Spend a few minutes browsing automated conversion solutions and you'll quickly realize that not all are created equal. The success of any ADS/Online conversion lies in a few key areas, each of which is relatively simple to ensure if you know what you're looking for. Skip these key considerations and your modernization is sure to be far more costly.
ADS/Online Conversion: Define the Application today, Plan for Tomorrow
Most ADS/Online applications have been in place for decades. Most are based on aging development standards with limited functionality and usability. Despite their limitations, many are still relied on to provide mission-critical business functionality. Business challenges perpetuated by these legacy systems can include:
- Disjointed development and maintenance, leading to “silo-based†usage
- Maintenance and staffing costs are high and growing
- Compliance and regulatory challenges
- Limited functionality and integration of legacy ADS/Online applications limits innovation and growth
- Data-driven architecture makes business intelligence efforts either impossible or prohibitive
Conversely, it takes a flexible, nimble organization to compete in today's aggressive business landscape. Reliable technology that is scalable and integration-friendly for growth will dictate an organization's success.
Because ADS/Online applications were built in a different time, often to serve a single purpose, they rarely meet the criteria necessary to help an organization for the long-term. Its important to understand the specific impact of legacy systems on competitive advantage and business growth in the insurance vertical. For example, if DevOps adoption is a high priority for your organization, then choosing an ADS/Online conversion solution that is easily maintainable and extensible is of the utmost importance. DevOps looks to automation and ubiquity to speed processes on top of cross-functional communication, so honing the target environment to those standards is key.
Can you Cope with the Scope?
More often than you might think, an ADS/Online conversion creates structurally similar programs in a new language, but then needs additional re-engineering efforts to yield desired results. Scoping this additional work has widely been considered a risk factor associated with many automated conversion solutions on the market.
From state and local governments to worldwide corporations, ancient undocumented applications and disappearing resources are driving ADS/Online conversion like never before. Automated Refactoring delivers a modern application and data tier with 100% like-for-like functionality as compared to the legacy application, based on fully maintainable open systems. However, caveat emptor. Before settling on an ADS/Online conversion, be sure that there is a robust portfolio analysis and feedback loops in place to properly set the stage for future application development expectations up front, a complete elimination of any licensing fees, and no hidden re-engineering requirements that might cause scope creep and introduce risk after the ADS/Online conversion is complete.
