Application Modernisation: Elevating Your Business for the Future
Digital transformation is more important now, than it has ever been. Technology plays a critical role in driving productivity and efficiency, making Application Modernisation essential for businesses looking to keep up with the demands of a modern environment.
Legacy systems often struggle with outdated functionality, inefficiency, and security risks. Application Modernisation offers a solution by refreshing these systems to meet current standards, helping your business thrive in a fast-paced, technology-driven market.
What is Application Modernisation?
Application modernisation involves updating legacy systems to ensure they align with the needs of today’s business landscape. Instead of replacing your entire infrastructure, modernisation breathes new life into existing applications by adding new features and improving capabilities, allowing smoother operations in an increasingly digital age.
At Antares, we’ve seen countless systems evolve over time. As technology advances, the need to modernise will remain a constant. Our experience spans various industries, including helping clients in New Zealand, where we’ve improved system capabilities, enhancing productivity, speed, and overall efficiency.
Our tailored approach to application modernisation takes a full view of your operations, ensuring we deliver a custom solution that not only modernises your technology but also strengthens your competitive position.
Approaches to Application Modernisation
Choosing the right approach to modernisation depends on your specific business goals and the current infrastructure you have in place. Here are a few key methods:
- Encapsulation: A quick, low-risk approach where the existing system remains unchanged while a new interface is added for external access. This method enhances the front-end experience without touching the back-end infrastructure.
- Rehosting: Also called “lift and shift,” rehosting moves your existing system to a new cloud, physical, or virtual environment. It’s a straightforward way to improve performance without changing the source code or core functionality.
- Re-Platforming: Similar to rehosting, this approach includes optimising certain system components before moving them to a new platform. It requires some minor adjustments but keeps most of the original system intact.
- Refactoring: If your system’s functionality is solid but the underlying framework needs improvement, refactoring restructures the code to reduce technical debt and improve efficiency without altering the external features.
- Re-Architecting: This method modifies the system’s architecture to support modern capabilities, such as increased scalability and reliability. Although more complex, re-architecting allows your system to leverage advanced features.
- Rebuilding: This comprehensive approach involves redesigning and rewriting the entire application. Though a significant project, rebuilding provides the opportunity to develop a cutting-edge system with improved performance, security, and functionality.
- Replacing: In some cases, replacing the legacy system with a new solution may be the best option. This method delivers fast deployment, cost savings, and access to the latest innovations and features.
For businesses across New Zealand looking to modernise their applications, these approaches provide a pathway to enhance your systems while ensuring future readiness.
What Are Legacy Systems?
As technology evolves, systems and infrastructure inevitably become outdated. While many organisations continue using legacy systems, they often face issues such as reduced performance and increased security risks. So, what exactly are legacy systems, and why do businesses still rely on them despite the challenges?
In simple terms, legacy systems refer to outdated software, hardware, applications, or processes that are still in use. Although they may continue performing their intended functions, these systems lack updates and support, making them less secure and more prone to issues. Legacy systems often operate with outdated code, making them incompatible with newer technologies, which limits the ability to take advantage of modern features.
As technology continues to develop rapidly, older systems struggle to meet the changing needs of businesses, whether small, medium, or large. In today’s digital world, every organisation must prioritise technology or risk falling behind.
What Makes a System Legacy?
- Age: While age alone doesn’t define a legacy system, any software or application in operation for more than 10 years should be evaluated to ensure it’s still supported and effective.
- Performance: Legacy systems are often slow and inefficient, which can frustrate employees and reduce productivity. If staff are spending excessive time using outdated systems to complete tasks, it may be time to consider modernisation.
- Support: Systems that no longer receive updates or support from the vendor or internally are at greater risk of security breaches. Without regular software updates, critical security patches are missing, leaving the system vulnerable.
- Compatibility: Outdated systems struggle to integrate with modern technologies. If your business is unable to implement new tools or capabilities, such as a CRM or live chat, you’re already falling behind competitors who are embracing these advancements.
Why Modernise Legacy Systems?
While change can be difficult, legacy systems require modernisation to remain effective. Even applications that are only a year or two old can become outdated. By modernising your systems, your organisation can adapt more quickly to external changes and maintain a competitive edge. Here are some key benefits of modernising legacy systems:
- Cost Savings: A significant portion of IT budgets is often spent maintaining legacy systems. The cost of keeping outdated systems running can exceed the expense of investing in modern technology. Additionally, finding skilled professionals to manage legacy systems can be costly and time-consuming. Upgrading can significantly reduce support and maintenance costs.
- Increased Productivity: Legacy systems slow down over time, causing staff to spend extra time completing tasks. This not only reduces productivity but can also lead to frustration and dissatisfaction among employees. Modern systems, with faster performance, enable employees to work more efficiently, allowing them to focus on higher-priority tasks.
- Easy Integrations: In today’s landscape, integrating with third-party tools and APIs is essential for delivering seamless experiences. Modernised systems can easily integrate with other software, providing improved functionality for customers and staff alike.
- Enhanced Compliance: Non-compliance with regulations can result in severe penalties, particularly in heavily regulated industries like finance. Legacy systems are more vulnerable to security breaches, making them risky to use in compliance-heavy environments. Modernising systems helps businesses meet regulatory requirements and maintain data security.
- Improved Agility: In a competitive business environment, technology plays a critical role in staying ahead. Modern systems are more flexible and scalable, allowing businesses to respond to changes more effectively. Legacy systems, by contrast, often hinder agility and are unable to keep up with evolving business needs.
- Better Security: Outdated systems that no longer receive updates are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. While no system is entirely immune to security risks, modern technologies offer better protection with regular updates and the latest security features. Antares’ managed security services can help safeguard your business by detecting risks and providing proactive protection.
For New Zealand organisations, modernising legacy systems is an essential step toward staying competitive and ensuring long-term operational success.
