Are applications weighing you down?

Realization of a digital strategy requires flexibility from the business to market new services efficiently. However, application landscapes have often become too complex to fulfil the needs from the business.

The application landscape can be regarded as historic timeline of the organization that provides a nice picture of its evolution throughout the years: purchased software packages, custom development, or acquired through a merger. Diversity and the lack of homogeneity in the application landscape are important bottlenecks in digital transformations; such old wounds must first be stitched.

Rationalization plan

A rationalization plan can be developed to make the application landscape ‘fit for purpose’: simplifying, harmonizing, or modernizing. All used IT services and their most important characteristics are plotted on the Operation Model Canvas. Followed by analysis to determine the existence of similar services, redundancy in functionality, or use of ancient technology. Are there mismatches between the characteristics of the IT service and the business activity it supports? Potential improvements can be identified and the desired application landscape, which ís flexible and manageable, can be designed.

Prioritization

Now that the future application landscape has become clear, a plan for the application rationalisation can be developed, based on current architecture principles. Stakeholders from business and IT create a roadmap based on the prioritization and start with elimination, continuation, modification, and innovation of the applications – complemented by the selection of potential partners and solutions.

In a short period of time the applications transform from your ball and chain to the wind beneath your wings, which helps to accelerate the digital transformation of your business to a maximum degree. There is nothing weighing us down anymore!