6 Key Approaches to Legacy System Modernization
Technology investments are important considerations for businesses. Unfortunately, the pace of technology is rapid, and, before long, you suddenly find your software and hardware components are outdated. In some cases, totally obsolete. How to go about legacy system modernization is a quandary many decision-makers face on a regular basis.
If you find yourself at a crossroads between knowing you need to update your system, it’s important to first consider your options, know the problems you need to solve, educate yourself on the intricacies of each possibility and weigh the pros and cons of each. By doing so, ultimately, you will be armed with the knowledge you need to determine which of the many legacy system modernization approaches is right for your enterprise. Let’s take a look at some of the options to consider.
1. Phased Migration
The phased migration approach involves dividing your legacy system migration into separate, distinct phases and transitioning modules or functionalities one at a time. Due to the gradual migration process that is involved, this approach minimizes disruption to your organization and helps to mitigate risks. This solution is best for enterprises seeking a systematic approach since it facilitates business continuity and doesn’t interrupt dependencies within the different components of your systems.
2. Re-Platforming
Enterprises seeking to maintain existing functionalities when performing migration of a legacy system to integrate into the cloud environment often consider a re-platforming approach. In essence, you could make modifications to optimize your system to be compatible with modern cloud technology while providing your company with better scalability and performance capabilities. The bottom line is that your organization can capitalize on modern technologies while having a negligible impact on your existing codebase.
A substantial appealing aspect of this approach is its cost-effectiveness and the ability to avoid starting from square one with a new system. You can make minor code changes while maintaining existing functionalities. Another benefit to re-platforming is a reduction of downtime, ensuring your company experiences solid business continuity and minimal disruption when modernizing your legacy system.
3. Rewriting
Rewriting is an approach that involves a complete overhaul of your system’s codebase while maintaining the same scope and specifications to align with your enterprise’s needs. This approach makes sense for businesses using a legacy system that no longer works and/or hinders users from performing their jobs. While this approach is costly, your enterprise will gain significant benefits from this solution, including improved scalability and maintainability.
Additionally, the upgrade may go quickly since the developer can code from scratch and not have to work within the confines of the existing legacy components. This doesn’t mean there will be a rapid transition since writing new code is time-consuming, but it is often easier for developers to start with a proverbial blank page, especially if the existing system is not functional.
4. Re-Engineering
A re-engineering approach is beneficial for many enterprises since it makes improvements to the foundation of existing architecture, adds efficiency and agility and reduces maintenance costs. Developers will conduct a comprehensive analysis of your system and identify ways to integrate cloud technology, AI or other modern tech components. This approach is frequently used in scenarios where vendors stop supporting aged legacy systems or if you require new technologies to better align with your company’s current needs.
This type of modernization solution is time-consuming and does involve substantial preparation and planning. However, you’ll be able to effectively eliminate problematic issues with existing architecture that is unable to support necessary functions, gain migration capabilities, have access to modern technology and resolve defects, failures and limits on capabilities.
5. Containerization
A containerization approach involves adapting legacy applications to “container” environments. This deployment processes bundles of software that are self-sufficient and will run on any machine, since they are not tied to specific systems, but rather in containers.
For instance, you aren’t tied to using either Windows, Linux, or Apple operating systems in your organization, since these containers will run on any device or OS you want. You can also migrate your older technologies into their own containers to isolate them if they are suitable for containerization. Containerization supports faster deployment, which means you can perform your data migration from legacy systems faster than some other modernization approaches. Docker is a very popular containerized open-source solution.
As an open platform utilized to develop, ship and run applications, it empowers you to rapidly deliver software while managing your infrastructure similarly to how you would your applications. Essentially, you run your application in isolated environments, which offers you the advantages of portability, scalability, agility and consistency, while bolstering fault tolerance.
6. Replacement
At some point, a legacy system will cease to function as it once did. When this eventuality occurs, it typically necessitates a company’s decision-makers to formulate a strategy to identify a replacement system and perform legacy system integration. This involves pinpointing the problems, planning reorganization of how digital assets need to function, and then identifying the best product to address and solve the problem. In the end, you will be able to retire your legacy system and begin anew. One significant benefit is that you can find a system to empower you to capitalize on a competitive advantage.
Why Invest in Legacy System Modernization?
There are numerous reasons why a business should invest in modernization with either a new system or legacy system integration. Modern automation eliminates a lot of headaches associated with legacy systems. You can:
- Achieve better productivity and efficiency
- Enjoy a reduction of human errors
- Diminish high maintenance costs
- Reduce vulnerability to cyberattacks
- Increase flexibility and scalability
- Provide better user experiences
- Improve customer service experiences
- Introduce new features that boost competitive advantage opportunities
All of these benefits will enable you to free up IT resources (personnel and budgets) and position you to gain a stronger ROI for your dollar.
Work with Red River to Overcome Challenges and Identify Best Practices
Any upgrade or modification to your legacy system is going to involve some challenges. To eliminate, or at least mitigate the common hurdles associated with modernization, utilizing some best practices will be conducive to a smoother transition and migration of legacy system to cloud opportunities.
Red River can help you accomplish this. We’ll address common hurdles in modernization, explain solutions, share key best practices to help you make the smoothest transition possible, and identify a solution that solves your problems. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.
