How to Choose an Application Modernization Consultant

A good application modernization consultant looks at your software before recommending anything. Then they explain your options in plain words, including the option to leave it alone.

Application modernization means updating older software so it keeps working and stays safe to change. "Older" here just means software your business already depends on. Sometimes the answer is a rebuild.

What an application modernization consultant does

Consultants describe your options with a handful of words. Here they are in plain terms.

• Rehost: move the software, unchanged, to new servers. People also call this "lift and shift."
• Refactor: clean up and reorganize the code inside, without changing what your customers see.
• Rebuild: write the software again from scratch. Some firms call this a rewrite.
• Retire or leave alone: switch it off, or keep it as it is, when changing it costs more than it returns.

Microsoft's Cloud Adoption Framework, its guide for improving software on its Azure cloud, lists similar choices, including an option to continue and reassess.^[1] Its rule is to make the least change needed to reach the outcome you want.^[1]

Moving software to the cloud isn't the same as fixing it. The cloud means servers you rent from a company such as Microsoft or Amazon. Microsoft's own guide says a rehost alone isn't modernization, because it changes where the software runs but not what the software can do.^[1]

Why most consultant lists won't fit a company your size

Many of the pages I read while researching this post came from large firms selling multi-year programs to large companies.

If you run a company of 1 to 10 people, you probably have one main piece of software. You need someone who will look at that one thing and tell you the truth about it.

A page written by a firm that sells the work has a reason to recommend the work. Read what you find as a source of questions, not as proof of anything.

What keeping old software costs

I'm not giving price ranges for a modernization project. I can't tell you what yours will cost without seeing the software, and the price lists I found came from firms that sell the work.

Here is one number from a source with nothing to sell. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits federal spending for Congress. It says federal agencies typically report spending about 80% of their IT money on operating and maintaining existing systems.^[2]

Your company isn't a federal agency, so your share will differ. The point is that keeping old software running is a cost too.

GAO also ranked the federal systems most in need of modernization. The table shows what it found in the top 11.

6 questions to ask before you hire one

1. Will you look at my software before you recommend anything? A real answer says what they'll look at and how long it takes.
2. What are my options, and when would you leave it alone? Microsoft's guidance includes an option to continue and reassess when the benefit doesn't justify the cost, risk, or disruption.^[1] A good consultant treats leaving it alone as a real answer.
3. Have you worked on software built like mine? Ask for an example, with the client's name removed, built on the same tools as yours.
4. How will we know it worked? Ask for the result in numbers before work starts. Microsoft's guidance gives examples such as cutting maintenance effort by 50% or saving $70,000 a year.^[1] Those are its examples, not benchmarks.
5. Will my business keep running while you work? Ask how each change reaches your customers, and how they'd undo it if something breaks.
6. Who owns the code and the documentation at the end? The source code is the written instructions that make your software run. Ask for a copy of it, and for written notes on how it works.

Warning signs

These draw on Microsoft's guidance and on what I'd watch for myself.

• The consultant recommends a full rewrite before looking at your software. Microsoft's guidance says to make the least change needed.^[1]
• They treat moving to the cloud as the same thing as modernizing.^[1]
• They can't show a relevant example.
• They can't say how they'll measure success.
• They talk about technology before asking what your business needs to change.

A rebuild isn't wrong by itself. It's wrong when someone recommends it before anyone has looked.

What a good first step looks like

Most firms start with an assessment before they give you an estimate. What should you get from it? GAO says a modernization plan should at minimum include milestones, a description of the work, and what happens to the old system.^[2]

GAO checked the plans for its 11 systems. Only 3 plans had all 3 elements, 6 plans were missing at least one, and 2 systems had no plan.^[2] GAO says agencies without fully documented plans face a higher chance of cost overruns, delays, and project failure.^[2]

Microsoft's guidance asks for a written business case that states the need, the expected outcome, the cost of doing nothing, the investment, and whether the team can deliver.^[1]

Ask how long the assessment takes and what it costs for your software. Ask what you keep at the end. You want the findings in writing, whether or not you hire them for the next step.

I can't tell you what your repair will cost or how long it will take without seeing the software. Anyone who gives you a firm number before looking is guessing.

Book a free call

If you're deciding whether to hire a consultant, or whether the one you have is being straight with you, book a free call. We can talk through where things stand and what to ask next.