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Applications

Application Modernization

Modernize applications with security built in from the start.

Frustrated by the rising operating expenses and opportunity costs of your legacy applications? The burden compounds as maintenance becomes more difficult, security exposures grow, and releases lag. Limited resources are consumed by keeping the lights on, leaving too little time for growth and innovation.
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Tech debt: a tax that holds you back

Every application your business runs was built for a moment in time. Some have aged well, but many haven’t. When that gap goes unaddressed, you pay more in cloud bills, security exposure, lost productivity, and missed market opportunities.

By the time this gap emerges as a business problem, there are usually strategic implications: a core platform that won’t scale to support an acquisition. A revenue-critical application that can’t pass an audit. Or releases that once took days now consume weeks.

 

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The CBTS approach

Find the right path for each application

There is no universal way to modernize. Some applications are good candidates for a lift-and-shift to the cloud. Some need a deeper rewrite to take advantage of cloud-native services. Some need to be fully replaced. Yet others are worth modernizing in place because they still deliver value. 
CBTS assesses every application’s business value, technical condition, security posture, and dependencies. Then we recommend the path that delivers the best outcome at acceptable risk. That portfolio-aware approach is part of how CBTS builds stronger foundations for our clients.

Application Modernization capabilities

 CBTS modernization engagements span the full spectrum of options — from targeted replatforming to complete rebuilds. Every engagement starts with a vigilant assessment.

Where to start

Advisory engagements

A CBTS advisory is a time-bound, fixed-fee engagement designed to give you a clear answer to a specific strategic question — fast.  

Discovery & Design Workshop

Best for: Organizations grappling with a business problem, such as lack of in-house resources, end-of-life challenges, or multi-faceted risks related to existing applications. 
You walk away with: 
•    Expert analysis of your current state, including insights on application condition, cost, risk, and business value 
•    Recommended actions for solving the business problem  
•    Executive readout deck for leadership alignment

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What success looks like

Application modernization pays off when your business feels the difference in cost, pace, and risk reduction. Three outcomes show up most consistently. 

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Cost optimization

Lower run costs, lower licensing exposure, and lower maintenance overhead. Modernization can shave application maintenance and run costs by as much as 30% to 50%, freeing capacity to invest in what the business needs to build next.

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Reduced risk

 Security and compliance posture strengthened by design. Legacy systems running unsupported dependencies are systematically remediated, and the architectural patterns of the modernized environment simplify ongoing risk management.

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Business agility

 With a trusted foundation in place, it takes far less time to stand up new analytics, AI, and reporting initiatives.

"Business is always chasing the next new thing — more features, new functionality. Tech debt gets ignored until security or other limitations force the issue. By the time someone asks us to modernize, it's like raising a house: You can't lift one corner. The whole structure has to come up together. The teams that do this well plan for it, and that’s exactly where we focus."

Kevin Davis 1

Ari Steinberg

Director of Application Development, CBTS

Don’t take our word for it

“I love the creative, tailored solutions that are delivered in a consistent and reliable way while always doing what it takes to make things right.”

Chief Technology and Information Security OfficerFinancial Services / Banking

“My team at CBTS have been trusted partners for a long time. They provide excellent technical support and pre-sales work. Their breadth of knowledge and ability to bring in the right resources have helped us steer our technology into the future.”

Managing Director, CISO, Head of TechnologyPrivate Equity / Financial Services

“CBTS treats us like a partner and not just a customer. The technical expertise is next to none and the relationship management is some of the best I have experienced.”

Director, Telecom and Architecture ServicesHealthcare

Modernization is one part of the application lifecycle

Most application modernization programs touch new development and ongoing management. CBTS supports the full application lifecycle, with the same teams continuing across phases when that’s the right model for your business.

Related insights 

Frequently asked questions 

How does CBTS approach application odernization? We help organizations update their existing applications to drive better business outcomes. That may mean migrating them to the cloud, rebuilding them on modern platforms, refactoring code to improve performance and maintainability, or patching and hardening systems that need to stay where they are. We always lead with an outcomes lens and align our recommendations to reduce the cost, risk, and operational drag that legacy applications place on the business.
Can CBTS support the 4 Rs of application modernization? Yes, CBTS helps clients tackle the 4 Rs of application modernization: rehost, replatform, refactor, and rebuild. Rehost is a straight lift-and-shift to new infrastructure, typically the cloud, without changing the code. Replatform makes targeted changes to take advantage of cloud-native capabilities. Refactor restructures the code itself to improve performance, scalability, and maintainability. Rebuild replaces the application entirely. Most portfolios end up with a mix of all four plus retain (leave it alone) and retire (decommission it).
How do you decide which applications to modernize first? CBTS scores each application across four dimensions: business value, technical condition, security and compliance risk, and dependencies on the rest of the environment. Applications that combine high business value with significant operational drag or unacceptable risk tend to rise to the top. We also consider sequencing. Certain applications need to be modernized first because the rest of the portfolio depends on them. The Discovery & Design Workshop is designed to help answer this question.
How does application modernization improve security?  Legacy applications frequently carry technical debt in the form of outdated libraries, unpatched vulnerabilities, and architectures that predate current threat models. Modernization — especially to cloud-native environments where identity management, encryption, and policy enforcement are built in — typically produces a materially stronger security posture. CBTS treats security as a design input. We surface vulnerabilities during assessment, shape the architecture with secure design patterns, and run automated code reviews and security testing throughout the development lifecycle.
How is the CBTS approach to application modernization different?  Three things distinguish how CBTS engages on modernization. First, we assess every application against business value and technical condition before recommending a path. Second, we cover the full set of modernization options (rehost, replatform, refactor, rebuild, integrate, patch), so our recommendations aren’t shaped by the limits of what we offer. Third, the team that modernizes an application can continue supporting it in production through CBTS Application Management & Support. That way, the institutional knowledge built during the modernization stays with the application after go-live.
How does data governance support regulatory compliance?  Governance creates the documentation, access controls, and audit trails regulators expect, embedded in how data is managed every day. That makes compliance a byproduct of normal operations rather than a separate scramble before each audit.

Strong foundations start with knowing what to fix first

Every legacy application has a cost. CBTS helps you determine which applications are costing the most and which ones, modernized in the right order, will free your business to build what’s next.