What is Modernization of Technology?

When it comes to your company, at some point in time you must consider an end-to-end approach for managing and upgrading your business technologies — moving away from older technology to new products and solutions that can automate processes smoothly. Modernization is an effort that can be applied to any portion of your technological ecosystem which can ultimately deliver greater results for your organization. Let’s dive more into the modernization of technology and its benefits.  

What is Modernization of Technology?

Modernization of technology, also known as IT modernization, is the process of upgrading or moving away from old solutions, legacy systems, and consolidating systems and workflows with a more automated, innovative solution primarily offered by the cloud.  

The goal of modernization is to meet and leverage expanding business goals. By aligning the technology and operations needed to compete in today’s digital economy, you can improve your services and create something different that will draw your audience in.  

When Is It Time to Modernize? 

If you’re finding your technology or standard operations are failing to keep up with the pace needed by your customers or employees, it might be time to consider IT modernization.

Even if a system has been reliable in the past, there comes a point where it can have a direct and negative impact on efficiency as the company, product, and industry grows over time. A modernized system opens the door to a wave of improvements — streamlining processes, tightening up security concerns, and ultimately saving the company money through reliability. 

There’s also the possibility that you don’t think your company needs to explore modernization. Maybe your technology is more recent or it’s “good enough to get the job done.” So, the modernization of technology shouldn’t be something to consider, right? 

Not necessarily! 

The industry is constantly changing, and “good enough” can be a damaging mindset to maintain a competitive edge. Improvements to cloud technology come every year, business objectives shift, and company growth is inevitable. All of these factors are things to consider when exploring if the time is right to modernize. 

Is Digital Transformation and IT Modernization the same?  

While learning about the modernization of technology, you may have seen both digital transformation and IT modernization used when describing it. These keywords are both important, yet vary in different ways. Both terms, however, are closely tied to and are products of Digitalization: 

“Digitalization is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business.” (Gartner) 

Digital Transformation 

This is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business — being a cultural change that requires organizations to challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure. An important stepping stone for all businesses that want to expand, big and small, digital transformation can look different to all companies. Digital Transformation encompasses so much more of the tools you use. It helps you map your technology strategy, consider the tools you’ve established, and so much more.  

“Digital transformation can refer to anything from IT modernization (for example, cloud computing), to digital optimization, to the invention of new digital business models.” (Gartner) 

To identify if digital transformation is best for your company, you should start with a problem statement, an opportunity that is clear, or a goal that is aspirational. The level of transformation needed varies based on different demands and needs such as customer experience, operational agility, culture and leadership, workforce enablement, and your ability to integrate.  

IT Modernization

This concept is mostly focused on embracing the cloud — whether that be cloud migration, hybrid cloud, or multi-cloud solutions. By bringing your infrastructure up to date with your new business goals, it can become the backbone of your operating environment by means of storing vital applications and data within the cloud. Modernizing your IT infrastructure, it opens the door to other advanced, data integration technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). 

“IT Modernization is the process of moving away from aging software and hardware in which you consolidate systems and workflows in favor of automated and innovative solutions.” (Cleo)” 

Applying Digital Transformation and IT Modernization

This leads to the final element of what drives digital transformation and IT modernization: It all comes down to enabling innovation.  

Nurturing an environment of innovation is something every business should strive for. If your company is burdened with out-of-date systems, it makes it exponentially harder for impactful innovation to occur. Consider the power technologies like cloud hybrid architecture or automation that can help you reduce and measure technical debt. The time saved by implementing even one of these systems can ultimately end up paying for itself. 

The first step to your company’s Digital Transformation is identifying the need for one in the first place, however, finding the right approach can be difficult — that’s where an experienced technology partner can help out.