The Serverless Way to Modernize Applications

The global application modernization services market is expected to grow by USD 24.8 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.8%, according to research carried out by MarketsandMarkets.

This modernization services market growth is driven by the rapid adoption of cloud computing and the demand for digital transformation as legacy apps are difficult to integrate with the latest technology such as ML, AI, full-stack development, and edge computing, to name a few.

Application modernization is the process of upgrading existing business applications. Companies can take advantage of contemporary infrastructure, tools, and languages to modernize applications that run on legacy systems, which limit their performance.

This process of modernizing existing legacy-based applications can reduce the number of resources required to run and maintain them. Ultimately, this means improving the user experience, minimizing operation costs, and increasing ROI.

Accelerate application modernization with serverless architecture  

Here are some reasons why applications need to be modernized and why it is worthwhile to adopt a serverless approach:

• A company taking the leap of faith to modernize its existing applications will see their digital adoption increase. In addition to gaining competitive advantage, they can also benefit from the latest features offered by cutting edge technology and platforms.

• Forward-thinking companies are now embracing modernization to enhance compatibility, boost productivity, enhance efficiency, and remain competitive.

• Application modernization increases security over continuing to use legacy systems. Developers can build applications that adhere to the latest security protocols, standards, and regulations. 

• Modern web application technologies like Single-Page Applications and Progressive Web Applications minimize obsolescence. Having a serverless architecture, which automatically scales as the user base grows, can make these applications more efficient. These technologies can handle larger workloads and the TCO is reduced because you only pay for what you use instead of provisioning.

• Modernizing web applications involves using microservices to deliver applications more quickly and at a lower cost. Breaking applications down into smaller, independent components helps companies scale up dynamically, reduce response time, and debug and maintain their systems more easily than with monolithic architecture. Microservices architecture consists of multiple decoupled components that are independent of each other but work cohesively to achieve a functional goal. This structure allows developers to innovate with shorter development cycles.

Modernization challenges

As we discuss the benefits of modernizing applications, it is equally important to understand the challenges and how they can be addressed:

• Auditing and understanding the existing legacy system will simplify the process of modernization. It is important to identify unnecessary complexities and redundant codes and understand existing code functions. Ideally, consult solution architects before beginning the modernization process.

• Continuity is a crucial part of any business. Businesses need to plan migrations meticulously taking account of their complexity and business dependencies. When introducing application modernization, which is an agile process, businesses can break down the entire process into simple stages and minimize the risk of outages and upheaval. 

• Budget and justifying the cost are the main concerns when deciding to upgrade applications. Serverless platforms such as Catalyst are very valuable to developers, since they offer a free development sandbox and straightforward pricing.

Modernization best practices

• A complete assessment of your legacy applications
• Take advantage of modern web applications
• Migrate to serverless to reduce operational costs
• Improve the security and scalability of your application

An example of a serverless single-page application

Here is an example of how easy it is to build modern web applications using Catalyst. Check out our Alien City tutorial, which explains how to build an interactive serverless single-page application built using advanced I/O and Datastore features. As a developer-centric platform, Catalyst aims to boost developer productivity and provide a better developer experience.

Modernization and Catalyst

Catalyst helped ConstructionBOS, an Ireland company offering CRM services to construction companies, speed up their time to market with serverless microservices. The Catalyst by Zoho team helped them integrate data from third-party web applications into Zoho CRM to drive real-time data access and management for their customers wherever they are.

Testimonial 

"With Catalyst, we were able to serve our customers better by getting new services to them faster. Building the microservice on Catalyst was easy! We never had to deal with infrastructure management. We just wrote a code and deployed it."

Craig Mulcahy, CEO, ConstructionBOS

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