Getting Application Modernization Right with Informatica Cloud Application Integration and Data Quality

Last Published: Dec 23, 2021 |
Donal Dunne
Donal Dunne

Associate Director, Product Marketing

Why App/API Integration and Data Quality Matter When You’re Trying to Avoid Code, Load and Explode

Co-authored with Ruma Sanyal, Director, Hybrid Integration Platform and iPaaS.

Application modernization is the refactoring, re-purposing, or consolidation of legacy software programming to align more closely with current business needs. As Orbis Research’s Global Application Modernization Services Market 2019 Analysis explains, “the goal of an application modernization project is to create new business value from existing applications. Keeping legacy applications running smoothly can be a time-consuming, resource-intensive process.”

Modernization provides employees with better user experiences, improves employee productivity, and better secures sensitive data. With all of these advantages, it’s no wonder that application modernization services has grown to be a $10+ billion market in 2019 and is expected to reach $25 billion by 2024.

application modernization and data quality

However, as companies move from Siebel to Salesforce, migrate from PeopleSoft to Workday, transition from on-premises to hybrid (and so forth), they need to avoid taking an application-centric or data-only view of the migration. Modernization will fail to deliver on its promise without the IP captured in application logic that drives the business and relevant and trustworthy data.

Modernization of applications does not refer only to lift and shift or rip-n-replace of your legacy or on-premises apps. Although there is a big movement of applications shifting to the cloud, there could still be a myriad of valid reasons why businesses may choose to keep their applications on premises. Then too, enterprises today are, on average, using or piloting at least five different clouds, presumably running SaaS or custom applications. A big part of modernization is integrating these applications. The modern-day tool for this is an iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service), which provides real-time and batch integration capabilities for any integration pattern, such as SaaS-to-SaaS, SaaS-to-on-prem, B2B, API-based, etc., in a hybrid, multi-cloud environment.

Let’s now look at the modernization of data. Depending on which report you read, up to 83 percent of data migrations are at danger of failing, 30 percent will have cost overruns, and 40 percent will have time overruns.Why is this happening? Many companies assume the data in the source application is good since it works in the legacy system. However, the data in the legacy application may not be fit for purpose in the target application. This problem is compounded if an organization is consolidating multiple legacy applications into a single application. These applications will have different structures, formats, and levels of quality. A few years back, a simple mistake between metric and imperial units of measure cost NASA $125 million. The Mars Climate Orbiter burned up in the Martian atmosphere because engineers failed to convert units from English to metric!

A more in-depth look at the problem shows that a lack of understanding of the source data before migration is a primary cause. Much of the information needed—such as existing data models, documentation, and staff experience—is often outdated, incorrect, or missing. If the information is invalid, then it may take many iterations to develop new information and validate that it is indeed correct and represents the source data. In this situation, as much as 50 percent of a total project’s labor budget may be wasted on a manual, outdated data analysis and diagnosis techniques. And in the majority of data migration projects, this process doesn’t work correctly the first time—a process often referred to as code, load, and explode. As a result, the whole process is repeated over and over again until the project is ultimately successful or cancelled.

You need a next-gen iPaaS with capabilities that not only cover the table-stakes iPaaS capabilities (application integration, API management, connectivity, and data integration) but also data management capabilities such as master data management, data lake, and data quality. Informatica offers you zero-code application and data integration for any user and any data on a modern, integrated, microservices-based, and AI-enabled iPaaS.

But this iPaaS platform offers even more rapidly achieved levels of understanding for application modernization: For example, since the iPaaS platform’s profiling capabilities can be used to thoroughly analyze the actual source data, you wouldn’t need to rely on inaccurate metadata and documentation. You would also be able to automate the identification of problematic data and provide a thorough understanding of its content, structure, quality, and integrity.

Informatica Cloud Application Integration enables you to drive innovation and create efficiencies by intelligently connecting any app, any data, anywhere, at any speed with:

  • A single-canvas design tool
  • Rich, out-of-the-box and custom connectivity
  • The ability to mix and match any interaction pattern
  • Access to any data, anywhere, at any latency

Informatica Cloud Data Quality can help lower project cost, reduce project risk, accelerate business value, and deliver better results by:

  • Increasing project value through early project completion
  • Reducing unexpected costs and delayed benefits associated with overruns or cancellations
  • Improving data quality of the migrated or converted data without extending deadlines
  • Boost adoption and alignment with business needs

Why not experience a zero-code, API-enabled cloud service for all your application integration needs?

To experience how a no-code, visual environment can provide you with a deeper understanding of your applications and data before you embark on your modernization journey, try our Free 30-Day Trial of API Creation & Management and Cloud Data Quality.

First Published: Jan 05, 2020