January 25, 2025
Actual-world success with steady modernization

Check out three firms who invested in steady, holistic modernization with exceptional success.

In my final two blogs, I explored what modernization actually means, what it takes, and why it issues for improvements like AI. Then, we walked by an efficient modernization method knowledgeable by the Forrester Application Modernization Checklist.

So, what does profitable modernization appear like in the actual world? Let’s check out three firms who invested in steady, holistic modernization with exceptional success. You’ll see how these organizations not solely applied steerage from the Forrester Software Modernization Guidelines within the brief time period, but in addition how they plan to maintain making use of these ideas for steady modernization.

Sapiens reduces downtime whereas growing agility

Sapiens, an insurtech firm serving over 600 insurers throughout 30 international locations, confronted a well-recognized problem. Their legacy apps had turn into a barrier to scale, since all their administration teams, safety, and monitoring had been put into place earlier than they moved to the cloud. To unravel this, Sapiens knew they needed to embark on a holistic modernization venture that tied collectively technique, processes, and know-how to assist their current wants and future ambitions.

Forrester Guidelines #1: Technique. Although their goal was easy, it wasn’t easy. “Our predominant objective on the outset was to be updated with our know-how stack,” stated Michael Mirel, Head of Cloud and DevOps Middle of Excellence. “At first, it was IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). We rapidly realized that microservices are the place we should be by way of merchandise.”

After defining their objective, Sapiens set a plan to infuse AI into their workflows. Log Analytics in Azure Monitor enabled them to evaluate the supply of their providers (for instance, by measuring variety of service calls). From there, Azure Monitor Application Insights helped them higher perceive how their apps had been behaving and alert them to any anomalies, an method that wouldn’t have been attainable with their on-premises methods alone.

Forrester Guidelines #2: Course of. Sapiens established a Cloud Middle of Excellence and a delegated workforce to assist their whole group embrace modernization. The command middle helped information their modernization journey and infused a transformative mindset all through their each day operations.

Forrester Guidelines #3: Know-how. Sapiens began out with conventional IaaS digital machine consumption. Modernization moved them to being a heavy client of Azure Kubernetes Service with direct entry to Microsoft’s product workforce. And adopting Azure Arc introduced collectively their patching and monitoring dashboards and safety administration instruments in a single pane of glass.

As a result of insurance coverage is a tightly regulated sector, Sapiens additionally sought a strategic companion that put trendy safety on the forefront of their choices. They determined Microsoft Security was the most effective match to assist guarantee cloud safety and compliance with international laws. Microsoft product groups additionally supplied focused assist to repeatedly enhance Sapiens’ merchandise proper alongside alongside their very own builders.

Steady modernization. Sapiens achieved their preliminary objectives—however they’re nonetheless not carried out. After migrating prospects from information facilities to the cloud, they then launched a long-term modernization venture guided by their Cloud Middle of Excellence. Mirel explains why. “We need to break down the partitions and supply extra self-service to our customers and higher service to our prospects consequently,” he says. “If I’m an end-user, developer, tester, or product supervisor, I ought to have the ability to spin up one other take a look at setting and launch throughout the night time as a substitute of being depending on DevOps or IT and having to attend a number of days.”

Altogether, Sapiens’ considerate modernization method has helped them cut back downtime, improve agility, future-proof the group, and supply higher service to each their engineers and prospects. “We’re coping with the largest insurance coverage firms on the planet which are taking our software program as a service, however we additionally have to interoperate with the present ecosystems of those firms,” displays Mirel. “Because of Azure Non-public Hyperlink, we will join cloud to cloud in a single click on, which diminished deployment efforts by 50 p.c.”

Coles will get AI-ready and improves the shopper expertise

Main Australian retailer Coles grappled with meeting the changing demands of their customers. They seen buyers anticipated to seamlessly swap between channels (bodily shops, their cell app, and web site), and Coles needed to enhance this physical-digital expertise by modernization.

Forrester Guidelines #1: Technique. To create a seamless purchasing expertise, Coles wanted to first create a seamless growth expertise. Their groups had to have the ability to make steady, nimble app updates to maintain tempo with shifting buyer preferences. To that finish, Coles outlined a method that saved engineers knowledgeable on what they had been setting to perform and why, so they might make choices that had been aligned to their frequent objective. After launching their journey, Coles usually checked their progress with insights from buyer information to make sure their work was efficient.

Forrester Guidelines #2: Course of. Coles additionally took a tough take a look at their processes. Azure DevOps helped streamline workflows by enabling speedy change integration for brand spanking new options in channel apps. Then, they started monitoring (and proceed to trace) their progress by measuring construct time and different KPIs. Anton Vishnyakov, Senior Engineer and Supervisor for Platform Engineering, has seen a distinction. “As a substitute of doing six-week releases, we now do weekly releases. And the construct instances now take roughly 10 to fifteen minutes, in comparison with what was once a few hours.”

Forrester Guidelines #3: Know-how. To modernize their tech, Coles first recognized Microsoft as a strategic innovation companion. They knew Microsoft’s extremely collaborative engineering course of was well-suited to steady innovation, and Microsoft Azure might assist replace their stacks to restrict know-how sprawl. Azure enabled sooner deployments whereas nonetheless delivering a safer and protected web-based expertise for patrons.

Extra particularly, options together with Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Kubernetes Service helped Coles get buyer insights throughout channels to additional refine their operations. After they had been prepared to show these insights into significant product updates, they might then use Azure App Service to check them earlier than launch. All of the whereas, Azure API Administration ran within the background to assist Coles preserve safety on the forefront of each stage of the method.

Steady modernization: Since embarking on their journey, Coles has solely deepened their relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft groups and choices are serving to them repeatedly refine their operations, resulting in better Azure providers ROI and a seamless, well-orchestrated buyer expertise throughout channels.

Because of their considerate modernization method, Coles is now AI-ready, they usually’re already utilizing analytics and AI to foretell stock distribution, optimize employee scheduling, and extra. Coles’ engineers are additionally in a position to rapidly combine new product updates to handle points and add new options, a profit that’s not misplaced on Patrik Mihailescu, Senior Engineering Supervisor, Internet. “We’re going to be shifting to each day deployments within the subsequent six to 9 months and undoubtedly with the Azure tooling, that’s going to be tremendous key in enabling us to go even faster.” They will additionally safely create these adjustments by testing them independently with Azure App Service earlier than they’re deployed, serving to preserve safety and compliance.

Credit score Europe Financial institution NV improves safety and streamlines the event course of

Credit score Europe Financial institution NV confronted a broader modernization problem, their rapidly aging on-premises infrastructure. Although the financial institution serves practically a million prospects globally, their IT groups usually discovered themselves ready on {hardware} deliveries and consistently managing on-premises complexity. It was time for a brand new method.

Forrester Guidelines #1: Technique. Recognizing the necessity for holistic modernization, Credit score Europe Financial institution NV outlined a plan to completely reshape their infrastructure, beginning with changing their on-premises methods with the cloud. The cloud would streamline duties for his or her IT workforce and allow scalability, since groups would now not want to attend on {hardware} or spend time configuring advanced, dated methods. Then, they turned to their workforce. Modernizing offered a serious studying curve for the financial institution’s IT groups, in order that they developed a plan to upskill staff on cloud ideas.

Forrester Guidelines #2: Course of. Credit score Europe Financial institution NV additionally wanted to revamp their processes and measure success. They paid shut consideration to their buyer onboarding time all through their modernization, and ultimately discovered that they’d diminished it from three days to 9 minutes. “We now supply a contemporary, participating digital banking platform,” says Ulaş Ergin, IT, Digital Banking, and Software program Structure Division Supervisor. “Every thing has been revamped for smoothness and pace, making the entire banking expertise extra pleasing.”

Forrester Guidelines #3: Know-how. When launching their tech transformation, Credit score Europe Financial institution NV wove in safety from the beginning by selecting the Microsoft Azure cloud. As a pacesetter in safety and compliance with built-in instruments for monetary providers, Azure might assist them handle their delicate information in accordance with industry-specific laws. They then tackled their aged infrastructure with Azure Kubernetes Service, a managed container orchestration platform. AKS helped simplify their operations and pace up growth, leading to smoother useful resource administration and a extra environment friendly setting arrange course of.

Steady modernization. Credit score Europe Financial institution NV continues to find new alternatives within the cloud. They’re utilizing Azure Cognitive Providers to enhance the safe dealing with of buyer ID photographs and are repeatedly releasing new options and merchandise. Subsequent, they’re turning their consideration to GitHub Copilot to rework their in-house banking system.

Now, Credit score Europe Financial institution NV’s safety is stronger than ever, since migrating to the cloud enabled them to undertake digital, mobile-based comfortable tokens and biometric authentication. They’ve additionally improved their buyer expertise and even launched new providers like real-time foreign currency trading, which might have been unattainable on their previous system. “Buyer suggestions has been overwhelmingly constructive,” displays Berkay Çavuşoğlu, Program Supervisor. “Our company prospects famous that the system’s efficiency is quicker.”

The financial institution has additionally accelerated their growth cycle by easing the system arrange course of and administration with Azure. Azure handles many on-premises duties behind the scenes, akin to upgrades and safety patches, so builders can concentrate on extra strategic duties. “We now not have to handle the underlying infrastructure, which drastically diminished the operational pressure,” displays Teoman Sevinç, DevOps Specialist. “Prior to now, if we needed to make updates to our surroundings, it might disrupt our non-production setup. However with Azure, managing and organising environments is streamlined, which positively impacts our growth life cycle.”

Are you prepared to begin your modernization journey?

With that, we’ve wrapped our weblog collection on software modernization—however similar to modernization is rarely carried out, there’s all the time extra to study. In case you missed them, revisit my earlier blogs within the collection on the fundamentals of modernization and the main points of an efficient modernization method.

Don’t neglect to additionally learn the foundational texts that guided our work: the Forrester Consulting Application Modernization Checklist that Microsoft commissioned, and the Forrester Consulting research Unlock Competitive Advantage with Application Modernization. You can even take a look at the next assets: