Application modernization today

Legacy applications can hold organizations back from realizing their full potential, which is why modernizing them is necessary. However, several barriers or challenges can present themselves throughout the process:

Hesitation due to lengthy and complex digital transformation
Shortage of skilled talent for development and implementation
Apprehension about costs in modernization process
Concerns over evolving regulatory landscape
Security concerns and vulnerabilities during transition
Resistance to organizational change and adaptation

Despite these challenges, organizations recognize that modernization is essential to remain competitive and agile in today's ever-evolving business environment. Recent industry trends indicate that 92% of organizations plan to or are currently modernizing their applications. However, most struggle with where to begin. KPMG's experience in digital transformation can help companies streamline processes, increase efficiency, and boost productivity, all of which can position them for future success.

92%

of organizations plan to or are currently modernizing their applications

16% have just started

34% have made moderate progress

18% have made significant progress

28%

of organizations want to modernize, but many don't know where to start

8% don't plan to modernize at all

28% plan to modernize, but have not started yet

Benefits of modernization

speed

Speed to market

payment

Lower technology costs

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Improved security posture

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Scalability and resiliency

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Enhanced user experience

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Streamlined technology landscape

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Speed

Accelerate the migration process up to 10x, boosting efficiency

savings

Savings

Cut the expense of licensing and maintaining your legacy systems

Savings of between 50% and 85%

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Remove Technical Debt

Simplify the transition from legacy systems through automated digitization and implementation

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Security

Reduce security vulnerabilities associated with legacy systems, ensuring that sensitive data remains protected

Accelerating modernization with GenAI

KPMG leverages an advanced GenAI technology that extracts business requirements from your legacy applications and helps transform them into modern low and no-code solutions. The technology enables accelerated application discovery, re-engineering, and development, which significantly reduces the cost, time and risk to application development and migration.

In addition to this technology, we leverage an integrated suite of assets, automation, and tools, backed by our business expertise and alliances. Our capabilities support the end-to-end application lifecycle, which include program management, change management, risk management, data migration, low-code implementation, and cybersecurity.

Our methodology and experience, coupled with our strategic alliances, positions KPMG among the leaders in application modernization.

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KPMG application modernization methodology

Legacy application analysis

Business Rule Engine
IT Service Management
Collaboration Platform
BPM Platforms
Integration Tools
Programming Languages
Database Management
Document Management
Low-code Platform

Enablement using GenAI

Extract

Application and config files extracted from legacy systems using machine learning and logic mining.
Reengineer

Legacy app files converted to Universal Application Notation (UAN); practitioners review and modify apps based on extracted elements.
Transform

UAN transformed to configuration files based on the specifications of the desired platform; further changes as needed completed following SDLC.

Build a migration strategy by analyzing application landscape, accessing legacy applications, defining modernization targets, and planning the application transformation(s).

Leverage the GenAI technology to extract, reengineer, and transform each application according to the migration plan.

Deploy on modern platforms

Confirm and configure applications on the target modern platform via agile sprint iterations. Complete testing phase, deploy to production, and provide ongoing hypercare and application support.

Success story

An HR legacy application, built on .NET/SQL, needed to be modernized.
The goal of the modernization was to transition the legacy application to the ServiceNow platform, while minimizing development time, effort, and cost.
By working with KPMG and leveraging Legacy Modernization automation resources (Powered by GenAI), developers estimated reductions of development effort of up to 25-30% in the areas of scope for Legacy Modernization (Powered by GenAI). The tool produced about 10-20% of development effort for creating workflows and 60-80% of development effort for creating tables and roles.
KPMG enabled a transition to ServiceNow to remove technical debt, improve user experience, and increase efficiencies in development speed.

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Unlike technology-only firms, we can draw from our deep bench of in-house talent to form teams that can cover all the bases required for a successful and sustainable AI or analytics project. Please don't hesitate to contact us!

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César Santos

Technology Consulting Associate Partner

KPMG in Portugal

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