Technically, all related problems stem from the absence of support and updates on the part of developers. Being thus abandoned by their creators, software based on these technologies falls into decay that you can only ward off for a time but not ultimately avoid.
The personnel scarcity is a consequence of the petering out of technical support. New generations of specialists see no purpose in learning how to deal with relics of the past and old-timers are even harder to come by. Your search and recruitment process turns into a weary marathon – and when you do fall upon a competent expert they will demand outrageous fees for their services.
Old solutions are often unwieldy (especially if their parents are numerous). Every little problem in them requires eons to identify and fix. The situation can be exacerbated by the absence of documentation mapping out the legacy application architecture or listing its features.
As a result, supporting legacy solutions becomes stabbing about in the dark, and specialists need more time to understand how it works and how to implement changes so as not to ruin the stability and workability of the system.
All of the shortcomings mentioned above increase the maintenance cost of the app. Such costs include hiring a recruiting agency to unearth experts in ancient technologies, paying for their unique skills and expertise, splurging on more frequent usage of maintenance services than you would after legacy application modernization, and coughing up dozens of smaller sums that are unavoidable when you try to patch up the old system.
Employing outdated software is a severe handicap to your workflow in case the app functions internally. And if it is meant to solve the problems of clients… well, it is more likely to cause new problems than handling the existing ones.
This “magnificent seven” is the best proof that staying with legacy apps is no option for companies having big-time aspirations. But perhaps it makes sense to build a new app instead of modernizing legacy applications that you are using?
Generally, people adopt one of two tactics when some of their belongings go out of order. Some of them try to mend whatever is broken to continue enjoying the things they are used to. Others prefer to discard it and buy a brand-new item instead. But when business software is concerned you can’t go by personal preferences when choosing either way.
When does total abandonment of a problem app and building a new one make sense?
When should you opt for legacy application modernization?
Having created dozens of apps for different industries – from automotive to eСommerce – we at NIX know that the last three drivers are by far the most frequent, persuading a lion’s share of companies to embrace legacy application modernization.
To shed some light on the question asked above, let’s find out the key advantages of legacy system modernization.
There is probably no doubt that using outdated systems is expensive. If you calculate the costs of maintaining local data centers and add to this the technical debt associated with maintaining legacy systems as well as the costs associated with possible problems associated with the instability of such systems and data leakage, it becomes clear that these expenses can be completely avoided through modernization.
At the same time, there is another, more radical solution we mentioned above: to develop applications and services from scratch in order to completely replace outdated systems with them. This is also a kind of modernization, but often quite expensive. Of course, if your IT infrastructure has undergone significant changes and existing software components do not fully meet your current workflows, this makes sense. However, companies often manage to achieve this with much lower modernization costs by simply updating individual components and adapting them to new standards and requirements.
Outdated systems do not allow companies to quickly adapt to new market trends and, as a result, they risk losing their competitive advantage. Moreover, such adaptation often entails enormous troubleshooting work.
In turn, modernization is an excellent step towards the desired flexibility since, for example, migrating applications and services to the cloud and switching to a microservice architecture will allow your business to launch new services in a matter of weeks. Thus, when you modernize legacy applications, you get the opportunity to quickly take a leadership position in your business niche.
By moving your work processes to the cloud, you’ll give your employees better collaboration opportunities wherever they are. Moreover, you can significantly reduce the number of incidents with your applications and services by eliminating the technical limitations of the previous codebase and making it easier for your administrators to diagnose problems. Finally, you can free your company from the limitations of legacy systems and deploy new features quickly and easily, replacing manual processes that are likely to take a lot of time.
Being tied to an outdated system also imposes some risks associated with reduction of the customer service quality or leaving it at the same level, which may not be enough in high-supply business niches.
And vice versa—modernization may include interface updates, adding new functionality useful for customers, as well as automating tasks that were previously performed manually. This approach will allow you to keep up with the times and create a user-centric experience.
Finally, when you modernize legacy applications, you can open up new opportunities for your business to increase profit. In particular, you will be able to create offers that are of greater value to customers than ever before, launching new services that were previously unavailable due to the limitations of an outdated and insufficiently flexible system. Thus, after the modernization of legacy applications, your company’s income can increase, especially when it comes to the introduction of innovative and advanced technologies.
While there are numerous benefits that can come from modernizing your existing system, you may also encounter certain challenges during the upgrade process. Let’s look at the most typical of them so that you can prepare for them in advance.
Updating system components can be a real challenge for your employees. They may experience some difficulty in mastering the new system, and, in this regard, your expectations associated with increasing productivity and reducing the risk of error may be in vain. To prevent this from happening, you will need to think about how you can implement a smooth transition from outdated solutions to updated ones (through training employees, providing detailed documentation, consulting specialists who performed the upgrade, etc.).
You may also find it difficult to sync your updated components with those services and applications that you decided to leave untouched. However, this task is often solved by hiring seasoned specialists who can ensure seamless integration.
Although the data that legacy applications operate on may be poor quality, transferring them may result in the loss of valuable information that may be critical to your business. To prevent this from happening, you will need to create a backup copy of the old database so that if this data is accidentally deleted, you can restore it later.
Embarking on legacy app modernization poses the inherent risk of incurring high expenses for the transformation process. The costs associated with upgrading outdated systems, migrating data, and implementing modern technologies can escalate, potentially straining the budget. This financial burden may be exacerbated if the modernization process encounters unforeseen challenges, leading to additional costs. Therefore, organizations must carefully assess and plan for potential financial implications when undertaking legacy app modernization initiatives.
One significant risk in legacy app modernization is the potential for the incorrect choice of strategy. Selecting an inappropriate approach or technology stack may lead to suboptimal outcomes, such as compatibility issues, performance bottlenecks, or functionality gaps. An ill-informed strategy can result in increased project complexity and delays, undermining the intended benefits of modernization. To mitigate this risk, thorough analysis, strategic planning, and expert consultation are essential to ensure the adoption of a well-suited modernization strategy aligned with the organization’s goals. Overall, your development team will need to conduct a global survey of your workflows and IT infrastructure as a whole to create the optimal scenario for modernization.
There are three basic legacy system modernization approaches for you to choose from
This method means redeploying the app with cloud computing solutions and minimal changes to its structure. Usually, such transformations boil down to modifying the way of interaction between the program and the database so that upscaling and automation opportunities provided by the cloud are made available. This approach is a cost-effective mechanism for getting access to cloud-native services and functionalities.
With this approach, you can stay on-premises or move to the cloud (the latter is more typical today) but the app works without in-house server software and hardware. By choosing this model of legacy application modernization, organizations can focus on their essential business processes instead of dispersing their attention to infrastructure management routine (capacity and cluster provisioning, patching, operating system maintenance, etc.). Another perk of serverless architecture is the exclusive upscaling flexibility it provides.
This one presupposes packing all software components into one object to be easily moved wherever you like. The most popular variety of containers is the microservices deployment that enables consistent operations and enhanced app development while drastically cutting down on overhead.
When you have selected a legacy application modernization strategy, you should carefully map out the modification route.
To turn application modernization into a success story, the following steps must be taken.
You should have a clear vision of what you would like to achieve by modernizing legacy applications in terms of technical characteristics, expected performance indicators, and business objectives.
Your legacy app should be thoroughly analyzed to assess its business fit and value as well as the current technical landscape concerning the three major elements: data, business logic, and UI. By doing it, you will know which components of it need upgrading and which are doing fine the way they are.
This choice should be made separately for each element and feature. Each next level is more complicated and effort-consuming – and consequently more costly.
Although app modernization isn’t such a big-ticket endeavor as building an app from scratch (and this is the main reason why it is preferred), it is still not a bargain-price issue. So before embarking on it, you should make sure that your business is able to make this investment in the current moment.
A proper choice of tools, languages, libraries and other software to be instrumental in app modernization is crucial for the ultimate success of the procedure.
The entire procedure should be mapped out with a documented list of components to be upgraded, the sequence of modernization stages, and the timeframe for each of them.
You should contact a seasoned software development partner who will do all the work in case your company doesn’t have in-house experts.
When everything and everybody is ready, carry out the procedure closely following the charted scenario.
Make sure the upgraded product functions in accordance with your expectations and requirements.
As you see, legacy application modernization is a no-nonsense endeavor that requires taking into account a lot of factors and meticulous fulfillment. When faced with such an ordeal a DIY approach is not an option for outcome-driven entrepreneurs. That is why it is wise to engage the services of a seasoned IT company that has sufficient expertise to deliver a top-notch result. NIX has a lot of experience in such projects guaranteeing awesome UX, high performance, and seamless operation of the end product.
Sticking to legacy apps puts a grievous halter on the efficiency and growth prospects of your company. By modernizing legacy applications, you will be able to keep abreast of the latest technological advancements and provide your business with new development opportunities, cutting costs, process optimization, and income raising eventually.
With a decade of experience in mobile development, Jane enjoys tackling tech challenges and creates powerful solutions from simple apps to complex IoT systems across multiple industries. She masterfully leads the way inside her team and beyond, acting as a tech advisor.
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