The case for application, infrastructure and data modernisation.
When cloud computing first became mainstream, and the hyperscalers war for market share began, the biggest use case for cloud adoption and modernisation was to reduce cost. These costs were across application maintenance, reduced cost of security along with compliance upkeep and physical housing of hardware.
Fast forward 10 years and the case for application, infrastructure and data modernisation grows by the day - however - we’ve taken a new angle, which is, investing in these modernisation projects in order to unlock top line growth and revenue opportunities.
For Australian and New Zealand businesses, acting quickly in response to new opportunities and disruptions, unencumbered by legacy constraints, is essential. It’s also a trigger for business reinvention, where a business transforms what it does and how it does it to find new growth in a digital world.
In this blog, we outline some of the top line generator options that modernisation across the application, infrastructure and data layer enables. These include:
Increased agility: Modernisation of applications and infrastructure allows for teams to experiment in a secure and containerised cloud environment, while trying out several ideas at once for low investment. Teams can iterate faster, release features quicker and cater to the various demands of the business faster. What was once customer projects that took months to roll out, can now often be coded up on cloud platforms, using third-party hyperscaler tools and low-code options, to speed up customer digital services or payment options.
And when the business needs to pivot quickly—such as in response to a global pandemic or natural disaster where physical operations need to move digitally quickly—it's the cloud and modern application layers that enables the necessary responsiveness, enabling you to push out new or updated products, services and experiences with unprecedented speed.
And when you have more products to market - the more chances of revenue growth you’ll see.
Improved business collaboration: As in our last blog, if the application and infrastructure layer is modernised and well integrated, businesses will see improved collaboration and co-innovation both internally and externally. Feature releases inside modernised applications allow chat, and better record keeping or digital whiteboards. Modernised infrastructure saves time and communication between physical servers and infrastructure therefore opening doors to development of new channels or efficiency functionalities. It means you can share data securely, apply AI models more effectively, streamline supply chains and create entirely new business models with speed and ease.
New products and customer experiences by analysing data + implementing AI: Modernising applications and infrastructure in the cloud, then layering that with a data and insights focus means competitive companies can glean more from their customer behaviour than ever before. This then fuels data-driven decisions to invest in new product development, partnerships and acquisitions. And because advanced analytics and machine learning are available as a service in the cloud, especially in data specialist cloud hyperscalers such as Google Cloud, virtually any business can now access these capabilities. Now - having said that - the secret to unlocking revenue opportunities from your modernised applications and infrastructures is to ensure the data analysed is in line with business strategy and growth goals. Focusing all critical data elements and use cases in line with revenue aspirations cuts out a lot of noise and means you won't get lost in the volumes of data available.
Wrap in connected devices: Connected devices include anything under the “IoT” banner. For retail, this could be payment solutions available on smart watches, for manufacturing this could mean sensor devices on remote sites that transmit core information back and for medical companies, this could mean capitalising on the latest personal IoT devices to track health statistics. Modernising application, infrastructure and data layers starts to prepare an organisations legacy systems to be able to integrate and provide digital services connected to IoT technology, which can ultimately be monetised.
Modernisation should not just be considered in the context of “reducing costs” or getting better IT infrastructure. Modernisation projects should be built on the philosophy of business reinvention by bringing together everything businesses need to innovate— data, people, historical context, customer behaviour, partners, processes, automation on one streamlined platform.
How Fronde and Google Cloud can help:
Modernisation should not be a solo exercise. The Fronde Australia and New Zealand cloud engineering teams take pride in the strong partnerships we build with our customers as well as providing solutions that meet their needs at every point in their journey.
We fundamentally believe that Australian and New Zealand businesses need to be able to capitalise on opportunities for reinvention and growth as soon as they arise. With the speed, simplicity and insights provided by a modernised cloud environment, enterprises can shift away from “keep the lights on” operations and rethink how the business operates, creates value and drives revenue.
%20(1).png)
