In this article Cameron Jenkins, EVP, App Modernization at Modern Systems, an Advanced Company talks about how legacy-based monolithic applications have become a burden for many organizations. Businesses looking to streamline their services and improve overall functionality – without the risk of downtime and exorbitant costs can look to the Fortune 1000 for alternative modernization strategies that can best suit their needs,
As Fortune 1000s today face an aging pool of knowledgeable developers, growing maintenance costs for their legacy systems, and challenges caused by limited system flexibility in a cloud-driven world – many CIOs and IT executives have had to consider new modernization strategies that position them for success.
But despite the well-known benefits of this kind of transformation, including the migration away from brittle, complex, and tightly integrated technology and the introduction of more agile capabilities – organizations are often still reluctant. They fear the burden of time and resources associated with a rip and replace modernization approach – also known as “rearchitecting†or “re-engineering†– in addition to any lost business intelligence, customer downtime, and steep price tags that come with it. Many legacy systems also remain fully intact today because of their inherent ability to process vast amounts of data in a reliable and effective fashion. These reasons are why, more often than not, businesses choose to avoid modernization altogether.
Re-engineering is the most expensive and risky solution for modernization. And while it might be the appropriate strategy for some, it requires a great deal of capturing, coding, debugging, testing, and refining. To recreate a legacy solution’s wealth of functionality with newly written applications ultimately requires a lot of resources, and the impact on end users can be detrimental. In fact, the failure rate of these kinds of projects is as high as 70-80%.
What many might not realize or aren’t as aware of, however, are several lower-risk alternatives that can help reduce resources and cost, while still enabling businesses to streamline their services and improve overall functionality. Businesses such as Companies House, New York’s MTA, and BBVA claim to have achieved success with these alternatives, which we are going to explore below:
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Alternative #1 – Replicating Data:
Data replication is one alternative that allows organizations to keep legacy systems fully intact while freeing essential data from the mainframe. Companies can replicate the mainframe and non-relational data through an entirely new, relational model. The legacy system can, therefore, continue with its standard functions, but automatically copy and convert data to the new model with a replica of the legacy database, offering greater visibility and flexibility for businesses.
For Companies House, the United Kingdom’s registrar of companies that records and stores information on 1.8 million organizations, this kind of approach was key. Since the public relies on access to its data in real-time – downtime was not an option. By replicating the data onto a relational model, the company was not only able to more seamlessly integrate its code into its target database but more easily manage daily updates to the information – creating faster service for consumers and reduced costs for the organization overall.
Alternative #2 – Moving Batch Processes of the Mainframe:
If a business has limited IT budget and resources, “batch offloading†can offer the right approach and is typically an easy first step in a modernization effort. Through it, organizations can convert one or more batch process applications to modern programming languages – and by moving applications off the mainframe – can future-proof their processes, generate greater flexibility, and reduce total costs.
When New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) wanted to create a foundation for refreshed, cost-effective platforms – it turned to this kind of batch offloading strategy. This allowed the organization to continue without any interruption or significant changes to its mainframe’s processes for users, reduced total costs from maintaining its legacy system, and prepared for the next steps in its broader modernization strategy for the organization.
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Alternative #3 – Automated Conversion:
Running mission-critical applications on legacy systems can greatly reduce the ability to meet the high demand for modern business processes today. As Fortune 1000 companies, especially those in industries like financial services, seek new ways to reduce costs and enable data and business process integration, automated conversion can be the best approach.
Through automated conversion, a company produces a revitalized version of its legacy system in a new environment via a modern code like Java or C#. Once this translation is complete, developers can successfully maintain business logic from their legacy system, while at the same time extend application functionality and enhance integration capabilities for target databases. Because this approach is software-based, it is also significantly less costly and can be completed in incremental steps to minimize any interruption to business.
By leveraging automated conversion, BBVA – Spain’s second-largest bank – was able to convert its code while taking total technical inventory, identifying key risk factors in its mainframe, and removing significant amounts of dead code as well as approximately 38% of its unused programs. It reduced licensing costs of its mainframe and enhanced its features, simultaneously freeing data trapped within the legacy system to better enable global operations. After reducing the cost of the company’s mainframe operations, BBVA was also able to drive positive ROI of its transformation strategy within just two years’ time.
Finding the Right Path
Legacy systems have been in place for decades. But with most based on aging development standards that have limited functionality and usability, application modernization has increasingly become the next path for many. Although necessary, transitioning away from these legacy applications is no doubt a complex undertaking, and a unique, tailored approach is required for each organization. For any company embarking on this journey, having a comprehensive view of current systems, the various options for transformation, and a strategy that drives the best results can help them achieve success.
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