IT Modernization

What is Information Technology Modernization?

Information Technology Modernization or IT Modernization is the refactoring, re-purposing or consolidation of legacy IT Capability to align it more closely with current business needs. All aspects of an organization's IT Operations, Enterprise Architecture and Organization are assessed, evaluated, remodeled, and modified as needed. The goal of an IT Modernization Project is to:

• Align IT Capability with Business Needs
• Reduce the cost of IT Operations
• Introduce new technologies into the organization
• Refresh IT skills

While the IT modernization definition varies across businesses, industries, and personas, it ultimately is the leveraging of technology to meet changing and expanding business goals. It means the alignment of IT and business to compete in the current day digital economy. It means the digitalization and Customer Experience Management (CEM)improvement in the customer experience]] to elevate service levels and create market differentiation.

Examples of IT Modernization

Today’s businesses can modernize in variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common in 2018 include:

• ERP replacement: Electronic Resource Planning systems are the information backbone of most companies, and upgrading to a new solution (whether cloud-based or on-premise) is increasingly common as more ERP products that better align to a company’s vision hit the market.
• AS/400 decommissioning: The IBM iSeries AS/400 has been a highly dependable software solution across industries for decades, but a lack of product knowledge and integration capabilities have many companies phasing it out in favor of a more modern, user-friendly platform.
• Mergers and acquisitions/divestitures: When businesses merge, a whole bunch of systems and processes come together under one proverbial roof, and the business often chooses to consolidate many of them onto a single integration platform. Conversely, when a divestiture happens, one or more of the divested organizations may be left without a proper EDI technology (and its associated resources), for example, and have to procure and implement a managed-service solution.
• Replacing a legacy EDI solution: The standardized EDI format and digital file transfer transformed B2B communications when it replaced paper documents, and EDI still very much drives global commerce today. But many aging EDI solutions, including EDI VANs, cannot deliver the modern governance, visibility, and integration capabilities in a cost-effective way that supports such important revenue-generating data flows.
• Migrating homegrown integration tools: The custom-built solutions that facilitate your data flows are too often pieced together by layers of hand code that is development-intensive, hinders partner onboarding, and limits scalability and growth. Modern B2B integration platforms provide out-of-the-box functionality so you spend less time managing the data minutiae and more time managing your core business functions.

See Also

• Application Modernization
• Application Modernization Services
• IT Cost Optimization
• Business IT Alignment
• IT Transformation
• IT Strategic Plan (Information Technology Strategic Plan)
• IT Strategic Planning
• IT Strategy (Information Technology Strategy)
• IT Governance
• Enterprise Architecture Life Cycle (EALC)
• Enterprise Architecture
• IT Operating Model
• IT Operations (Information Technology Operations)