Modernising Applications for Tomorrow: Breeding Innovation and Improving Data Security

22, July 2024 

What is Application Modernisation?

Also known as legacy modernisation, application modernisation involves updating and enhancing existing software to leverage new technologies, improve performance and address current business requirements. Outdated technology stacks, limited scalability and maintenance challenges characterise legacy programmes and applications. Embracing application modernisation isn’t merely a matter of staying afloat - it’s essential to accelerate innovation to remain competitive.

92% of enterprises say they are actively working on at least one app modernisation project.

Companies that have undertaken comprehensive legacy application modernisation efforts have reported a significant uptick in agility and scalability, enabling them to swiftly respond to changing market dynamics and customer demands. According to recent surveys, organisations that modernise their applications experience a 30% increase in agility, allowing them to pivot strategies and adapt to emerging trends with unprecedented speed.

Application Modernisation in Practice

In real world organisations, information is often deliberately hidden for security reasons, but in large organisations with outdated systems gaps in knowledge can form. For example, let’s say the vice president of the wealth management division of a large national bank doesn’t have visibility into transactions in the credit card division. This could be a problem because a customer who spends hundreds of thousands of pounds a year on a credit card might be a good prospect for an investment account with the bank. However, the opportunity to cross-sell products or services to the same customer could be missed because of inflexible legacy systems.

Organisations that modernise their applications experience a 30% increase in agility.

How Application Modernisation Breeds Innovation

Modernised applications enable greater agility and innovation, allowing organisations to seize new opportunities and adapt quickly to market changes.

Improving business agility is important for organisations to adapt to the changing needs and high expectations of customers, who demand seamless experiences across the products and services they consume. However, many businesses still rely on systems that are based on legacy technology and platforms that are difficult to maintain, incur high licensing costs and lack the flexibility to adapt to changing customer needs.

The lack of flexibility creates friction during the buying process, resulting in lost customers. Legacy system modernisation enables organisations to build modern systems that are more flexible, modular, easier to maintain and cost-effective. Modernising applications enhances business agility, enabling faster adaptation to evolving customer demands and the delivery of superior customer experiences while efficiently scaling products and services. Organisations gain a competitive advantage by differentiating themselves with innovative solutions using modern application architecture.

Modernised applications scale seamlessly to accommodate growing workloads and user bases. By leveraging cloud-based resources, containerisation and microservices architecture, organisations can dynamically allocate resources as needed to handle spikes in demand without incurring downtime or performance degradation. Scalability ensures that applications can grow with the business and adapt to changing requirements over time.

Improved Security Through Application Modernisation

Legacy applications can be vulnerable to security threats due to outdated code, lack of security features and susceptibility to known vulnerabilities. Legacy modernisation includes implementing robust security measures such as encryption, authentication, access controls, and regular security patches and updates. Modernised applications can decrease threats, like cyberattacks, data breaches and other security risks, thereby protecting sensitive information and safeguarding the organisation’s reputation.

Organisations should avoid being too narrow in their approach to their enterprise application modernisation initiative. Each application may interact with multiple different business processes, some of which might involve other leaders of the C-suite. Cross-collaboration and cross-functional alignment of application modernisation can often be neglected, as part of the broader digital business transformation journey.

Legacy applications pose challenges in terms of agility, security and efficiency. Application modernisation is crucial to adapt and optimise them to meet evolving business needs. For organisations today, recognising the benefits of application modernisation initiatives allow them to adapt to changing customer needs quicker, ensuring better customer experience while delivering products and services at scale.

The benefits of enterprise application modernisation extend beyond technical improvements to include tangible business outcomes such as increased agility, innovation and competitiveness in the marketplace. By embracing legacy modernisation efforts, organisations can future-proof their applications, enhance their capabilities and achieve sustainable growth in the digital age.

Innovation without limits

We can help you rethink how your business creates modern, agile applications with a future state of mind. With a blend of data analytics, AI/ML-enabled technology, inventive concept development and full-stack omnichannel experiences, we’ll help you push the limits of innovation on the cloud. Whether your goal is process optimisation, business resiliency or revenue-driving transformation, find out how TEKsystems can support your Application Modernisation journey – so that you can adapt, respond and grow at speed. Find out more.