Software Modernization: Transforming Legacy Systems for Tomorrow

Over the past 10 years in the software engineering industry, Axon has received numerous requests from businesses for software modernization process - whether rewriting solutions from scratch, updating solution architecture to modern standards, migrating to the cloud, or adding AI elements to the application. As software ages, the need to modernize becomes critical.

Driving Forces Behind Software Modernization

Why modernize legacy systems? There are several typical reasons that drive companies to upgrade their software systems:

1. A successful and growing business needs more robust, scalable software to support further development.

2. A company experiences stagnant business performance due to the software's performance limitations and difficulties in implementing new features, leading to customer churn.

3. Outdated user interfaces/user experiences (UI/UX) cannot compete with modern alternatives since even superior functionality can be overshadowed by poor user experience.

Challenges of Modernization

Many businesses doubt modernizing software due to the perceived risks and costs of rewriting the code. They also think users may resist change, tending to interact with familiar workflows.

But there are bigger fish to fry. The rewards are significant - access to new development practices, a completely refreshed application perceived as innovative, faster implementation of new functionalities, cloud migration, and the ability to hire from a larger talent pool familiar with modern tech stacks.

Also, there are important legacy modernization benefits from a technical perspective - faster coding, better performance, the use of new services/approaches, and access to the cloud.

Reinventing Incentive

When we modernize an application, we aren't just updating - we're redefining and reinventing it with expanded features and functionality. Moreover, development speed increases enormously - what took 40 hours in legacy code may now take 2 hours.

The legacy system modernization itself is time-intensive, but the requests will only increase as more software becomes legacy each year. For example, not so long ago, 20-year software was considered outdated, and then the software obsolescence period was shortened to 5 years. However, each case is individual, and not every application needs a ground-up rewrite. For instance, those who adopted cloud technologies a decade ago may not face an immediate need for a software modernization process for the sake of cloud benefits. Java-based applications can often be harmoniously evolved with new architectural patterns to avoid becoming legacy.

Making the Final Decision

The decision depends on necessity. Software modernization process is the only way forward if crucial new features can’t work on old software, even if maintaining an outdated system may seem the most cost-effective option. The task of untangling legacy code filled with temporary solutions can be daunting and expensive.

In this case, legacy system modernization emerges as the pragmatic choice, ensuring the continued relevance and competitiveness of software solutions.

Use Cases

This section covers four real projects, each with a different reason for legacy system modernization. While the project names are confidential, these examples show the various challenges businesses face and how software modernization strategy helped solve them.

Use Case 1. Rewriting Solutions From Scratch

Our recent project was a company providing portable charging solutions. The app allowed users to locate nearby power banks, reserve them, and make seamless transactions. However, the app was burdened by an outdated Java version and a custom core framework from a specific vendor, complicating its growth and scalability. We decided to rewrite the app using a modern Java version and widely adopted Spring Boot framework to improve its performance, code readability, and maintainability. Also, a migration from monolithic to service-oriented architecture was performed.

Challenges and Reasons for Modernization:

The application is written with a proprietary toolset and thus has many shortcomings: vendor lock (because the core framework isn’t open-sourced), specific architecture that forces developers to write code in an uncommon way, and intricate architecture that decreases code readability and makes it hard to maintain the project and deliver the new features.

Steps Involved and Technical Decisions Implemented:

Initially, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the existing system to identify dependencies, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. Based on this, key technical decisions included:

• Design the new service-oriented architecture for the project
• Implement all necessary functionality with the new technologies list and architecture
• Configure autoscaling cloud infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines
• Perform seamless data migration to the new platform

Outcome:

The rewritten app significantly improved performance, reliability, and development speed. Users experienced faster load times and enhanced stability, improving user satisfaction and retention. Moreover, modern development practices and technologies streamlined the development process, allowing for rapid iterations and feature enhancements.

Use Case 2. Updating Solution Architecture to Modern Standards

This case demonstrates the experience of modernizing an ecosystem of facility services and management apps tailored for business centers. Initially, the client’s app was built without a straightforward architectural approach, lacking horizontal scaling and a proper releasing strategy. Each client had a separate mobile app, leading to unnecessary complexity and inefficiency. Our task was to restructure the system by improving the database structure, migrating to a unified app architecture, and establishing proper cloud infrastructure.

Challenges and Reasons for Modernization:

The scenario where it is necessary to introduce a new mobile application for each new client leads the system to the enormous number of items in the stores that are hard to maintain and support. Additionally, the absence of horizontal scaling presents a significant obstacle in onboarding new users to the system. Eventually, even high-performance servers may need help handling the increasing requests. The main challenges include adapting the database structure and refining authorization and authentication functionalities to seamlessly transition users to a new unified application.

Steps Involved and Technical Decisions Implemented:

• Adjust the solution architecture to operate with one unified mobile application
• Improve the DB structure, introduce indexes for better performance, and constraints for data consistency
• Develop the additional functionality for the CMS: We organized administrative tasks in the system via the Content Management System (CMS), with newly added roles and restricted functionalities for select administrative staff.

Outcome:

The migration to a unified app architecture simplifies maintenance and support efforts, reducing complexity and enhancing efficiency. Horizontal scaling capabilities address the challenge of accommodating growing user bases, ensuring the system remains responsive even under increasing loads. Improvements in database structure and performance optimization measures lead to enhanced system performance, resulting in faster response times and improved user experience. Adding functionality for a Content Management System (CMS) centralizes administrative tasks, streamlining content management and access control. Transitioning users to a unified mobile application offers a more consistent and seamless experience. Ultimately, these enhancements contribute to cost efficiency by optimizing infrastructure and operational processes.

Use Case 3. Migrating to the Cloud

This case centered around modernizing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) initially built on an on-premises setup. By migrating the system to the AWS cloud and optimizing for horizontal scaling, we aimed to improve delivery efficiency, scalability, security, and reliability.

Challenges and Reasons for Modernization:

Despite using containerization and custom-configured CI/CD pipelines, - on-prem server setup has a bunch of shortcomings and unnecessary complexities. Instead, it is possible to streamline administration tasks with the cloud by eliminating the need to manually configure firewalls, certificates, and policies, thanks to out-of-the-box setups. Moreover, cloud providers prioritize security, investing heavily in measures like physical security at data centers, encryption of data, identity and access management controls, and compliance certifications such as SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS. Additionally, they offer automated deployments through services like CodePipeline and CodeDeploy, simplifying CI/CD pipeline setup for any development process. Managed databases alleviate developer burdens by handling deployment, maintenance, security, backups, and disaster recovery. Cloud platforms also facilitate automatic scalability with services like AWS EC, provide robust monitoring tools for infrastructure performance insights, and set up alarms to notify development teams of any unexpected behavior.

Steps Involved and Technical Decisions Implemented:

To migrate this solution, we undertake the following steps:

• Setup proper infrastructure in the AWS cloud using the Infrastructure as a Code approach (Cloudformation technology in particular)
• Migrate CI/CD pipelines from custom setup to the AWS CodePipeline service
• Perform the data migration

Outcome:

The migration to the cloud significantly contributed to the delivery speed and efficiency. Application scaling capabilities allowed the system to handle fluctuating workloads seamlessly, ensuring optimal performance and cost efficiency. Security measures were strengthened, enhancing data protection and compliance, which is critical for the recruitment niche. Overall, the modernized ATS on the AWS cloud improved scalability, security, reliability, and efficiency.

Use Case 4. Adding AI Elements to the Application

Our recent AI-related project focused on modernizing localization management solutions tailored for businesses expanding into global markets. The key functionality of the application was drastically improved with the introduction of auto-translations and AI suggestions. Initially built using a traditional approach, the software's features stack was augmented with AI capabilities to automate translation and improve speed, and overall user experience.

Challenges and Reasons for Modernization:

Manual translations are time-consuming, sometimes error-prone, and lead to excessive localization efforts. AI integration was necessary to address these challenges and improve translation quality and speed for the application users. The main challenges were smoothly integrating new AI-boosted features into existing functionality and not overwhelming users with intricate application logic and cumbersome UI.

Steps Involved and Technical Decisions Implemented:

AI integration: To get maximum quality with minimal efforts, it was decided to integrate with the already existing artificial intelligence API that uses natural language processing for autotranslation and suggestion functionality. This solution will work till our own AI solution will be ready.

User Interface enhancements: We redesigned the user interface to accommodate AI features, providing intuitive access to auto-translation and suggestion functionalities.

Quality Assurance: We implemented rigorous testing protocols to validate the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated translations, ensuring high-quality localization outputs.

Outcome:

The recent AI-focused project successfully modernized localization management solutions, improving efficiency and quality. By integrating AI-powered auto-translation and suggestion features, manual efforts were minimized, saving time and resources. The streamlined workflow and redesigned user interface make these features more accessible and user-friendly. Rigorous testing ensures accuracy, boosting confidence of the results received in the legacy software modernization.