It is not uncommon for major corporations to run as many as 10 000 applications, which requires significant administrative effort.
Application management and modernisation (AMM) makes app administration easier and goes beyond "just keeping the lights on", according to Collin Govender, VP of systems integration at T-Systems in SA.
Chatting to ITWeb about how to make business processes more efficient, Govender explained that AMM is about putting resources and technology in place to manage the applications that drive an organisation's business processes.
From a customer point of view, this enables predictability and maximum uptime of systems, and from a provider's perspective, it guarantees service level agreements with the customer, he added.
According to Govender, AMM differs from application life cycle management in that the latter is about supporting a system in the way it is currently being managed. AMM involves looking at an entire solution from end to end and creating innovative opportunities to modernise that application, allowing service providers and customers to introduce new functionality faster and with less hassle.
This is not just the duty of technical teams, he noted, adding that it should involve co-innovation whereby business people and IT professionals work together to make processes better and more efficient.
"AMM goes beyond managing applications and fixing errors," he said. "It is about understanding the business processes that underlie an application and how these processes fit together, as well as the new functionality that can be driven out to add to these processes. It is also about increasing competitive advantage by getting products out to market faster," added Govender.
He stressed that executive sponsorship is needed to drive effective AMM and that resources working on current applications must have a clear understanding of the business' processes. In order for this approach to work, said Govender, key role players need to be on the same page and need to have the same understanding of what the business needs and what processes must be put in place in order for the business to achieve its goals.
AMM allows for more agile and flexible resources, creating opportunities for cost savings and allowing businesses to quickly respond to changes, he said.
"Businesses need to leverage teams to do more innovative things and need to allow their resources to get involved in core business processes, rather than focusing on just keeping things going," concluded Govender. "Many businesses have a vast wealth of experience in their teams but are failing to utilise it."
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