February 13, 2025

Check out three firms who invested in steady, holistic modernization with outstanding success.

In my final two blogs, I explored what modernization actually means, what it takes, and why it issues for improvements like AI. Then, we walked via an efficient modernization method knowledgeable by the Forrester Application Modernization Checklist.

So, what does profitable modernization appear to be in the true world? Let’s check out three firms who invested in steady, holistic modernization with outstanding success. You’ll see how these organizations not solely applied steering from the Forrester Utility Modernization Guidelines within the quick time period, but additionally how they plan to maintain making use of these ideas for steady modernization.

Sapiens reduces downtime whereas growing agility

Sapiens, an insurtech firm serving over 600 insurers throughout 30 nations, confronted a well-known problem. Their legacy apps had develop into a barrier to scale, since all their administration teams, safety, and monitoring have been put into place earlier than they moved to the cloud. To resolve this, Sapiens knew they needed to embark on a holistic modernization mission that tied collectively technique, processes, and know-how to assist their current wants and future ambitions.

Forrester Guidelines #1: Technique. Although their goal was simple, it wasn’t easy. “Our predominant aim on the outset was to be updated with our know-how stack,” mentioned Michael Mirel, Head of Cloud and DevOps Middle of Excellence. “At first, it was IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). We rapidly realized that microservices are the place we must be by way of merchandise.”

After defining their aim, Sapiens set a plan to infuse AI into their workflows. Log Analytics in Azure Monitor enabled them to evaluate the provision of their providers (for instance, by measuring variety of service calls). From there, Azure Monitor Application Insights helped them higher perceive how their apps have been behaving and alert them to any anomalies, an method that wouldn’t have been doable with their on-premises methods alone.

Forrester Guidelines #2: Course of. Sapiens established a Cloud Middle of Excellence and a delegated group to assist their total group embrace modernization. The command middle helped information their modernization journey and infused a transformative mindset all through their day by day operations.

Forrester Guidelines #3: Expertise. Sapiens began out with conventional IaaS digital machine consumption. Modernization moved them to being a heavy client of Azure Kubernetes Service with direct entry to Microsoft’s product group. And adopting Azure Arc introduced collectively their patching and monitoring dashboards and safety administration instruments in a single pane of glass.

As a result of insurance coverage is a tightly regulated sector, Sapiens additionally sought a strategic accomplice that put fashionable safety on the forefront of their choices. They determined Microsoft Security was one of the best match to assist guarantee cloud safety and compliance with world rules. Microsoft product groups additionally provided focused assist to repeatedly enhance Sapiens’ merchandise proper alongside alongside their very own builders.

Steady modernization. Sapiens achieved their preliminary targets—however they’re nonetheless not executed. After migrating clients from knowledge facilities to the cloud, they then launched a long-term modernization mission guided by their Cloud Middle of Excellence. Mirel explains why. “We need to break down the partitions and supply extra self-service to our customers and higher service to our clients because of this,” he says. “If I’m an end-user, developer, tester, or product supervisor, I ought to have the ability to spin up one other check surroundings and launch through the night time as a substitute of being depending on DevOps or IT and having to attend a number of days.”

Altogether, Sapiens’ considerate modernization method has helped them cut back downtime, enhance agility, future-proof the group, and supply higher service to each their engineers and clients. “We’re coping with the largest insurance coverage firms on the planet which are taking our software program as a service, however we additionally have to interoperate with the prevailing ecosystems of those firms,” displays Mirel. “Because of Azure Non-public Hyperlink, we are able to join cloud to cloud in a single click on, which diminished deployment efforts by 50 p.c.”

Coles will get AI-ready and improves the shopper expertise

Main Australian retailer Coles grappled with meeting the changing demands of their customers. They observed customers anticipated to seamlessly swap between channels (bodily shops, their cellular app, and web site), and Coles needed to enhance this physical-digital expertise via modernization.

Forrester Guidelines #1: Technique. To create a seamless procuring expertise, Coles wanted to first create a seamless improvement expertise. Their groups had to have the ability to make steady, nimble app updates to maintain tempo with shifting buyer preferences. To that finish, Coles outlined a technique that saved engineers knowledgeable on what they have been setting to perform and why, so they might make selections that have been aligned to their frequent aim. After launching their journey, Coles recurrently checked their progress with insights from buyer knowledge to make sure their work was efficient.

Forrester Guidelines #2: Course of. Coles additionally took a tough take a look at their processes. Azure DevOps helped streamline workflows by enabling speedy change integration for brand new options in channel apps. Then, they started monitoring (and proceed to trace) their progress by measuring construct time and different KPIs. Anton Vishnyakov, Senior Engineer and Supervisor for Platform Engineering, has seen a distinction. “As a substitute of doing six-week releases, we now do weekly releases. And the construct occasions now take roughly 10 to fifteen minutes, in comparison with what was once a few hours.”

Forrester Guidelines #3: Expertise. To modernize their tech, Coles first recognized Microsoft as a strategic innovation accomplice. They knew Microsoft’s extremely collaborative engineering course of was well-suited to steady innovation, and Microsoft Azure may assist replace their stacks to restrict know-how sprawl. Azure enabled quicker deployments whereas nonetheless delivering a safer and secure web-based expertise for purchasers.

Extra particularly, options together with Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Kubernetes Service helped Coles get buyer insights throughout channels to additional refine their operations. After they have been prepared to show these insights into significant product updates, they might then use Azure App Service to check them earlier than launch. All of the whereas, Azure API Administration ran within the background to assist Coles maintain safety on the forefront of each stage of the method.

Steady modernization: Since embarking on their journey, Coles has solely deepened their relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft groups and choices are serving to them repeatedly refine their operations, resulting in larger Azure providers ROI and a seamless, well-orchestrated buyer expertise throughout channels.

Because of their considerate modernization method, Coles is now AI-ready, and so they’re already utilizing analytics and AI to foretell stock distribution, optimize employee scheduling, and extra. Coles’ engineers are additionally in a position to rapidly combine new product updates to deal with points and add new options, a profit that’s not misplaced on Patrik Mihailescu, Senior Engineering Supervisor, Internet. “We’re going to be transferring to day by day deployments within the subsequent six to 9 months and undoubtedly with the Azure tooling, that’s going to be tremendous key in enabling us to go even faster.” They will additionally safely create these adjustments by testing them independently with Azure App Service earlier than they’re deployed, serving to keep safety and compliance.

Credit score Europe Financial institution NV improves safety and streamlines the event course of

Credit score Europe Financial institution NV confronted a broader modernization problem, their rapidly aging on-premises infrastructure. Although the financial institution serves practically a million clients globally, their IT groups usually discovered themselves ready on {hardware} deliveries and always managing on-premises complexity. It was time for a brand new method.

Forrester Guidelines #1: Technique. Recognizing the necessity for holistic modernization, Credit score Europe Financial institution NV outlined a plan to completely reshape their infrastructure, beginning with changing their on-premises methods with the cloud. The cloud would streamline duties for his or her IT group and allow scalability, since groups would not want to attend on {hardware} or spend time configuring advanced, dated methods. Then, they turned to their workforce. Modernizing introduced a serious studying curve for the financial institution’s IT groups, in order that they developed a plan to upskill workers on cloud ideas.

Forrester Guidelines #2: Course of. Credit score Europe Financial institution NV additionally wanted to revamp their processes and measure success. They paid shut consideration to their buyer onboarding time all through their modernization, and finally discovered that they’d diminished it from three days to 9 minutes. “We now supply a contemporary, participating digital banking platform,” says Ulaş Ergin, IT, Digital Banking, and Software program Structure Division Supervisor. “All the things has been revamped for smoothness and velocity, making the entire banking expertise extra gratifying.”

Forrester Guidelines #3: Expertise. When launching their tech transformation, Credit score Europe Financial institution NV wove in safety from the beginning by selecting the Microsoft Azure cloud. As a frontrunner in safety and compliance with built-in instruments for monetary providers, Azure may assist them handle their delicate knowledge in accordance with industry-specific rules. They then tackled their aged infrastructure with Azure Kubernetes Service, a managed container orchestration platform. AKS helped simplify their operations and velocity up improvement, leading to smoother useful resource administration and a extra environment friendly surroundings arrange course of.

Steady modernization. Credit score Europe Financial institution NV continues to find new alternatives within the cloud. They’re utilizing Azure Cognitive Companies to enhance the safe dealing with of buyer ID images and are repeatedly releasing new options and merchandise. Subsequent, they’re turning their consideration to GitHub Copilot to remodel their in-house banking system.

Now, Credit score Europe Financial institution NV’s safety is stronger than ever, since migrating to the cloud enabled them to undertake digital, mobile-based comfortable tokens and biometric authentication. They’ve additionally improved their buyer expertise and even launched new providers like real-time foreign currency trading, which might have been inconceivable on their outdated system. “Buyer suggestions has been overwhelmingly constructive,” displays Berkay Çavuşoğlu, Program Supervisor. “Our company clients famous that the system’s efficiency is quicker.”

The financial institution has additionally accelerated their improvement cycle by easing the system arrange course of and administration with Azure. Azure handles many on-premises duties behind the scenes, comparable to upgrades and safety patches, so builders can concentrate on extra strategic duties. “We not have to handle the underlying infrastructure, which vastly diminished the operational pressure,” displays Teoman Sevinç, DevOps Specialist. “Prior to now, if we needed to make updates to the environment, it might disrupt our non-production setup. However with Azure, managing and organising environments is streamlined, which positively impacts our improvement life cycle.”

Are you prepared to begin your modernization journey?

With that, we’ve wrapped our weblog sequence on software modernization—however identical to modernization is rarely executed, there’s all the time extra to be taught. If you happen to missed them, revisit my earlier blogs within the sequence on the fundamentals of modernization and the small print of an efficient modernization method.

Don’t overlook to additionally learn the foundational texts that guided our work: the Forrester Consulting Application Modernization Checklist that Microsoft commissioned, and the Forrester Consulting examine Unlock Competitive Advantage with Application Modernization. You may also take a look at the next sources: