3 Steps for Creating a Software Modernisation Strategy

It’s no surprise that 60% of businesses agree they will suffer competitively if they fail to modernise their software. In the last decade, software has become increasingly important for businesses when it comes to day-to-day management but, you can’t rely on the same technology then, as today.

Here are 3 steps to creating a software modernisation strategy, fit for any size business. 

1. Getting started with business buy-in 

An individual will have personal goals for wanting a software modernisation project. What sets a good software modernisation strategy apart from the rest is truly understanding the business alignment and the goals and objectives the business wishes to achieve over the individual.

The second step to getting started with business buy-in would be understanding the technical side of the business alignment. Discovering if the businesses objectives align with fixing inefficiencies or innovating by releasing new market features for example. This will create a technical alignment to the business goals and helps achieve buy-in from the full business. 

For more information on understanding the business challenges watch episode 2 of the Demystifying Software Modernisation series. 

2. Skills and tools needed for a successful software modernisation project 

A common misconception of creating a successful software modernisation strategy is you need a bag full of technical planning tools. Below is a list of skills that can be utilised with any skillset or role. 

Communication: A simple skill that is vital to a good project. Communication allows the vision of a project to be communicated far, it can help bring people together all in the purpose of one goal. The communication can be made internally using employees ingrained in the project, or external contributors can be used for impartial communication. 

Business Case: Used to provide decision-makers or stakeholders with evidenced-based and transparent information. This framework for delivery and performance allows the project to be measured to set goals. Click here to download a free case for change questionnaire that can be used when providing a business case.

Value stream mapping: Displaying all the important steps in your work process will enable teams to understand not only the process involved but also the full vision for the process, highlighting time and budget constraints. 

Value stream mapping analyses the current state of the environment, and helps design the future, creating a full visual representation of each critical step.

3. Structuring the team to create efficiency

The first level of creating team structure is understanding where the boundaries of the project start and end. However, the wider the boundaries become, the more people get involved and the harder the project becomes to manage. 

Prioritisation is vital when it comes to the final stage. One way of structuring a team as shared in the Demystifying software modernisation series is to create a steering group of senior stakeholders. Initiatives for improvement are shared with this group, who can make the strategic decision of what initiative will be worked on. Once these have been decided, teams are created based on skill and expertise with both internal and external individuals. This structure is called a “Continuous Improvement Program (CIP)”.

Ultimately, these initiatives aim to boost team productivity, which in turn should drive better business results.

These 3 steps to creating a software modernisation strategy fit for any legacy software are taken from the Demystifying Software Modernisation series, episodes 3 & 4 – watch the full episodes below.

Demystifying Software Modernisation Ep.3: Framing the problem and creating a modernisation strategy

Demystifying Software Modernisation Ep.4: Organising the Software Modernisation effort

Follow on from creating a software modernisation strategy to understanding the strategies for making your software easy to change.