Make an inventory and collect data

Application modernization starts with a comprehensive inventory of your digital estate. An inventory includes all your applications, databases, and infrastructure components across on-premises and cloud environments.

A comprehensive inventory helps you:

• Set the scope of your modernization efforts.
• Identify outdated systems and critical applications that require immediate attention.
• Pinpoint potential security and data protection vulnerabilities.
• Uncover inefficient workflows and practices.
• Find areas for optimization.

Discover and assess your digital estate

To get visibility into your on-premises applications, you can choose from a range of discovery tools and agentless or agent-based methods. Popular choices include UnifyCloud and CAST Highlight.

The Azure Migrate application and code assessment tools (AppCAT) is recommended for assessing application binaries and source code for cloud readiness and generating a report. Your inventory should include each application’s purpose, usage patterns, and any dependencies on other systems or services. For example:

• Map dependencies among applications, databases, and services using AppCAT and tools such as Azure Arc-enabled data services data collection and reporting.
• Use data about an application’s performance, usage, and dependencies to identify issues and candidates for modernization. AppCAT can provide recommendations.
• Take advantage of the integration of GitHub Copilot and Azure Migrate to identify potential issues and opportunities for optimization.

Assess data modernization needs

Modernizing applications means modernizing data, too. We recommend the following tools and best practices:

• Classify data based on sensitivity, compliance requirements, and business value.
• Develop a strategy for migrating data to modern platforms, such as Azure SQL Database, Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server, or other cloud-native data services.
• Consider the role that Azure Arc can play in managing and modernizing data services across hybrid and multicloud environments.

Assess security requirements

A thorough security assessment identifies vulnerabilities. We recommend getting the secure score provided by Microsoft Defender for Cloud. The secure score provides a comprehensive measure of your security posture. It aggregates security findings into a single score, helping you quickly assess your current security situation. You receive prioritized recommendations and can see how your score changes with time.

The secure score is based on Microsoft cloud security benchmark (MCSB) practices. Microsoft developed this security guidance in alignment with industry standards, including Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) framework. In implementing MCSB, you can help improve the security of your workloads, data, and services on Azure.

Assess compliance

An assessment must ensure that regulatory requirements are met as you make plans to modernize applications. We recommend the following practices and tools:

• Make sure that Azure services comply with your regulatory requirements. You can use Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager to compare your compliance posture against various regulatory requirements. Compliance Manager provides a dashboard to track compliance status and offers actionable insights to address gaps.
• Maintain documentation of compliance activities and evidence to support audits and regulatory reviews.
• Implement Azure Policy to enforce organizational standards and assess compliance at scale. You can create, assign, and manage policies to ensure resources comply with corporate standards and service-level agreements.

Analyze and optimize costs

An assessment of costs starts with the total cost of ownership (TCO) for your current on-premises and cloud environments. Then you can identify opportunities for savings through resource optimization, right-sizing, and cloud-native services.

This section covers several essential Microsoft tools for estimating and managing the costs associated with application migration and modernization.

Azure Pricing Calculator

Use the Azure Pricing Calculator to estimate the costs of Azure services based on your anticipated usage. You select the Azure services you plan to use, such as virtual machines, databases, storage, and networking, along with relevant details, including Azure region, instance type, and usage patterns.

Getting specific gives you a more accurate cost estimate. The calculator provides a detailed breakdown of costs, including monthly and annual estimates. You can adjust configurations, see how changes impact costs, and export your estimates to share with stakeholders for further analysis and decision-making.

TCO Calculator

Use the TCO Calculator to compare the costs of running your workloads on-premises versus on Azure. The TCO calculator gives you insights into potential cost savings and efficiencies.

For example, you can provide details about your current on-premises infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking, and IT labor costs and define the workloads you plan to migrate to Azure, including the type of applications, databases, and other services.

Deepen your assessment using AI copilots

You can use AI copilots to accelerate assessments and get recommendations about just about anything—from platforms and services to code-level suggestions.

Here are some ways ideas to make planning easier:

• Automate assessments. Microsoft Copilot in Azure can perform automated assessments of your existing applications, identifying dependencies, potential issues, and areas for improvement. Copilot for Azure can ingest AppCAT reports and help you tailor your plans to your specific needs.
• Optimize applications. Copilot in Azure offers suggestions for optimizing your applications during and after the migration process and provides recommendations for refactoring code and adopting new architectural patterns.
• Reduce risk. To mitigate complexity and risks during the migration process, Copilot in Azure works with AppCAT. You can get step-by-step guidance, from initial setup to final deployment.
• Automate tasks. For repetitive tasks like data migration, configuration, and testing, you can use Copilot in Azure with AppCAT.
• Promote collaboration. The integration of Copilot Chat capabilities within GitHub, Azure Migrate, and other tools makes it easy for developers to discuss issues and get help writing and troubleshooting their code.

Next steps

Are you ready for application and data modernization?