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What Is Replatforming?

Written by Shelley Bougnague | Jul 2, 2024 1:20:00 PM

Technology marches ever onward, and if your business is going to remain competitive and efficient in the wilds of the workplace, you need to evolve. Without continually adapting, you will stagnate– and standing still can be a death knell in today’s rapid-fire technological landscape.

One of the significant strategies employed to keep up is replatforming. But what is replatforming, and why is it becoming increasingly important for organizations? Let’s explore the concept and learn how replatforming, particularly cloud replatforming, can keep your business competitive.

Understanding What Replatforming Is

Replatforming involves migrating an existing application or system to a new platform without significantly altering its core functionality. This process aims to leverage the benefits of newer technologies, such as improved performance, scalability, and security, while preserving the essential features and data of the original system.

The Importance of Replatforming

As businesses grow and technology advances, legacy systems can become a liability rather than an asset. Outdated platforms often struggle to keep up with the demands of modern applications. Replatforming addresses these issues by modernizing the underlying infrastructure, making it more robust and capable of supporting future growth and innovation.

Benefits of Replatforming

Replatforming offers numerous benefits that can significantly enhance an organization's operational efficiency and competitive edge.

Improved Performance

Newer platforms often come with enhanced performance capabilities, enabling faster processing, reduced latency, and better overall user experiences. By replatforming, businesses can take advantage of these improvements to deliver more responsive and reliable applications.

Scalability

Modern platforms, especially cloud-based ones, offer greater scalability options. This means businesses can easily scale their resources up or down based on demand, ensuring optimal performance during peak times without over-provisioning during quieter periods. In fact, this is one of the primary reasons that we chose the cloud native Kubernetes approach when it came to building our own platform.

Enhanced Security

Security is a critical concern for any business. Replatforming to a more secure and up-to-date platform can help mitigate risks associated with legacy systems, such as outdated security protocols and vulnerabilities.

Cost Efficiency

While replatforming involves an initial investment, it can lead to significant cost savings in the long run. Modern platforms typically require less maintenance, have lower operational costs, and offer more flexible pricing models.

Access to Advanced Features

Replatforming allows businesses to leverage the latest technological advancements and features that may not be available on older platforms. This can include improved data analytics, artificial intelligence capabilities, and better integration with other modern tools and services.

What Is Cloud Replatforming?

More and more businesses are using cloud-based systems for their technology needs, and that includes replatforming. Cloud replatforming involves migrating an existing application or system from on-premises infrastructure to a cloud environment. This process focuses on taking advantage of the cloud's scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency while maintaining the core functionalities of the application.

Why Cloud Replatforming?

The shift to cloud computing has been driven by the numerous benefits it offers over traditional on-premises infrastructure. Cloud replatforming can benefit businesses by moving their applications to a more agile and scalable environment, reducing the need for physical hardware and associated maintenance costs. It also provides better disaster recovery options, improved security, and access to a wide range of cloud-native services.

Steps Involved in Cloud Replatforming

There are several steps to take for cloud replatforming. However, they don’t have to take a long time or be disruptive.

  • Assessment: Evaluate the current application and infrastructure to identify components suitable for replatforming.
  • Planning: Develop a detailed migration plan, including timelines, resource allocation, and risk management strategies.
  • Migration: Execute the migration process, ensuring minimal disruption to business operations.
  • Optimization: Fine-tune the application on the new platform to leverage its full capabilities and achieve optimal performance.
  • Testing: Conduct thorough testing to ensure the application functions correctly in the new environment.
  • Deployment: Deploy the replatformed application to the production environment and monitor its performance.

What is an Example of Replatforming?

To better understand the replatforming process, let's consider a real-world example. Here’s how an e-commerce platform can migrate their data and take advantage of cloud replatforming.

Imagine an e-commerce company running its online store on an aging, on-premises infrastructure. The platform struggles with scalability during peak shopping seasons, leading to slow performance and customer dissatisfaction. Additionally, maintaining the hardware and software is becoming increasingly expensive. To stay competitive, the company chooses to undertake the steps of cloud replatforming.

Assessment

The company assesses its current setup and identifies that moving to a cloud-based solution could address its performance and scalability issues while reducing costs.

Planning

A detailed migration plan is developed, outlining the steps needed to move the e-commerce platform to a cloud provider. This plan includes setting up the necessary cloud infrastructure, configuring security measures, and establishing a timeline for the migration.

Migration

The migration process begins with transferring the e-commerce platform's data and applications to the cloud. This might involve updating the database, reconfiguring application servers, and ensuring all integrations with third-party services are maintained.

Optimization

Once the platform is running in the cloud, the company optimizes its performance by leveraging cloud-native features such as auto-scaling, load balancing, and content delivery networks.

Testing

Comprehensive testing is conducted to ensure the platform functions correctly in the new environment. This includes performance testing, security testing, and user acceptance testing.

Deployment

The replatformed e-commerce site is deployed to the production environment, providing customers with a faster, more reliable shopping experience. The company continues to monitor the platform's performance and makes any necessary adjustments to ensure it operates smoothly.

By replatforming to the cloud, the e-commerce company resolves its performance issues, improves scalability, and reduces operational costs, ultimately leading to higher customer satisfaction and increased revenue.

While this example is hypothetical, real businesses have followed these steps to great success.  

What Is Replatforming For Your Business?

Now that you understand what replatforming is, you may be wondering what it might look like for your business. Replatforming can be a complex and challenging process, but partnering with an experienced provider like Cloudficient can simplify the journey. Our experts have extensive experience in replatforming projects, ensuring a smooth and successful transition, and we provide customized solutions that align with your business objectives and requirements. To learn more about how Cloudficient can help with your replatforming needs and transform your organization into the cloud, contact us today.

With unmatched next generation migration technology, Cloudficient is revolutionizing the way businesses retire legacy systems and transform their organization into the cloud. Our business constantly remains focused on client needs and creating product offerings that match them. We provide affordable services that are scalable, fast and seamless.

If you would like to learn more about how to bring Cloudficiency to your migration project, visit our website, or contact us.