Don’t lose access to your ‘beautiful’ applications

Why should your company form a solid modernization plan that helps it keep access to legacy applications? Consider the qualities that your company gets out of trusted and much-used apps. A recent Huffington Post article by Extreme Networks' Vala Afshar examined one aspect not usually associated with this form of software: beauty.

Afshar quotes Charles Phillips, the CEO of Infor, who believes that "beautiful" goes beyond looks. When it comes to applications, the word implies good design, functionality and a value that encourages repeat use. Companies likely have their own personal examples of applications that they've found highly useful in the past, and these should serve as guidelines for what software is most appropriate for the future."

Citing that the best apps should be "consumer-like," Phillips says that companies should design software with a wide number of users in mind. This is one of the problems that business applications face, so software that catches on with many employees has an inherent value.

"The more people that can use it and see it, the better you can run your company," Phillips said, referencing Infor's own programs. "We want everybody to use it and so we've found that if customers think it's easy-to-use, we usually get much wider adoption, which is good for us and for them because they get more value."

Even when companies do find applications that integrate with their workplace successfully, the stress of transitioning to the cloud poses problems for retaining access. Good screen-based applications shouldn't be completely abandoned. 

Instead, businesses should plan on a legacy system modernization solution that helps facilitate a steady and successful transition.