You’ll find it difficult to return to how things were before you started using this Modernize Applications. The software, which goes by the name Paychex Flex, is meant to assist companies with the day-to-day tasks of HR management. “Anything from hire to retire,” says Chad Lown, director of infrastructure at Paychex, the software’s responsible party. “Human resources can take advantage of this all-in-one solution for payroll, time and attendance, insurance benefits, and 401(k)s.”
Paychex is a self-proclaimed “industry-leading human capital management company” headquartered in Rochester, New York. The company’s operations section supports the technology that enables its main app and internal software to execute their promises to customers.
Lown claims he and his coworkers saw an opportunity a few years ago. Working with the company’s in-house developers to upgrade and modernize software systems is a big part of their job. Although the two groups had always been successful, it was becoming clear that they would have to increase efficiency to stay up with the latest technology.
The Right Tools Simplify App Creation
Red Hat OpenShift, a platform for developing and operating containerized applications powered by Kubernetes, was chosen with that in mind. Developers can receive application testing environments with minimal help from operations thanks to its integration with Red Hat’s OpenStack. “Red Hat removes a few of the obstacles that were previously preventing the development team from accessing the infrastructure necessary to complete their work,” Lown says.
He boasts that OpenShift now manages all of Paychex Flex’s microservices and has significantly reduced the time it takes to create new apps or update old ones with new capabilities. In addition, the system comes with helpful tools that can identify and fix issues before they escalate.
According to Lown, as soon as it detects that resources are becoming scarce or that memory usage is excessive, the system “does what it needs to do” to resolve the problem. “And now, instead of months, it takes days to push out changes, and we can do it without affecting our clients or scheduling downtime.”
Why App Modernization Is A Business Imperative
Solutions such as the cloud or data centres, endpoint devices, or even a new suite of collaboration tools for the workplace have been the centre of digital transformation for many firms. These technologies house and provide access to business applications. Corporate applications are less well-known but could be just as important. It’s easy to lose sight of vital software that must be updated when technology advances, and businesses adopt new computer systems and architectures.
Karl Feldman, managing partner at the marketing and research agency Hinge, expressed concern that certain firms are falling behind due to the rapid pace of technological advancement. Decisions about which apps to retire and replace and which to retain and maybe revamp are inevitable in a world where technology is evolving at a dizzying pace. Feldman notes that, in his experience, companies actively pursuing application modernization tend to have the fastest growth rates and highest profitability reports.
According to the IBM Institute for Business Value, application modernization is now a “business imperative” for numerous firms. Eighty per cent or more of IT leaders surveyed by IBV and Oxford Economics in 2022 viewed modernizing legacy apps to fit modern technology standards as “central to the business strategy of their organizations.” Atapos, a firm located close to the nation’s capital, is one example where this is correct. The airline-owned company collaborates with over 440 carriers globally and is the industry’s leading price and merchandising data source.
The director of application architecture at ATPCO, Randy Strother, said that the business has been using public and private cloud infrastructure from outside vendors for the last many years in place of its data centres. Over a hundred commercial apps are now in production, built and maintained by twenty development teams using Amazon Web Services.
“Although reliability was the initial motivation for the migration, we have also noticed enhancements in agility and scalability,” remarks Strother. In the past, his team would wait weeks or months for applications to be provisioned as microservices using ATPCO-managed virtualized infrastructure. With the help of the AWS solution, the team can quickly scale up or down their app deployments in response to fluctuating business needs.
He says the development team can focus on implementing new features without worrying about hardware or capacity issues. “On the contrary, we have developed self-service capabilities and established a fully automated pipeline to ensure continuous integration and delivery.”
How App Modernization Tools Reduce IT’s Burden
According to Ron Hunsaker, organizations might update more efficiently if DevOps were moved to the cloud. During Hunsaker’s tenure as Maritz’s VP of enterprise application services, the company shifted its focus to developing apps using an Oracle cloud solution.
Maritz has depended on an on-premises data centre to power its business operations for a long time. The company offers sales and marketing services, including creating and managing loyalty programs, sales channel incentive programs, and staff recognition and reward programs. Motivating factors for the shift came when the company merged the accounting responsibilities of multiple divisions under one ERP system.
Hunsaker said his team frequently encountered capacity challenges similar to Strother’s at ATPCO before the transition. Hardware costs were steadily eating away at the department’s budget, and employees were already stretched thin, trying to keep up with the maintenance needs of the company’s ageing infrastructure.
He explains that the migration has made everything more accessible and current for the solutions they offer Maritz employees. Present-day app development at Maritz is facilitated by two Oracle solutions: Oracle WebLogic Server, a tool for Java applications, and Oracle Low-Code and No-Code Platform.
Staff members were already aware of WebLogic’s automated processes for installing or upgrading apps because the team had previously run it in the data centre. According to Hunsaker, the pay-as-you-go pricing model implemented by Oracle has resulted in significant cost reductions rather than any inherent difference in the technology.
In addition, Hunsaker expresses his enthusiasm for the potential future involvement of technology like artificial intelligence in some Maritz applications. His group is prepared to change course if doing so will enhance the company’s services or simplify Maritz’s employees’ tasks.
