In today’s ever-changing digital and political landscape, federal agencies must continuously adjust to new technologies, new mandates, and ongoing federal reporting requirements. Legacy systems, usually cobbled together over 30 years of incremental requirements changes, are slow to modify and unable to meet the pace of the new modern workforce.
Application modernization involves updating and transforming legacy applications to meet current business needs and technological standards. Let’s explore why application modernization is crucial to federal agencies and how it can benefit your organization.
Why Modernize Legacy Applications
Federal agencies are turning to modern, cloud-based application platforms, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 and ServiceNow, to improve internal operations and enhance their ability to meet their missions and objectives. Here’s a few pivotal reasons why you should consider making the move:
- Enhanced Performance and Scalability: Legacy applications often struggle to handle the increasing load and complexity of modern business operations. Modernizing these applications can significantly improve performance and scalability, ensuring they can support future growth.
- Cost Efficiency: Maintaining outdated systems can be costly. Modernization reduces maintenance costs by leveraging more efficient technologies and infrastructure, such as cloud computing.
- Improved Security: Older applications may have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cyber threats. Modernizing applications includes updating security protocols and integrating advanced security measures to protect sensitive data.
- Better User Experience: Modern applications offer a more intuitive and responsive user interface, enhancing the overall user experience. This can lead to increased productivity and satisfaction among employees and the constituents they serve.
Key Strategies for Application Modernization
You know you need to modernize, but where to start? There are several approaches to consider when making the decision to modernize a legacy federal system:
- Rehosting: Also known as “lift and shift,” this strategy involves moving applications to a new environment, such as the cloud, with minimal changes. It’s a quick way to reduce costs and improve performance.
- Refactoring: This approach involves restructuring and optimizing the existing code without changing its external behavior. Refactoring can improve the application’s efficiency and maintainability.
- Rearchitecting: This strategy involves redesigning the application’s architecture to take advantage of modern technologies and frameworks. It can provide significant improvements in scalability, performance, and flexibility.
- Rebuilding: Sometimes, the best approach is to rebuild the application from scratch using modern technologies. This allows for the creation of a more robust and future-proof solution.
- Replacing: In some cases, it may be more cost-effective to replace the legacy application with a new, off-the-shelf solution that meets current business needs. In this approach it is best to consider the strengths of the new platform and adjust your current workflows, to align with out of the box features.
Key Benefits of Application Modernization
Implementing a modern cloud-based, FedRAMP compliant system provides the following key benefits:
- Increased Agility: Modern low-code/no-code cloud applications enable the ability to quickly make changes to your system that adjust to changes in federal mandates.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Modernized applications often support better integration and collaboration tools, enabling teams to work more efficiently.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Modern applications can leverage advanced analytics and data processing capabilities, providing valuable contextual reporting for better informed decision-making.
- Modern Tools for Modern Workforce: Today’s federal workforce requires modern tools, which enable mobility and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) capabilities, which can be configured for increased efficiency.
Today’s Opportunity Drives Tomorrow’s Efficiency
Application modernization is not just a trend; it’s a necessity for all federal agencies in the digital age. By embracing modernization, agencies can unlock new opportunities for efficiency, drive innovation, and ensure long-term workforce satisfaction. Whether it’s through rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, rebuilding, or replacing, the journey to modernization is a strategic investment in the future.
If your agency needs help along your application modernization roadmap, reach out to Arctic IT Government Solutions today at connect@arcticitgov.com to get the conversation started.
By Steve Schmitz, President and General Manager of Arctic IT Government Solutions