Refactoring Legacy Applications

Application refactoring has become a critical process for businesses. Legacy applications often underpin essential everyday operations, yet because they have traditional and often inflexible architectures, they can hinder a business’s ability to remain flexible, adaptable and agile. Almost all businesses are now using the cloud in some capacity or another, and ensuring all critical applications are optimised to allow for full integration with other services has become key to ensuring business continuity. 

Understanding your legacy applications 

Legacy applications are pieces of software which, despite having out of support components, continue to operate and fulfil their intended purpose. These applications have often served businesses well and faithfully for years, but continued reliance on outdated applications while modernisation is happening in other areas of the ecosystem can pose significant risks for businesses.  

A key worry is that vendors simply don’t provide support or fixes for these older applications. Imagine a crucial patch being released; if a business were to apply it to a system that’s no longer supported, it could cause the whole thing to go belly up, bringing the supported operations to a standstill. So, modernising these legacy systems isn’t just about keeping businesses nimble; these old applications can really put business continuity at risk.

The need for refactoring 

To keep those risks from unsupported software at bay, giving legacy applications a good overhaul is absolutely vital. This ‘refactoring’ business means tidying up and optimising the application’s code to bring it up to modern business standards, and shifting to a more up-to-date tech setup, so it plays nicely with cloud-based applications and systems.

Now, businesses have a few choices when it comes to getting these apps sorted:

• Refactoring: Basically, giving the code a good spruce up for the cloud, while keeping the app doing its usual thing.
• Rearchitecting: Designing a whole new application layout to boost performance and add new tricks, extending the system’s lifespan.
• Rewriting: Starting completely afresh, writing the application from the ground up for a modern, cloud environment.

Each of these options has its own set of hurdles, and the time, money, and effort needed to modernise these old apps can make any business think twice. But it’s crucial for businesses to weigh up the pros and cons of sticking with these old legacy applications. More often than not, a bit of refactoring is a sound investment.

The benefits of application refactoring 

The potential consequences of an application that supports mission-critical processes breaking means assured business continuity is one of the primary benefits of application refactoring. But there are other benefits that mean application refactoring makes good business sense: 

• Enhanced support: Businesses running older versions of Microsoft’s .NET framework are missing out on updates that aim to enhance performance, security and compatibility with the latest technologies. Refactoring applications for a newer framework ensures the application remains compatible with evolving technology and gives businesses access to ongoing support. 

• Future-proofed applications: Refactoring provides an opportunity for businesses to future-proof applications and critical systems. By adopting modern technologies and frameworks, businesses are better able to stay ahead of the curve and remain agile, compatible and competitive through future technology and marketplace advances. 

• Improved application efficiency: The refactoring process gives businesses an opportunity to analyse legacy applications in detail. This means they can eliminate the features that are no longer used, thereby streamlining the system and enhancing performance and usability. 

• Explore new application architectures: Refactoring legacy applications can open doors to entirely new architectures that further enhance business systems and overall resilience. For example, migration from a desktop-based Windows application to a cloud-based platform can give businesses access to associated mobile applications, which can drive further accessibility and usability improvements. 

• Reduced technical debt: Legacy applications can be an ongoing source of technical debt, with IT teams frequently tasked with fixing coding compromises, bugs and other ad hoc issues. Converting these applications to cloud-ready structures means they are easily and quickly adaptable and can leverage automated patching to reduce the amount of time and money required to maintain optimal performance.  

• 24/7 availability: Legacy systems are often hosted locally, and this can limit the availability and scalability of key applications. By refactoring these applications and migrating them to the cloud, businesses can benefit from the serverless platforms, high availability with failovers, and scalable, on-demand resources that the cloud offers. 

A roadmap for refactoring  

The process of refactoring legacy applications for contemporary technology stacks and facilitating their migration to cloud environments presents considerable complexity and requires substantial time investment. These legacy applications, frequently subject to unsystematic patches and modifications over extended periods, can support underlying workflows that are not readily apparent and lack formal documentation. Consequently, it is imperative that businesses meticulously roadmap their refactoring initiatives and engage with migration specialists to guarantee comprehensive consideration of all critical processes and workflows. At BCN, for instance, our team of expert developers, holding Microsoft certifications, ensures the complete migration of legacy .NET applications to the latest framework, thereby securing longevity and providing businesses with sustained access to ongoing support for years to come.

Your partner for application refactoring 

The refactoring of legacy systems constitutes a critical undertaking for organisations seeking to safeguard business continuity, optimise systems efficiency, and maintain agility and responsiveness. By establishing collaborative partnerships with suitably qualified experts and formulating a robust migration strategy, businesses can embark upon a transformative process that secures the longevity of their applications and unlocks new avenues for expansion.

At BCN, our standing as a premier Microsoft partner underscores our expertise and capabilities. We possess a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies inherent in refactoring legacy applications and are well-positioned to provide support to your organisation throughout every phase of this undertaking. Leveraging over two decades of experience in full-stack .NET application development, our team utilises exclusive Microsoft resources, innovative tools, and enhanced support mechanisms to secure your workflows, modernise your technology stack, and future-proof your applications within cloud environments.

To find out more about how we can support your business’s application refactoring, contact us today.