Australian businesses can tackle modernisation barriers and reap the benefits
Tackling App Modernisation Challenges in Australia
Australian companies are underway with the task of app modernisation, but it’s not happening fast enough, according to a recent Accenture survey of Australian IT executives.
Driven by the demand to have better systems integration and improve the agility of their applications, Australian businesses want to tackle their modernisation challenges.
However, Accenture notes that concerns about high costs, a lack on internal skills and difficulties developing the business case for change pose real challenges.
For local outfits, there’s an urgent need to continue with digital transformation to meet changing consumer habits, deliver personalised experiences and be nimble enough to take on disruptive, digital-first local outfits like
And there are real dividends that flow from modernisation, with digital technologies expected to be worth as much as $315 billion to the economy by 2028, according to research from the CSIRO. It shows now is the time for Australian organisations to shift into a higher gear when it comes to modernising their applications.
Australian businesses struggling with legacy application modernisation
For Australian organisations, the burden of complex legacy systems is one of the main challenges to technology adoption, according to CPA Australia’s 2022 Business Technology Report. It notes the strategic importance for organisations to apply technology and enhance digital capabilities.
Yet this technical debt, especially when applications are entrenched in organisations, can swallow significant IT resources and time to maintain. With a squeeze on IT talent in Australia, it can be difficult for organisations to find the expertise to support their legacy systems.
In some cases, applications are effectively running on ‘life support’ and this brings with it a host of risks and problems, such as unforeseen security weaknesses and business-critical applications held together with decades-old code.
A lack of technical expertise, sparse resources and non-existent code documentation can stymie efforts for updating applications. Applications modified over time can end up running on ‘spaghetti code’ with different bits of code intertwined. Without having any sort of logical separation, it becomes a lot more difficult to modernise or even get under the hood of these older applications to get a clear picture of how they’re functioning.
While fear of breaking vital systems can stop organisations from tackling modernisation, if an important connection breaks, it can create a crisis in trying to maintain normal operations. If it’s mission-critical or a complex database, for example, delaying modernisation can prevent organisations from getting to a place where there are less incidents, less outages, better performance and a superior user experience.
Putting the focus on the benefits of application modernisation
Application modernisation in Australia also lacks sufficient focus, according to an ADAPT 2021 Market Trend Report, which found modernisation initiatives only occupy five of Infrastructure leaders’ and CIOs’ top 15 technology priorities. Although application modernisation and redesign can deliver better outcomes, these areas rarely feature in the top five technology initiatives for Australian organisations, ADAPT noted.
Reducing systems complexity requires sufficient integration of delivery mechanisms, aligned to the strategic outcomes of the business, and to achieve this consistent automation is crucial. With better prioritisation, organisations can improve their efficiency, resiliency, innovation and agility, according to ADAPT.
Australian organisations that are struggling with older, legacy apps can find themselves suffering from performance problems that are a real handbrake on innovation. Older applications typically can’t scale, and that’s one of the major issues that can limit business growth. And it can be difficult to try and lift performance without overhauling the technology itself.
To address these challenges, a holistic strategy is needed that will enable consistent prioritisation across the portfolio of applications needing to be modernised. Organisations will need to enable critical workloads to be cloud-enabled while re-platforming and re-architecting systems, including adopting micro-services, and taking into account the option for multi-cloud models.
Experience a partnership with a difference
Australian organisations looking to move ahead with their modernisation efforts need to engage a reputable service provider with the capability and expertise. NashTech offer a range of application services. We are the partner with the size to be flexible in meeting an organisation’s need, develop a modernisation road map and helping unravel the technical debt holding Australian businesses back from reaping the full range of benefits that come through digital innovation.
NashTech has the technical expertise and local experience to design a program that addresses all aspect of application modernisation, including cost containment, priority planning across the application suite and addressing strategic decisions best practice modernisation. NashTech is the partner to support an organisation throughout the modernisation process and provide crucial end-to-end lifecycle management.
NashTech can help Australian organisation’s in their application modernisation efforts to focus their technology on driving digital value, customer experience and ultimately growth. Learn more about NashTech or contact our team today.
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