How application transformation unlocks cloud value

In brief

• Under pressure to reinvent their businesses, companies are responding by increasing investment in migration to cloud platforms.
• The accelerated dash to cloud has created a cloud value gap—businesses are not realizing the agility, resiliency and cost savings they expected.
• Application transformation closes this value gap and unlocks next-level cloud outcomes through a holistic “migrate to modernize” strategy.
• Accenture provides four recommendations to help companies cut through the complexity and implement a strategic approach to application transformation.

Commitment to cloud is surging

Under pressure to reinvent their businesses, companies are increasing their investments in cloud migration. 

 This accelerated dash to cloud created a cloud value gap 

The rush to cloud has created a cloud value gap—businesses are not realizing the faster innovation, greater agility, increased resilience and lower costs than they expected. In fact, recent Accenture research shows that nearly six in 10 organizations reported they are experiencing the cloud value gap, and only 42% of companies are fully achieving their desired cloud outcomes. 

Modernization is the key to opportunity

For companies yet to embark on a cloud journey, now is the time to adopt a holistic “migrate to modernize” strategy that unlocks total enterprise reinvention for greater cloud value. For organizations that have already migrated, it’s imperative to fully embrace the critical next step: modernization. This modernization imperative applies to all parts of the enterprise technology estate—and nowhere is this more relevant than in application development and management to leverage the full range of capabilities in new cloud environments.

^{Source: The race to cloud: Reaching the inflection point to long sought value}

Modernization journeys are complex and multifaceted, however, and although it’s true that organizations increase their business value by modernizing their enterprise applications environments, this reinvention can also mean greater cost, time and transformation complexity. Especially when it comes to legacy estate, companies rarely have the benefit of starting with a blank slate and must instead continue to manage their existing applications and determine which cloud disposition is the most suitable. The good news is that companies have a broad spectrum of modernization options for increasing the speed and agility of their existing applications.

Application transformation is the path to cloud value

A robust application transformation program is critical to achieving cloud value, focused on four key objectives:

• Shifting to cloud native development and achieving the true innovation potential of cloud
• Developing an application modernization strategy, either by adopting “migrate to modernize” or as part of the post-migration cloud approach
• Practicing good application hygiene to reimagine the engineering experience with modern tools, processes, platforms and architecture
• Driving continuous enterprise reinvention through software-driven business innovation

Cloud native achieves greater speed and agility in cloud

• Cloud-native development allows organizations to build and maintain applications that are more scalable across the enterprise, can incorporate new capabilities, and operate seamlessly across dynamic cloud environments.

Application modernization accelerates business value

• “Migrate to modernize” creates more robust, secure and resilient application estates that accelerate delivery of new business value, including good application hygiene, digital decoupling and multi-modal application transformation, and value-led prioritization.

Application transformation unlocks next-level cloud outcomes

Organizations gain the greatest cloud value by modernizing their applications to enable innovative enterprise reinvention. Such transformation leverages the full capabilities in their new cloud environments, and reimagines how organizations develop, deploy, operate and maintain their applications.

That’s why application transformation is the core of the value realization agenda:

• greater business agility,
• breakdown of organizational silos,
• accelerated innovation,
• reduced time to market,
• optimized costs, and
• transformed IT talent.

Companies that unlock next-level cloud outcomes through modernization and application transformation close the value gap to achieve long-expected benefits of greater agility, speed, resilience and cost-effectiveness in the cloud.