How to Make Management Care About Modernization

Convincing management to take on the effort and expense of modernizing an organization’s applications portfolio can be a tough sell. As an article from Gartner titled “How to Build a Business Case for Application Modernization” pointed out:

“Application leaders often struggle to develop a successful business case when it comes to modernizing their application portfolios, especially those across multiple platforms. [...] Those who succeed take a business-focused approach, chunking the work to target the most critical business capabilities in multiple waves.” — Thomas Klinect, Gartner Senior Director Analyst

Click here to learn more about the benefits of app innovation to take to your management team.

To help grease the wheels, Gartner suggests tactics such as an easy-to-digest problem statement and project description, highlighting the benefits of modernization, and putting together a cost-benefit analysis.

This is all good advice, and we’ve employed the same tactics when working with clients.

How we build a business case

When it comes to making a clear and concise problem statement, we usually begin by pointing out that the applications an organization uses are critical for the way they do business.

We then pivot to highlight the fact that by modernizing their applications, an organization can trigger significant operation cost savings due to streamlined workflows, reduced development times, and quicker speed to market.

These efficiencies, when combined, will offset the cost of modernization and yield long-term savings.

Not trying to do everything at once

We also recommend that organizations avoid trying to modernize all their applications at once in an attempt to realize immediate cost savings.

Instead, our approach is to analyze an organization’s entire application portfolio and prioritize projects that will bring about the biggest impact on innovation and financial benefits while at the same time offering the lowest risk.

Finally, we like to draw a direct correlation between the transition from the current state to the end state.

If the current state is a need for disruption and room to innovate, the end state of modernization is the speed, agility, and constant delivery of new products and services to better provide for customers and gain strategic advantages.

Making the business case for app modernization can be an uphill battle in some cases, but in our experience, it can be made by being clear, concise, and focused on the benefits like the Gartner article recommends. After all, management doesn’t have to be technical to understand being more efficient, saving money, and better serving customers.

For more information on app modernization, contact us today.

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Alternatively, you can help your management modernize by understanding where they are today. Click here to learn more about a methodology for modernizing legacy systems without wasting time and resources.