Software Development
7 Techniques for Successful Legacy System Modernization
Modernizing legacy systems is an
absolute must for modern-age businesses to optimize their operational costs,
processes, and performance. With new technologies evolving every day, most
businesses are trying to figure out the best strategies for modernizing their
enterprise software systems and applications. What this means is upgrading
existing software systems to boost operational efficiency and productivity. By
availing legacy application modernization services, businesses can ease out the
steep task of improving their existing systems or applications.
This article below will offer
you the best methods that you can stick with while modernizing your legacy
systems. Read on:
Table of Contents
·
Decoding A Legacy System
·
Why Migrating from Legacy Systems is Challenging?
·
The Business Dilemma: Migrate or Modernize
·
7 Legacy System Modernization Approaches
- Encapsulation
Method
- Relocation
method
- Restructuring
Method
- Simple
patchwork Method
- Restructuring
Method
- Rebuilding
Method
- Replacing
Method
·
The Golden Advice
Decoding A Legacy System
According to Gartner, a legacy
application refers to “an information system that may be based on outdated
technologies but is critical to day-to-day operations.”
The best example of a legacy
system is a pager. In the healthcare
solutions industry, the use of pager is highly prevalent for communication.
Despite being a 90s system and hugely expensive, it is still used. Why? The
answer is simple: it’s hard to replace, especially for critical business
processes of the organization.
Apart from healthcare, up to 90%
of federal businesses in the US use pager technology. They rely on such legacy
systems and keep refining them because it’s critical for their day-to-day
operations. Not only healthcare, but legacy systems are used across industries,
including banking, transportation, and more for running core business
operations.
Why Migrating from Legacy Systems is Challenging?
Upgrading or switching to an
entirely new system is part of legacy system modernization. which is often
costly and time-consuming for businesses. The other reasons given against
legacy modernization are as follows:
Poor operational efficiency
Businesses argue that legacy
migration results in loss of critical business functions, which results in poor
operational efficacy and loss in revenue streams.
Employee Resistance
Employees get familiarized with
legacy systems after working on them for long periods of time and resist change
or migration, arguing it will hamper their productivity and waste time.
Code Compatibility Issues
Handling legacy codes and
ensuring the legacy systems complies with new data interchange rules and
standards proposed by new client applications is also considered difficult.
Behavioral Migration Challenge
Replicating the behaviors of your
legacy system in the new system’s infrastructure is costlier and
time-consuming. It generally reduces the performance of new systems.
Prioritizing
When multiple systems are part of
migration or modernization, prioritizing each based-on time and resources is
critical. Simultaneous modernization gives undesirable results.
The Dilemma: Migrate or Modernize
Here is the daunting question
every business face today while going through the path of digital
transformation:
Which one is a better legacy system modernization or migration?
Well, the answer simply depends
upon your organizational needs.
If your goal is to abandon a
large set of low-value functions or databases, then migration may be the right
choice for you.
On the contrary, if you are
looking to boost up the performance of your existing systems like CRM, inventory
management software, and more, prefer modernization as it will best suit
your goal.
7 Legacy System Modernization Approaches
To be frank, techniques for
legacy application modernization are increasing drastically, so choose one that
best suits your goals. For the best solution, team up with an expert legacy
system modernization services provider.
Each of the below modernization
approaches has its own pros and cons, risks, costs, and rewards. The best way
to ensure that you meet your goals is to speak with legacy system modernization
experts before committing to anyone’s approach.
Encapsulation Method
APIs (application programming
interfaces) have been around in business for years but never used as a
preferred option for application modernization. But, it’s changing now. By
using API solutions, you can simply encapsulate the components of a legacy
system and offer it as a service to other enterprise apps or software. For
example, building
a REST API with universal HTTP connectors for handling multiple legacy
systems. It’s the fastest method to resolve interface related concerns. But, it
will not solve already existing problems related to upgrading and maintenance
in legacy systems.
Rehosting Method
This technique includes
modernizing a legacy system by moving it into a virtual or cloud services
infrastructure. This simply means modernizing the current host to make it more
reliable, secure, and cost-effective. Re-engineering projects take years,
rehosting offers a better solution where underlying business logic remains
unhampered. Once the relocation is done, you can run tests to identify lines of
code requiring recompiling.
Restructuring Method
A decent analogy to explain this
method would be replacing cubicles with co-working spaces to facilitate better
communication b/w employees. The same concept can be applied in the case of
legacy enterprise software solutions where a component is moved into a new
runtime environment for better performance. However, minimum changes are done
in underlying code structure or features. Here is a technical example:
switching from an outdated API to full-service REST API with better security
and performance capabilities.
Simple Patchwork Method
Most A-rated product
engineering services firms rely on this method for updating their legacy
systems. Here the firms optimize and restructure their legacy systems code
without altering its external behavior. Examples include small bug fixes in an
app to upgrade its performance and security, eventually leading to overall
modernization from scratch.
Restructuring Method
As the name suggests, this method
includes altering the application code so it can be settled into the new
application architecture This is done to explore the fullest capabilities of
the new platform. The method is slightly risky, but it offers better results.
Most businesses these days focus on shifting from their internal legacy systems
by adopting new technologies and making partnerships with expert legacy
application modernization solution providers. Investing in a microservices
architecture is just a part of this strategy.
Rebuilding Method
In case of rebuilding, enterprise
software developers rewrite the application code from scratch while safeguarding
the underlying system scope and specifications. The reason to proceed with this
idea includes opening up doors for integrating new features, functionalities,
and processes that are driven by modern technology and third-party
platforms.
Replacing Method
Many times, replacing the entire
legacy system remains the only option in front of businesses. This is because
the system becomes too conventional to suit their current goals or operations.
While reusing the existing business logic is difficult, some form of
reengineering, rewriting of business logic and package customization is applied
while opting for this method.
Legacy System Modernization: Doing it the Right Way
Hope the above guide has offered
you more clarity over legacy system modernization techniques. Well, the key to
choose the perfect approach here hides in your in-depth assessment of whether
the problem is due to technology, architecture, or functionality of your legacy
app.
And, if you are finding it
difficult to rundown your existing system shortcomings and problem areas,
consulting with a legacy application modernization services expert like
A3logics is never a bad idea.
With a decade-long experience in
the legacy application modernization arena, A3logics delivers personalized
enterprise solutions across industries. Our in-house software development teams
apply the best techniques to analyze your current legacy systems shortcomings
and deliver holistic solutions, truly personalized and efficient.
Drop us a line to consult our experts about your legacy system modernization challenges.
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