Best Practice Report

A Workable Application Modernization Framework Is Job No. 1 Now

April 26th, 2010
Phil Murphy, null
Phil Murphy
With contributors:
John Rymer , Sander Rose , Adam Knoll

Summary

We are being crushed by our IT legacy and must deal with the problem now. Bloated application portfolios prevent us from fully supporting new business opportunities and innovation; IT decision-makers must reduce these portfolios' overall complexity and cost and bring business-level transparency to IT activity to enable more-strategic business/IT planning. Large organizations may need several years to fully modernize, but there are other roadblocks to conquer as well. Within a few years, Baby Boomers will begin to retire in earnest, setting the stage for a stormy decade as IT turnover rates exacerbate skills, staffing, and legacy technology issues. Traditional application modernization techniques address one-off decisions; they won't solve the bloat, cost, complexity, and skills issues that will plague our portfolios this decade. We need a better modernization strategy drawn from a framework of techniques but tailored to fit organizations' unique circumstances. Are you up to the challenge? Can you afford not to be?

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