To date, legacy app modernization was considered a nuisance where companies kept running outdated systems or completely changed the infrastructure from the ground up.
But thanks to the advanced technology today, the app modernization strategy is no more “all in or all out.”
With advanced tools at your fingertips, you can easily add a layer of new technology to legacy systems to modernize them for better productivity and experience.
This blog will discover app modernization trends to watch for in 2024.
Did you know?
4 out of 10 organizations in America use outdated technology and lose nearly 50% more money in data breaches than companies with updated systems.
What is legacy app modernization?
Legacy app modernization is the transformative process of renewing outdated systems through rehousing, changing platforms, and refacing outdated technology, leading to many benefits. By modernizing legacy applications, businesses can reduce costs, boost productivity, and facilitate faster innovation, creating a competitive edge in the digital age.
Types of Application Modernization
As technology evolves, businesses must modernize their applications to stay relevant and competitive. But what are the different facets of application modernization, and how can they benefit your organization? Let's explore four critical types of application modernization that can propel your business into the future:
- User Interface: Is replacing or upgrading your legacy system not feasible? User interface modernization offers a strategic alternative, enhancing the user experience while minimizing risks and maximizing business benefits.
- Infrastructure: The foundation of enterprise applications and infrastructure modernization focuses on developing robust and scalable systems with key characteristics like performance, extensibility, and portability. Unlock the power of a future-proof infrastructure.
- Process: As businesses grow, process complexity increases. Automated process modernization streamlines operations, allowing efficient and error-free workflows and driving productivity and agility.
- Evolutionary: Embrace incremental updates with evolutionary modernization, ensuring your systems stay up-to-date with current technology trends. Move forward step by step, from version 2.1 to 2.2, instead of overwhelming leaps to version 7.0.
10 App Modernization Trends to Follow in 2024: Stay Ahead of the Curve
Now that you understand the different types of application modernization, it's time to delve into the hottest trends that will shape the app modernization landscape in 2024. Are you ready to future-proof your business and embrace innovation? Explore these ten app modernization trends that demand your attention:
Trend #1: The Cloud Migration
Cloud migration is one of the leading application modernization trends of the 21st century. Cloud software makes it easy for companies to implement automation and containerization. However, core benefits lie in making data accessible. By putting data on cloud lakes, your company can access it from anywhere, paving the path for innovation.
Trend #2: DevOps Will Dominate
Although not a technology, DevOps is rapidly being adopted as a dependable methodology for app modernization. By using automation, AI, and data science, building repeatable pipelines, and shifting architecture left, architects can avoid technical debt before it becomes unmanageable.
That's where DevOps steps in. Here's how:
- Intelligent automation: DevOps give a step-by-step guide to achieve automation.
- Deep monitoring: DevOps focuses on monitoring the activities so that companies can discover dead code and errors and analyze the behavior of the application
Trend #3: Enterprise Low-Code Platforms
According to a Gartner Study, 70% of apps will be created through low-code or no-code development by 2025.
Low code rose to popularity when companies found a talent deficiency. Low-code or no-code apps allow you to develop applications with no programming knowledge. E.g., Salesforce.
It brings many benefits, including helping professional developers improve their skills, fasten innovation, and make up for developers' deficiencies.
Trend #4: Micro Front-End Modernization
Micro Front-End Modernization helps companies upgrade their app without rebuilding the entire app. This helps speed up modernization and increases revenue in the long term.
Trend #5: Hyper-automation through RPA
RPA is one of the best technologies because it allows organizations to easily automate repetitive tasks without significant initial investments or technical knowledge.
Trend #6: Data Modernization
Data is the backbone of the digital ecosystem. Unfortunately, in most legacy systems, data is scattered, making it difficult for the company to use it effectively.
Hence, the data modernization trend is rising, and businesses are moving their legacy data to data lakes in the cloud.
Trend #7: Serverless computing
Serverless computing is a method of providing ready-to-use backend platforms to businesses. The core benefits of serverless computing are that you don’t have to manage the setup and infrastructure; it's all handled by the vendor.
Another benefit of serverless computing is that you only pay for the resources. This is one of the best models for SMBs who need help paying the high fixed monthly cost of servers.
Trend #8: Containerization
Software today uses more than one technology stack, which needs its environment. For example, you might build an app on one platform and shift it to another platform to deploy. Unfortunately, this can create errors and bugs.
Containerization helps bridge this gap by running apps consistently across different platforms and systems. Containers bundle all your app files and codebase into one container so that they can run consistently.
A survey by IBM highlighted that 61% of container adapters used containers for new applications. Currently, Docker and Kubernetes are the most popular containers out there.
Trend #9: Modularization
Legacy software architecture runs on one single codebase, making it harder to manage code as it grows.
Let’s take the example of Slack. Slack's old codebase grew so large that it hindered their productivity and created blockages in meeting app goals.
That's when they decided to focus on modularization. Their modernization strategy separates the app monolith into smaller components or building blocks. The end expectations were to reduce interdependencies, decrease build times, and allow independent development.
Ultimately, Slack improved developers' productivity and made the project successful.
Trend #10: Artificial Intelligence
AI and Machine learning are proliferating. Gartner describes some top hype cycles that will take over app modernization.
- Algorithmic trust: Increasing fake news, data, and information is making companies shift to trusting central organizations to trust algorithms; it's being used in blockchain to authenticate assets.
- Formative AI: Formative AI can dynamically change to respond to a situation. There are various types, ranging from AI that can dynamically adapt over time to technologies that can generate novel models to solve specific problems.
Take Away:
In conclusion, 2024 promises to be an exciting time for app modernization. With the rapid advancement of technologies like cloud computing, microservices, and AI, organizations are embracing new approaches to stay competitive.
From containerization to serverless architecture, these 10 trends will undoubtedly shape the landscape of app modernization, enabling businesses to deliver innovative, scalable, and user-centric applications in the digital age. So stay tuned for the transformative developments that lie ahead!
Are you looking to take your applications to the next level and stay ahead of the curve in 2024? Look no further. With Clarion Technologies, you'll have access to a highly skilled workforce well-positioned to help you modernize your applications and achieve your business goals. So don’t wait any longer to start your modernization journey. Contact us today, and let's transform your applications together!