Federal agencies are making it a priority to modernize and streamline their applications, but agencies need to adopt a modernization strategy that meets their mission and infrastructure needs.

Mike Cerniglia, senior vice president of Tyler Technologies, says most agencies fall into one of three general patterns when it comes to application modernization and are looking to technology platforms to help.

In many cases, agencies are modernizing the technology in which their applications are written and developed.

“How do you replace mission-critical software that’s been operational for decades? It seems daunting. But if you can break it down into the components, the functions that the software provides, and start to rack and stack them by both the value and the risk of when you replace them, then that can make it more achievable. A lot of times it’s just the mindset of thinking smaller to do larger things,” Cerniglia said.

In other cases, agencies may be looking to modernize their applications to be mobile-friendly, or enhance the overall workflow or the user experience. Agencies may also be looking to move their applications from on-prem data centers into the cloud.

No matter what an agency’s goals are, Cerniglia said modernizing mission-critical applications is complex.

“Whether it’s citizen-facing and providing services we all need, or it’s internally facing and protecting those that serve us, these are mission-critical systems. Your window to modernize, or implement a brand-new system, can be  somewhat limited. It can be a challenge. That’s why you see a lot of these systems that run for decades,” he said.

Agencies with legacy applications understand the imperative to modernize. But Cerniglia said knowing how and when to modernize is a challenge.

“It comes to a point where an agency knows they need to make a change. They need to modernize,” Cerniglia said. “It could be the programming language or the infrastructure or mainframes some of these systems that are still running on. Support may be nearing end-of life, and they’re at the point that they must modernize. Some of these applications have been running for decades. We’ve seen systems running for 40 or 50-plus years. That’s a lot of functionality,” he said. “People underestimate just how much has been developed over the decades — the enhancements, the features, the lessons learned. Coming up with a time and a plan to be able to quickly modernize, that’s always the challenge with these efforts.”

To simplify this work, Cerniglia recommends agencies consider a “modernization in place” strategy, when possible, where agencies take an incremental approach to application modernization.

“A lot of these large mission-critical systems, they serve a big community. What we often  promote is to ‘take a bite’. Maybe modernize the front end, if you have a portal, for example, that constituents interact with. Modernize that first,” Cerniglia said. “You can start with the highest-value or lowest-risk places to modernize, and then just keep that progress going. That way, again, you’re not doing the big bang.  Incremental modernization is an approach that reduces risk while adding value. We like to think in small wins. Several small wins get you to that big modernization outcome versus putting all your cards in one big effort.”

Cerniglia also recommends that agencies take an open architecture approach to modernization and technology selection, to ensure new capabilities integrate seamlessly with the existing system.

“When agencies take a closer look, they should be able to easily identify the technologies in use. By examining the data stores and file systems, they can easily access their files and data, their most valuable assets. For instance, Tyler’s Application Platform includes a dynamic data dictionary, which allows you to clearly understand the data you have and ensures it can be exposed securely. Additionally, we utilize open, industry-standard technologies, making it simpler for public sector technology teams to understand and support.”

By taking this incremental approach to modernization, agencies can see results more quickly.

“A lot of times agencies have, unfortunately, had to wait until the end to see it all working, or wait for some major development lifecycle to get confidence that it’s working. But if you can modernize a piece of it and start to shut down some of the legacy software, that allows you to start getting instant value from your investment in a technology or a platform,” Cerniglia said.

An incremental moderation approach also allows agencies to incrementally phase out legacy systems with new capabilities.

“It involves running both systems in parallel, with the new development gradually taking over. By adopting a modular, incremental approach, the new system progressively replaces the old one, allowing the legacy system to shrink over time. This contrasts with the traditional method of flipping a switch to cutover from the old system to the new one all at once.,” Cerniglia said.

Agencies are also looking to provide federal employees with applications that provide a better user experience.

“Public sector employees are used to the applications they use in their personal life. For example, social apps and banking sites that work on a phone or tablet, and also work on a browser, and can quickly do things. With the rapid evolution of technology and the changing of the workforce in the public sector, that’s the trend and expectation — Getting features more frequently and getting a more modern experience from any device.”

Modernized applications also allow agencies to scale up their infrastructure as their mission needs change.

“While Tyler’s Application Platform will give you the majority of that out of the box, every agency does something different and, typically, have a different process. So, understanding where the heavy workloads are in your business process … having an understanding of what your business is and how those peaks and valleys come and really planning for that in your application architecture to scale-up and scale-down as needed.”

Modernized infrastructure, such as moving to the cloud, also sets the foundation for agencies to adopt emerging data analytics and artificial intelligence tools. Cerniglia said AI tools provide the potential to be a “co-pilot” or assistant for federal employees to complete more work, more quickly.

“AI is a quick way to be able to really put the pedal to the metal on some of the processing and really gaining insights into your application that even the most seasoned knowledge workers may not be thinking about,” he said.

While thinking smaller can yield big results in legacy application modernization, that is just the start of the modernization journey.

“As technology evolves at a rapid pace, adopting a mindset and culture of modernization is crucial. Once the initial modernization process is complete, it’s essential to engage in continuous modernization to prevent the need for another major overhaul. By utilizing cloud-based platforms, like Tyler’s Application Platform, agencies can form a valuable technology partnership. This enables them to focus on continuously improving areas of their application such as workflow, user experience, and processing efficiency, while the platform ensures the necessary technology foundation and infrastructure for ongoing enhancements and modernization.”

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