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Updated on 2025-05-07 GMT+08:00
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What Is Application Modernization?

Migrating applications and data to the cloud is just the beginning of digital transformation. We need to continuously consolidate and optimize applications and data. We need to modernize applications to meet new IT and service requirements and support cloud-based service development. Migrating to cloud is just a task of porters and architects. However, we need to be an experience officer of the cloud and use new cloud technologies to continuously optimize service experience and support service innovation.

In recent years, major cloud service providers have proposed the vision of application modernization. In the digital era, enterprises can quickly respond to changes and achieve agile innovation, which will become a decisive factor for enterprises to build their sustainable competitiveness. Application modernization has become an inevitable choice for many enterprises to carry out digital transformation. Traditional application should evolve to application modernization. Application modernization should be considered based on application implementation and cloud platform capabilities. The cloud platform supports layered decoupling of application modernization. Applications focus on business logic and build common capabilities such as Design for X and governance on the cloud platform.

Figure 1 Development trend of modernized applications
Table 1 Comparison between traditional and modern applications

Traditional applications

Modern applications

Monolithic architecture with highly-coupled modules

Microservice-based architecture, fully decoupled applications, and quick combination

Multiple application entries, affecting user experience

User-centric, one-stop personalized experience

Unable to quickly respond to new service changes

Quick combination and on-demand customization for new services

New functions are released with major versions, and the requirement delivery period is long (in years or months).

Fast iteration and rollout, shortening the delivery period (in weeks or days)

Large team scale and traditional development mode

Split the team into smaller ones and agile operations with DevSecOps

Physical server

Container-based deployment and full cloudification

Application modernization not only uses cloud native technologies (such as containers, microservices, DevOps, and API gateway), but also new technologies (such as AI, virtual human, IoT, and blockchain). These technologies enable businesses to keep up with the trend of the era and improve user experience and innovation capabilities. Application modernization includes the following four aspects:

Figure 2 Four aspects of application modernization
  • Infrastructure modernization reduces costs and eases concerns. Cloud native reconstruction of traditional infrastructure delivers high availability and scalability, reduces O&M costs, and frees development and O&M personnel from manual resource allocation.
  • Architecture design modernization decouples reusable functions from business logic. Microservice and serverless architectures split applications into modules that can be quickly and independently released, so that development and O&M personnel can focus on application innovation.
  • Development and O&M modernization improves automation and security. Integrated development, O&M, and security capabilities, such as DevSecOps, provide intrinsic security and speed up application release.
  • Governance and operations modernization promotes architecture evolution by integrating legacy and new assets in all domains. Through all-domain convergence and integration and unified governance and operations, an evolvable application architecture maximizes the value of legacy and new assets.