What Does a Modern App Look Like?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in 2019 and has been updated with new information. 

One thing the year 2020 has made abundantly clear is that businesses across industries need to be able to change quickly.

New customer needs, new ideas, new realities like lockdowns and disrupted supply chains—the companies that are able to turn on a dime and adjust to changes are the ones that remain competitive.

This malleability also extends to the applications that businesses use. 

Too often, enterprises put far too much effort into sticking with legacy architecture and shoe-horning technologies together when change is needed. By doing so, they’re trading upfront application replatforming costs for long-term technical debt. This debt leads to:

• Higher operating costs
• Less agile software development
• Increased complexity in applications
• Sacrificing application resilience and scalability

By focusing on modernizing applications, organizations are better able to create—and continually leverage—a platform that scales efficiently to meet specific needs. This can translate into substantial savings, greater flexibility in how products are delivered, and an overall ability to accelerate innovation.

What does it mean to modernize your apps?

Application modernization (or app modernization) is a term used for the process of enhancing existing systems to meet evolving business needs. Instead of throwing out the systems you’ve used every day, you can leverage their foundation and better suit them to your needs and the needs of a modern business.

You’re able to pull out all the good parts—the functions that continue to work well and are crucial to your business—and improve upon the factors of your systems that are holding you back. Oftentimes this will also relate to integration with other software. If you’re using outdated systems, you’ll find that new programs won’t integrate well or even at all. In an era where seamless interaction and processes are more sought after than ever, app modernization can be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Going through the modernization process

Modernization involves essentially recoding large parts of the software itself. Sometimes this can even mean converting the language of the software, like going from Java to C#. 

But before you can even get to that part, there are a few crucial steps that will better guide you and make sure you’re not wasting time on the wrong software.

You first want to audit your entire app portfolio to see where needs are being met and where they can improve. Redapt makes a point to guide you through this process, helping you decide what apps are the best candidates for modernization and what will make most sense for your business.

Then, once you have some options, we’ll want to consider what the best route is to make your app more efficient. For example:

Is there an opportunity to simplify it for ease of use?

Are there more features that can be added?

We’ll work alongside you to figure out what you need most and find the best path to make it happen. Modernization can be a lengthy process, so we suggest starting small for your first app and taking on bigger software the next time around.

App modernization in action

For an example of application modernization benefiting an organization, let’s take a look at Redapt’s work with medical device manufacturer Tandem Diabetes.

When the company was preparing to launch a new insulin pump, they partnered with Redapt on an application to engage with customers while also meeting FDA-required one-on-one training with patients. 

To help them achieve this goal, Redapt built the company a custom portal for patients to have access to all the information, training, and customer service they needed—a platform that was accessible via any device the customer was using.

As part of this new platform, Redapt leveraged Microsoft Azure to power a virtual training module that educated customers and met the critical FDA requirements, as well as Azure PaaS, Traffic Manager, and SQL Database to manage security and monitor customer interactions.

Not only does this new platform help Tandem Diabetes better serve and educate its customers, the virtual training powered by Azure has produced very real efficiencies. Specifically, the elimination of a $250-$500 per customer expense for one-on-one training with Tandem Diabetes’ devices.

Modernize and thrive

Increasingly, enterprises that remain static are the ones that fall behind the competition.

If your organization is looking to hit the marks of greater efficiency, cost savings, and increased innovation, it’s critical to focus on the applications you currently use. 

Some may be fine in their current state. But more likely than not, legacy apps will turn out to be an anchor weighing the organization down.

If your organization is ready to get started modernizing its applications and platforms to meet today’s business needs, contact one of our experts today.