Successful Software Modernization in Five Key Steps

Successful software modernization often feels impossible – but are you really stuck with depreciated, outdated software? Legacy software systems cost your company time, money, and opportunities. I guarantee you are wasting your developers’ time focusing on a never-ending stream of bugs and problems with your systems, and that’s what’s causing internal friction between your teams. If your development team is taking too long to deliver the features and functions your consumers demand, it’s time to modernize your software products! 

What Is Software Modernization?

Software Modernization is typically defined as a complete replacement of an existing system using the latest technologies. The process updates the user interface with a fresh, modern look. Organizations expect to modernize their systems every five years, on average.

Software modernizations are expensive, and they rarely deliver new value to customers and users. The typical software modernization strategy might work for internal software systems, but this formula rarely delivers ROI for commercial products.  

A lot of money is spent to get the same thing you had before. New technology, new UI – but very little innovation that matters to your customers.  

So, is there a way to modernize and innovate without breaking the bank? 

Benefits of Software Modernization

If you’re still working with a depreciated software system, the first question you should ask yourself is why? Have you been told it’s not possible to update, or are you just not sure where to begin? 

1. Your software development team spends more time fixing bugs and maintaining your existing systems (keeping the lights on) than on innovating.
2. Scalable solutions, especially those that are cloud-based, facilitate business growth and can be practically future-proof. 
3. Utilizing outdated technologies means your customers aren’t getting the interface they need to maximize their customer experience. If your customer churn is high, your software product is not making your users’ lives easier.
4. Modernized systems tend to be more agile and cost-effective than outdated legacy systems. 
5. Modernizing your legacy software can create a low-maintenance environment that allows your developers to innovate new functionality and features which will drive sales for your sales team. Each segment of your business should complement the others; software modernization allows your development team to help your sales team capture new customers and maintain the ones you have.

Five Steps to Successful Software Modernization

Once you’ve made the decision to invest in modernizing your software, it is vital that you take the time to do it right. By following these five steps, you can create modernized software that’s built right, built fast, and built to last.

1. Assess

Successful software modernization is like any other growth plan: you can’t tell where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.

Take the time to review your current legacy system and assess what it needs and what it still does well. List applications and programming that you consider high-value and assess how you can improve those in terms of scalability, performance, usability, and security. Part of your assessment should include managing your technical debt to help you avoid unforeseen roadblocks to your modernization efforts resulting in a poor ROI for your software development dollars. Some of the factors that contribute to technical debt include:

• Outdated technology
• Tangled webs of quick code fixes
• Outgrown software architecture
• Aging source code
• Undisciplined development practices

By assessing your legacy system, you can determine what is reusable and what needs to be replaced. Remember that reusability is a great way to save on modernization costs, if it is possible to reuse any of the resources and components of your current system.

2. Resources

Successful software modernization requires planning and strategy that goes beyond the software itself. You will also need to consider your resources with regards to:

• Development time
• Organizational support
• Funding
• How the technologies will interface with other systems
• How you will maintain the system going forward

Consider all these important pieces during your initial assessment before you make your plan or begin implementation. 

3. Choose your Modernization Strategy

Using a detailed assessment of your system, and with a full understanding of the resources at your disposal, it’s time to choose your modernization approach.

• Rip and Replace

With this option, you will completely replace your legacy system with a brand new, modernized software system. This is the most expensive option in terms of time and money.

• Rehost/Replatform

Improve scalability by simply moving your system to another architecture; likely a move to a cloud-based server. This is also an expensive option, but it is the right one if your business is growing at a rapid pace.

• Incremental Approach

The best of both worlds! Freshen up your legacy system user interfaces while extending your current system via the cloud. Offer a more modern experience for your customers without the cost of a complete overhaul.  

4. Plan

Your software modernization strategy is destined to fail without a plan in place for its success: you need to determine exactly what needs to change, who will be involved in that change, and how to change it. 

Creating a technology roadmap can help you define your goals while providing clarity about the entire project. If everyone knows what’s happening, and how it’s supposed to be done, you can keep your modernization project on track while maintaining visibility and accountability around the entire process. 

Understand where you want to start, where you want to finish, and fill in the path you intend to take to get there. Consider roadblocks you might encounter along the way so you can plan for those as well. The more, the better when it comes to your modernization plan; consider everything!

5. Measure

Once you have successfully modernized your software products, you will need to monitor infrastructure and the applications to ensure your system is running smoothly. Have you planned to keep tabs at the code level to ensure peak performance? Remember: performance issues are the opposite of what you’re going for with modernization. Optimize your system for success and monitor it to ensure it stays that way. Continue to measure performance to determine future upgrade and optimization opportunities to keep your products ahead of the crowd.