The platforms offer the infrastructure necessary to rebuild legacy applications while fixing their flaws quickly.
Businesses are frequently modernizing legacy applications. They want to transition to public or private cloud infrastructure and deconstruct monolithic application architectures into services.
They also want to implement various other DevOps best practices, create CI/CD pipelines, add test automation, and enhance user experience.
Although it was once common, many CIOs and DevOps teams now fear using a lift-and-shift approach to modernize applications. There are migration risks due to:
- The application’s architecture
- Security
- Performance
- Costs
In such cases, the cost of migration and testing may not result in many business advantages or end-user enhancements.
Organizations increasingly turn to low-code and no-code platforms as a substitute for lift and shift.
When to use a no-code platform versus a low-code platform
One method to increase the viability of application modernization is to use low-code and no-code platforms.
Developers won’t be able to directly port the current code and databases to one of these platforms. But, they offer the infrastructure necessary to rebuild legacy applications while fixing their flaws quickly.
When designing software, organizations must consider the following:
- The larger system
- A wider range of potential solutions
- Longer time scale.
Legacy applications prove that a significant portion of the cost of software is in its long-term maintenance. Low-code and no-code applications are easy to maintain as they reduce complexity.
Platforms with little or no code can speed up application modernization, but only sometimes. Firms need a good fit between the capabilities of a low or no-code platform. Some points to consider are:
- The business requirements
- User experience
- Data
- Architecture
- Integrations
- Security needs
- Compliance factors
- Reporting of the application
Does the application fit the bill?
Low-code and no-code applications and use cases are more appropriate for certain applications.
High on the list are programs used for departmental business operations like:
- Approval workflows
- Onboarding
- Content management
- Work queues
- Request processing
- Budget management
- Asset tracking
Integrating, joining, and merging data sets to feed applications, reports, or automation is a different category of use cases.
Desktop programs improve the fundamentals of these business processes and data flow. Department heads could accept the manual workflow. They can also automate some processes using robotic process automation (RPA) tools.
Developers can also create a no-code application or ask IT to create one. Many chose to code an application approved by IT over using a low-code or business process management platform.
Any proprietary application requires ongoing maintenance. However, smaller departmental applications frequently receive the least care. Low-code and no-code platforms can serve as modernization acceleration tools.
Qualities of a low-code platform
Rebuilding the application in a no-code platform can be difficult. Platforms with low code that hasten development are more likely to have the necessary flexibility. Some even have tools included to speed up modernization.
Numerously inbuilt accelerators are available on contemporary low-code development platforms. Low-code platforms provide a flexible way to speed up modernization if time and money are limited dramatically.
They do this by packaging existing business logic in the legacy application via APIs and consuming them in contemporary, effective, secure front ends. Look for platforms with modernization tools, app stores, or translators for particular coding languages.
These show that the platform offers the essential building blocks for updating old applications.
Low- or no-code app modernization use cases
It is important to consider the type of modernization project that fits the team’s goals. Some application modernization scenarios are better suited for low-code and no-code tools than others.
1. Upgrading the user experience
Rebuilding the user experience, business logic, and data flows from the ground up is a common strategy for modernization. Business executives who understand the need to transform their operations might want to redesign.
However, they need more resources, time, or interest to create a custom cloud-native application. Building a new experience in a low-code platform might be a good option.
Especially if stakeholders are willing to accept how low-code platforms can simplify implementations.
Low code has emerged as a way to modernize legacy systems created from a traditional perspective. The goal is to create a contemporary version rather than merely copy or replicate the current system.
Low-code and no-code technologies provide well-defined frameworks. They are abstract and have modern components to accomplish this. This approach adds value with the ability to quickly develop a modernized system that suits current business needs.
Custom codes often require developer resources to maintain and update over time. When viewed as a low- or no-code, abstractions are faster. They enable quicker support systems outside of the developers’ core competencies.
Instead of poring over outdated code, new developers can pick it up quicker.
The redesign approach performs best when working with business sponsors and open-minded stakeholders.
Firms need to find stakeholders who are open to implementing new workflows. It is easy to work with people willing to adjust existing ones. They are less likely to see legacy tasks as rigid requirements.
2. The redesign of manual procedures
A different modernization strategy calls for updating an existing business procedure that involves numerous difficult manual steps.
Developers need complete legacy applications. Especially when end users perform more labor-intensive tasks outside the application. Such applications are heavily data-driven without carefully designed business processes.
Redesigning can use automation to replace the manual steps by concentrating on the process gaps. Legacy processes are slow, costly, and prone to errors. They rely on manual processes that take much time and restrict scalability.
As a result, they need to catch up with the pace of modern business. With the help of low-code and no-code solutions, businesses can automate end-to-end quality at higher speeds.
The tools lower maintenance costs, streamlining the process for development teams and conserving resources.
3. Using low-code test automation in place of UAT
Occasionally, IT must update an application platform whose business users are not particularly interested in changing. IT requires users to conduct user acceptance testing (UAT) on the updated application, but they need more drive to do so.
A bottleneck occurs when IT cannot secure the support necessary to create test cases and perform repetitive testing. One workaround is to modernize these applications using conventional methods and then create regression tests using a low-code test automation platform.
Also Read:Benefits of Adopting Low-code No-code Development
The objective is to eliminate the bottleneck in the UAT while leaving a set of regression tests to support upcoming upgrades.
Switching to automation helps streamline processes. It identifies potential bottlenecks and empowers non-developer roles like business analysts and testers.
This ensures quality with AI-augmented quality engineering tools. Developer teams can then devote more time to more specialized tasks and speed up the release of high-quality apps.
In conclusion, no-code and low-code platforms provide a number of ways to speed up application modernization. Developers can speed up the process by understanding requirements.
Firms must work with stakeholders on changing business processes. Low-code and no-code platforms can speed up development as easing ongoing maintenance are all essential to success.
