Considering application modernization? Get the facts first

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Considering application modernization? Get the facts first

September 22, 2015 Nikhil Kumar General

With many companies pushing application modernization today, it can be a little difficult to see through the sales pitches and actually find the facts. Despite the wave of application modernization, a significant number of companies are still running applications made decades ago that are capable of keeping up with today’s applications, like IBM, so it seems not everyone should be boarding this train. However, it’s important to remember that application modernization is rapidly making its rounds through current companies for a reason.

After doing a quick application assessment, it can become a lot clearer where you stand with today’s applications and whether or not your systems need upgrading.

Fact 1

Application modernization is the transfer of data from containment in old software to a more modern version through either a complete restructure involving high levels of coding or a less invasive technique. This technique depends on the state of the application before its modernization. This is where application migration and application re-engineering take place in many instances.

Fact 2

Doing an application assessment of the way your current applications operate involves the discovery of what language they were coded in. This is the first step to discovering whether or not you will either need to modernize as soon as possible, you should consider it, or if you don’t need to modernize at all. Application development back in the 50’s used the most popular COBOL language which is nearly gone from existence today unless you’re trying to maintain a legacy device. Because of the future of the COBOL language, any application running written in this language will have to be modernized.

Fact 3

While about 70% of all business transactions are still written in COBOL, these legacy applications compute less efficiently than their modern counterparts. This isn’t to say that COBOL does not compile fast, it simply isn’t compatible with a huge number of additional functionalities that increase productivity that other languages are. So besides falling out of existence in today’s world, legacy applications are no longer able to work as efficiently as we expect them to. Application development has formed into a whole new beast in the past few years with the emergence of Node.js technology and other innovations. We can now use a real-time approach with all of our applications while indexing data from the cloud. Simply put, if you want to stay on in an always-on world, your legacy applications will not allow you to do so.

In summary, we recognize why the “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” phrase is so popular amongst companies today but there does come a time when every business has to deal with their legacy applications. One example could be dealing with situations like trying to find a programmer for COBOL when there aren’t any left, which is a realistic concern. If you’re looking into doing an application assessment or application re-engineering, you don’t have to do it alone.