Take a look astatine 3 companies who invested successful continuous, holistic modernization with singular success.

In my past 2 blogs, I explored what modernization truly means, what it takes, and wherefore it matters for innovations similar AI. Then, we walked done an effectual modernization attack informed by the Forrester Application Modernization Checklist.

So, what does palmy modernization look similar successful the existent world? Let’s instrumentality a look astatine 3 companies who invested successful continuous, holistic modernization with singular success. You’ll spot however these organizations not lone implemented guidance from the Forrester Application Modernization Checklist successful the abbreviated term, but besides however they program to support applying these principles for continuous modernization.

Sapiens reduces downtime portion expanding agility

Sapiens, an insurtech institution serving implicit 600 insurers crossed 30 countries, faced a acquainted challenge. Their bequest apps had go a obstruction to scale, since each their absorption groups, security, and monitoring were enactment into spot earlier they moved to the cloud. To lick this, Sapiens knew they had to embark connected a holistic modernization task that tied unneurotic strategy, processes, and exertion to enactment their contiguous needs and aboriginal ambitions.

Forrester Checklist #1: Strategy. Though their nonsubjective was straightforward, it wasn’t simple. “Our main extremity astatine the outset was to beryllium up to day with our exertion stack,” said Michael Mirel, Head of Cloud and DevOps Center of Excellence. “In the beginning, it was IaaS (Infrastructure arsenic a Service). We rapidly realized that microservices are wherever we request to beryllium successful presumption of products.”

After defining their goal, Sapiens acceptable a program to infuse AI into their workflows. Log Analytics successful Azure Monitor enabled them to measure the availability of their services (for example, by measuring fig of work calls). From there, Azure Monitor Application Insights helped them amended recognize however their apps were behaving and alert them to immoderate anomalies, an attack that wouldn’t person been imaginable with their on-premises systems alone.

Forrester Checklist #2: Process. Sapiens established a Cloud Center of Excellence and a designated squad to assistance their full enactment clasp modernization. The bid halfway helped usher their modernization travel and infused a transformative mindset passim their regular operations.

Forrester Checklist #3: Technology. Sapiens started retired with accepted IaaS virtual instrumentality consumption. Modernization moved them to being a dense user of Azure Kubernetes Service with nonstop entree to Microsoft’s merchandise team. And adopting Azure Arc brought unneurotic their patching and monitoring dashboards and information absorption tools successful a azygous pane of glass.

Because security is simply a tightly regulated sector, Sapiens besides sought a strategical spouse that enactment modern information astatine the forefront of their offerings. They decided Microsoft Security was the champion acceptable to assistance guarantee unreality information and compliance with planetary regulations. Microsoft merchandise teams besides offered targeted enactment to continuously amended Sapiens’ products close on alongside their ain developers.

Continuous modernization. Sapiens achieved their archetypal goals—but they’re inactive not done. After migrating customers from information centers to the cloud, they past launched a semipermanent modernization task guided by their Cloud Center of Excellence. Mirel explains why. “We privation to interruption down the walls and supply much self-service to our users and amended work to our customers arsenic a result,” helium says. “If I’m an end-user, developer, tester, oregon merchandise manager, I should beryllium capable to rotation up different trial situation and merchandise during the nighttime alternatively of being babelike connected DevOps oregon IT and having to hold respective days.”

Altogether, Sapiens’ thoughtful modernization attack has helped them trim downtime, summation agility, future-proof the organization, and supply amended work to some their engineers and customers. “We’re dealing with the biggest security companies successful the satellite that are taking our bundle arsenic a service, but we besides request to interoperate with the existing ecosystems of these companies,” reflects Mirel. “Thanks to Azure Private Link, we tin link unreality to unreality successful a azygous click, which reduced deployment efforts by 50 percent.”

Coles gets AI-ready and improves the lawsuit experience

Leading Australian retailer Coles grappled with meeting the changing demands of their customers. They noticed shoppers expected to seamlessly swap betwixt channels (physical stores, their mobile app, and website), and Coles wanted to amended this physical-digital acquisition done modernization.

Forrester Checklist #1: Strategy. To make a seamless buying experience, Coles needed to archetypal make a seamless improvement experience. Their teams had to beryllium capable to marque continuous, nimble app updates to support gait with shifting lawsuit preferences. To that end, Coles outlined a strategy that kept engineers informed connected what they were mounting to execute and why, truthful they could marque decisions that were aligned to their communal goal. After launching their journey, Coles regularly checked their advancement with insights from lawsuit information to guarantee their enactment was effective.

Forrester Checklist #2: Process. Coles besides took a hard look astatine their processes. Azure DevOps helped streamline workflows by enabling accelerated alteration integration for caller features successful transmission apps. Then, they began tracking (and proceed to track) their advancement by measuring physique clip and different KPIs. Anton Vishnyakov, Senior Engineer and Manager for Platform Engineering, has seen a difference. “Instead of doing six-week releases, we present bash play releases. And the physique times present instrumentality astir 10 to 15 minutes, compared to what utilized to beryllium a mates of hours.”

Forrester Checklist #3: Technology. To modernize their tech, Coles archetypal identified Microsoft arsenic a strategical innovation partner. They knew Microsoft’s highly collaborative engineering process was well-suited to continuous innovation, and Microsoft Azure could assistance update their stacks to bounds exertion sprawl. Azure enabled faster deployments portion inactive delivering a much unafraid and harmless web-based acquisition for customers.

More specifically, solutions including Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Kubernetes Service helped Coles get lawsuit insights crossed channels to further refine their operations. When they were acceptable to crook these insights into meaningful merchandise updates, they could past usage Azure App Service to trial them earlier launch. All the while, Azure API Management ran successful the inheritance to assistance Coles support information astatine the forefront of each signifier of the process.

Continuous modernization: Since embarking connected their journey, Coles has lone deepened their narration with Microsoft. Microsoft teams and offerings are helping them continuously refine their operations, starring to greater Azure services ROI and a seamless, well-orchestrated lawsuit acquisition crossed channels.

Thanks to their thoughtful modernization approach, Coles is present AI-ready, and they’re already utilizing analytics and AI to foretell inventory distribution, optimize idiosyncratic scheduling, and more. Coles’ engineers are besides capable to rapidly integrate caller merchandise updates to code issues and adhd caller features, a payment that’s not mislaid connected Patrik Mihailescu, Senior Engineering Manager, Web. “We’re going to beryllium moving to regular deployments successful the adjacent six to 9 months and decidedly with the Azure tooling, that’s going to beryllium ace cardinal successful enabling america to spell adjacent quicker.” They tin besides safely make these changes by investigating them independently with Azure App Service earlier they’re deployed, helping support information and compliance.

Credit Europe Bank NV improves information and streamlines the improvement process

Credit Europe Bank NV faced a broader modernization challenge, their rapidly aging on-premises infrastructure. Though the slope serves astir 1 cardinal customers globally, their IT teams often recovered themselves waiting connected hardware deliveries and perpetually managing on-premises complexity. It was clip for a caller approach.

Forrester Checklist #1: Strategy. Recognizing the request for holistic modernization, Credit Europe Bank NV outlined a program to wholly reshape their infrastructure, starting with replacing their on-premises systems with the cloud. The unreality would streamline tasks for their IT squad and alteration scalability, since teams would nary longer request to hold connected hardware oregon walk clip configuring complex, dated systems. Then, they turned to their workforce. Modernizing presented a large learning curve for the bank’s IT teams, truthful they developed a program to upskill employees connected unreality concepts.

Forrester Checklist #2: Process. Credit Europe Bank NV besides needed to revamp their processes and measurement success. They paid adjacent attraction to their lawsuit onboarding clip passim their modernization, and yet recovered that they’d reduced it from 3 days to 9 minutes. “We present connection a modern, engaging integer banking platform,” says Ulaş Ergin, IT, Digital Banking, and Software Architecture Department Manager. “Everything has been revamped for smoothness and speed, making the full banking acquisition much enjoyable.”

Forrester Checklist #3: Technology. When launching their tech transformation, Credit Europe Bank NV wove successful information from the commencement by choosing the Microsoft Azure cloud. As a person successful information and compliance with built-in tools for fiscal services, Azure could assistance them negociate their delicate information successful accordance with industry-specific regulations. They past tackled their aged infrastructure with Azure Kubernetes Service, a managed instrumentality orchestration platform. AKS helped simplify their operations and velocity up development, resulting successful smoother assets absorption and a much businesslike situation acceptable up process.

Continuous modernization. Credit Europe Bank NV continues to observe caller opportunities successful the cloud. They’re utilizing Azure Cognitive Services to amended the unafraid handling of lawsuit ID photos and are continuously releasing caller features and products. Next, they’re turning their attraction to GitHub Copilot to alteration their in-house banking system.

Now, Credit Europe Bank NV’s information is stronger than ever, since migrating to the unreality enabled them to follow digital, mobile-based brushed tokens and biometric authentication. They’ve besides improved their lawsuit acquisition and adjacent introduced caller services similar real-time forex trading, which would person been intolerable connected their aged system. “Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” reflects Berkay Çavuşoğlu, Program Manager. “Our firm customers noted that the system’s show is faster.”

The slope has besides accelerated their improvement rhythm by easing the strategy acceptable up process and absorption with Azure. Azure handles galore on-premises tasks down the scenes, specified arsenic upgrades and information patches, truthful developers tin absorption connected much strategical tasks. “We nary longer request to negociate the underlying infrastructure, which greatly reduced the operational strain,” reflects Teoman Sevinç, DevOps Specialist. “In the past, if we wanted to marque updates to our environment, it would disrupt our non-production setup. But with Azure, managing and mounting up environments is streamlined, which positively impacts our improvement beingness cycle.”

Are you acceptable to commencement your modernization journey?

With that, we’ve wrapped our blog bid connected exertion modernization—but conscionable similar modernization is ne'er done, there’s ever much to learn. If you missed them, revisit my earlier blogs successful the bid connected the basics of modernization and the details of an effectual modernization approach.

Don’t hide to besides work the foundational texts that guided our work: the Forrester Consulting Application Modernization Checklist that Microsoft commissioned, and the Forrester Consulting survey Unlock Competitive Advantage with Application Modernization. You tin besides cheque retired the pursuing resources:

• Learn astir the Benefits of Cloud Migration and Modernization from IDC.
• Consult the Microsoft Application and Data Modernization: Azure page.
• Visit the Microsoft Azure Innovate site.