Launch your application modernization strategy

In the App Modernization Guidance for Azure, the execution cycle starts when you launch your plans into action. To validate your chosen modernization strategies, it’s recommended to start by building an end-to-end proof of concept (PoC). With a PoC, you can move forward with confidence, mitigate risks, and show stakeholders what’s possible.

To guide the launch of your new strategy, this guide also discusses identity and access management, security, or compliance and governance considerations.

Launch objectives

As you launch your strategy, you refine your application modernization plans with the following objectives in mind:

• Deliver an end-to-end PoC.
• Consider identity and access management needs.

Expected launch outcomes

In the application modernization maturity model, organizations in the traditional foundations quadrant are getting ready to launch into the cloud, while emerging pioneers, agile innovators, and digital champions are launching a new cycle. The decisions you make at this time set the stage for later cycles of innovation and optimization.

You can expect the following outcomes:

• A PoC that validates the technical feasibility of your modernization strategies and helps show that performance, scalability, and reliability improve.
• Early identification of issues so you can mitigate technical and operational risks.
• Demonstrated value—a key to getting stakeholders to approve your plans.
• An updated modernization and implementation plan that incorporates insights from the PoC.
• Identification of best practices and process improvements for future phases.

Impact and ROI

Making decisions and building a PoC are high-impact activities that don’t necessarily generate an immediate return on investment (ROI). When you launch your strategy, you need to set expectations appropriately.

Typically, operational expenses (OpEx) increase and capital expenditures (CapEx) decrease gradually. In addition, your development teams need time and training to ramp up, so you may not see much impact on your business agility or developer velocity.

It’s common to see OpEx rise as you adopt subscription-based services. However, your overall costs become more predictable and manageable. Additionally, as you move to platform as a service (PaaS), overall costs tend to go down because maintenance and infrastructure expenses are no longer applicable.

A PoC helps you anticipate the costs and weigh various pricing options. For complex scenarios, you may want to engage Microsoft and its partners, who can help you evaluate the breadth and depth of Azure options.

Over time, your organization can reduce CapEx by transitioning to cloud-based solutions, which enable you to dynamically allocate and scale resources in real-time based demand. How much you save depends on several factors. Is the PoC business-critical? How long will it take to scale it into pilot and expanded rollout phases for production?

If you work in a highly regulated industry, you may be required to statically allocate resources. Azure Reservations can help. It provides the advantages of a capitalized IT resource with degrees of flexibility that on-premises deployments can’t replicate.

Next steps

Continue launching your modernization strategy and build a proof of concept.