How to find the right tools for modernizing a legacy system

Software systems need to be modernized as a company adapts to market changes and advances in technology. Failure to upgrade legacy systems will impede your company's ability to reach its objectives.

In this whitepaper, we outline the strategy, planning, and development–that you can take to modernize your legacy system and reduce expenses. This approach allows you to lower the risk of failure while increasing your savings.

Why should I modernize my system?

Software is not a wine that gets better with age. Reliable and well-proven, but the old system can hinder your business. At that, timely updated software positively impacts flexibility, growth, and competitiveness.

Maintaining a modern system can become quite expensive for large organizations. It can be nearly impossible to create an entirely new solution from scratch. If the change allows existing systems to be used without a complete redesign, this is a great option. Modernization can offer many benefits:

• Cost optimization

You need to plan technology modernization projects strategically. These updates help you optimize legacy code and reduce overall operating costs.

• Efficiency boost

Many legacy systems are inefficient and difficult to run. They're often clunky, difficult to navigate, and full of technical glitches. By upgrading to a new system, you will reduce crashes and improve performance and enhance the overall functionality and experience.

• Security reinforcement

In 2020, the average cost of data breaches in the U.S. is predicted to be $3.8 billion. Legacy technologies make it easier for hackers to access data and steal personal information from consumers.

While modernization is conceivable, it is not always possible. A problem that may hinder the modernization process is that code is typically written for a specific platform.

Another reason might be that the platforms are not consistent. Since the application has high complexity and builds upon solid business logic embedded in the code, they require more maintenance. Software modernization can be a complicated, arduous process that takes weeks or even months to complete. And it's rarely without bugs.

What is a legacy system?

A legacy system is a software system based on old technologies essential for an established workflow. And when there's a system with so many end-users, there's a big chance that it can become difficult or expensive to try to make changes.

So yes, in this case, change is risky. But not doing anything isn't a safe option either. Companies generally maintain two distinct types of software; new software and legacy software.

Sometimes a company will modify existing legacy systems to accommodate the introduction of new systems. These legacy technologies can either enable or inhibit the ability to adapt to market dynamics. When they impede adaptation, they are considered obsolete.

How to modernize the legacy system?

Current state assessment

The process of assessing the current state of things is key to drawing up a modernization roadmap. It would be best if you answered the following questions:

• Which parts of the system are functional?
• What is the goal of modernization?
• What approach should you pick?
• What are the modernization terms and costs?

A thorough assessment includes two parts:

Business Assessment-Business assessment gives you the tools to assess an IT environment's current capability and determine the viability of various alternatives in conducting business operations.

The technical analysis

Technical analysis is the functional study of a legacy application. The process results in technical documentation that can help your business plan for future upgrades and software development.

Minimum Viable Product(MVP) creation

We're here to help integrate cutting-edge technologies with the systems you already have in place. We can help you upgrade without disrupting the elements that matter most to your business and users. As a result, product functions will be filtered according to current needs, allowing you to update critical components before potentially more significant global rollouts.

Choosing a modernization approach

Reengineering involves creating a new way of doing things. It can be applied to an application that lacks performance, security, or other non-functional requirements.

The system integration will enable you to introduce new technologies, platforms, and channels to deliver enhanced services. With CRM software, you can replace both SCM and ERP.

Software migration updates reliable and outdated processes, code, or applications. This includes re-hosting, refactoring, or redesigning for performance improvements. When migrating business-critical data, it is crucial to plan before migrating data to prevent it from being lost.

Automation

Software modernization is one of the most important things you can do to improve your effectiveness and profitability. By automating software modernization, you can complete it quickly, precisely, and without interruption.

The best methods for software modernization are; First, we define goals and evaluate functionality. Next, we divide the system into manageable pieces and group it by functional areas. We set a timeline for each part. Then, we enhance security features and make the product IoT device-ready. Finally, we test and deploy updates.

Conclusion

Essentially, software modernization is the process through which you can improve and extend your existing systems without re-programming from the ground up. Experience in this field is our specialty. At Noetic, we've successfully modernized many systems over the years and will be glad to help you with yours!