Are application modernization services necessary? A thousand times YES. Your SaaS product may have been awesome when it launched, but now, it may be outdated and less impressive than its competitors.
Since outdated SaaS products are less trustworthy, attractive, and feature-rich, you risk experiencing a high churn rate that benefits your competitors. Reports also show that Google Play and Apple Store routinely remove outdated apps from their marketplace. Fortunately, you can avoid such embarrassing outcomes with application modernization services.
What is application modernization?
Application modernization involves updating and transforming an existing software application to meet present-day standards. The process requires leveraging the latest technologies to optimize your existing SaaS product’s performance and user experience. Doing so will make your legacy application more attractive to existing and prospective users.
Application modernization services can also make your product more agile, scalable, and compatible with cloud platforms, mobile devices, and other modern computing environments. For example, Gmail looks nothing like its original iteration, and modern features, such as the Gmail app, make it more suitable for users today.
Why is it important to modernize legacy applications?
The primary goal of application modernization is to extend your SaaS product’s lifespan by helping your product evolve with the times. An outdated product that can’t meet users’ current needs and expectations or work in modern computing environments will struggle to compete.
Such a product will fall behind and fade into extinction. But with application modernization services, you can modernize and optimize your product to continue delivering value to users as market and user needs evolve. Below are more benefits you can gain from modernizing your legacy application:
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Enhanced performance and efficiency
Legacy applications can’t load or complete tasks as quickly as modern applications because they rely on outdated technology and architecture. Bad user experience caused by slow loading or frequent system crashes is a leading cause of customer churn.
With app or software modernization, you can improve your product’s performance and efficiency to boost user retention. Also, since app modernization involves adding new application features, you’ll get a more competitive and valuable product that attracts new users.
Security and compliance
Outdated software tools typically have easily exploitable vulnerabilities, such as weak security measures. These vulnerabilities make such apps more susceptible to attacks from today’s advanced cyber threats. Modernizing your app will help fix such issues by providing advanced and effective security protocols that meet current compliance standards.
This is especially true for those with custom FinTech software or custom logistics software where breaches in security can derail the organization or bring on hefty financial consequences.
Scalability and flexibility
Most legacy software can’t scale and adapt to satisfy changing business needs. For example, your legacy application may be unable to integrate with modern systems or platforms, which can frustrate making the most of your data.
Professional application modernization services can improve your app’s interoperability to allow seamless data exchange and collaboration with other systems. It can also make your app more flexible and scalable by switching to a cloud-native environment, API-first approach, and serverless architecture.
Save money
Outdated applications typically require more maintenance and support than modern counterparts. The maintenance may involve resolving security vulnerabilities, performance issues, or user dissatisfaction. Repeatedly fixing such issues is costly, and the problems reduce the app’s profitability by scaring off users.
Application modernization services can reduce operational expenses by equipping your app with more efficient and cost-effective technologies. The upgrade will eliminate the need for complex and time-consuming updates and maintenance procedures. For example, switching to containerization can help fast-track maintenance and save money by shortening deployment times for updates and bug fixes.
Increased user experience and satisfaction
User expectations constantly evolve, and your application must evolve alongside these expectations. Modernizing your application at regular intervals will help you accomplish this by updating your UX and UI to be more intuitive and user-friendly.
Also, application modernization services ensure your product has your target market’s most sought-after features. Adding such features to your product will future-proof it so that your target users continue finding your application valuable and relevant.
What are the top application modernization services?
Several application modernization solutions are available for updating your legacy SaaS product to be more competitive. The most popular of these services are:
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1. Modernization strategy workshops
A modernization strategy workshop involves developers, designers, and stakeholders collaborating and brainstorming ways to update your existing product. During the workshop, the involved parties will assess your SaaS product’s current state and create a roadmap to achieve identified modernization objectives. They will then identify and lay out measures to take to modernize your product.
For example, the workshop can lead to a SaaS business choosing to adopt modern practices, such as DevOps and deployment automation. Adopting such practices can help speed up software iteration and delivery to improve competitiveness and customer satisfaction.
2. Modernization prototyping and user testing
Successfully modernizing your legacy app requires prototyping and user testing. Prototyping involves creating preliminary iterations of your updated app. With such iterations, you can present stakeholders and users with tangible versions of your product to test drive (user testing).
User testing is crucial because it provides accurate insights into if you are on the right track to modernize your product. For example, positive feedback from user testing means your UX upgrades and new features are what your target users want.
Negative feedback is just as valuable because it helps you identify the aspects of your product to improve before launching the final version. In summary, the modernization prototyping and user testing service provides valuable feedback that minimizes the risk of modernizing your product the wrong way.
3. UX design upgrade
Updating your UX design is one of the most important application modernization services because it updates the look and usability of your product. UX design services may involve enhancing your product’s user interface, interactions, navigability, and user experience.
The end goal is to turn your legacy product into a more user-centric product that lets users experience value faster. The service minimizes user churn by eliminating pain points, inefficiencies, and areas of confusion that make your app user-unfriendly.
The service may also include upgrading your legacy SaaS product to work on the operating systems and devices most people use today. Lastly, there’s the visual refresh with modern design trends, color schemes, and typography to make the software’s interface more visually appealing and engaging.
4. Code refactoring
Code refactoring involves restructuring and improving a legacy application's source code without changing its external behavior. A simpler way to describe the service is it improves and cleans up your app’s code without changing what the code does. Modernizing your legacy app with this service will enhance its code's readability, maintainability, and efficiency. It also reduces the risks of bugs and errors popping up and simplifies updating or modifying the app’s code in the future.
5. New feature development
Human expectations of a product constantly change, and products must evolve to match changes in custom expectations. A SaaS product that fails to evolve will lose engagement, leading to increased churn.
Application modernization helps your product evolve by adding new features that keep existing users engaged and bring in new ones. The service requires first performing user research to identify the new features users crave. Market research that looks at the new and well-received features of competitors is also helpful. The insight from the research will aid new feature development by showing developers the features to prioritize and implement first.
6. Data modernization
Leverage app modernization to upgrade your SaaS product’s data storage and management practices. Doing so will equip your application to handle modern data requirements, such as big data, real-time analytics, and data streaming. For example, the service can API-enable your app, allowing it to integrate with other apps to exchange data for processing, storage, and other functions.
The service can also upgrade your data security features so only users with the right credentials can access sensitive data. Lastly, implementing the latest data security measures will ensure your compliance with current industry regulations and data protection standards.
7. Cloud migration
More SaaS businesses are migrating to modern app frameworks to leverage cloud infrastructure because it enhances an app’s performance, scalability, and flexibility. A rehost will help move your legacy application from its on-premises server to a cloud environment without overly changing its architecture or code. However, turning your legacy app into a cloud-based app may require configuration tweaks to make the app perform optimally in the cloud.
8. Data architecture redesign and modernization
Legacy applications often suffer from fragmented or outdated data models that can’t support modern features or analytics. This service involves auditing your current data architecture and designing a new system that centralizes, cleans, and structures your data for scalability.
Your modernization team may recommend transitioning to event-driven architecture or rebuilding your data layer using modern databases and tools. The goal is to support real-time data access, simplify integrations, and enable advanced capabilities like embedded analytics or AI features.
With an optimized data foundation, you’ll have a more agile product, better decision-making capabilities, and the ability to respond quickly to user and market demands.
9. Compliance and technical debt remediation
Outdated applications tend to carry more than old code—they often include compliance risks, security gaps, and layers of technical debt. That’s why this service focuses on remediating vulnerabilities and bringing your app in line with current standards.
From deprecated APIs and unsupported third-party tools to insecure libraries and patchwork infrastructure, there’s a lot that can silently hold your product back. This service helps you refactor risky code, retire obsolete dependencies, and streamline your tech stack.
The result is a cleaner, more stable application that’s easier to maintain, and ready to pass audits or certifications with less rework.
How to determine if your application requires modernization
Not every outdated product shows visible cracks, but most will show signs if you know where to look. If your app is holding back your users, your team, or your business goals, it's likely time for an upgrade. Here are the most common categories of problems that signal it's time to modernize.
User dissatisfaction
When users struggle to navigate your app or run into performance issues, they quickly lose trust. Even if your app still functions, that doesn’t mean it feels usable or competitive. Common red flags include:
Frequent complaints about slowness or crashes
An interface that feels outdated or clunky
Users abandoning tasks
A steady decline in user ratings
Modernizing the UX can have an immediate impact on customer satisfaction and retention.
Development bottlenecks
If your team spends more time fixing bugs than building features, something is broken beneath the surface. Legacy codebases often become fragile, where even small changes risk introducing new issues. Hiring developers takes longer, onboarding is painful, and simple updates turn into drawn-out cycles. These problems drag down your team's momentum and stall innovation.
Technical limitations
Legacy systems resist change. You might be stuck with outdated frameworks or have infrastructure that wasn’t built to scale. As a result, your product struggles to adapt to modern needs. Look for symptoms like:
Difficulty integrating with APIs or modern cloud tools
High infrastructure costs from inefficient architecture
Performance issues under increased user load
These challenges only get more expensive over time, and harder to untangle without a clear modernization effort.
Also, if scaling your app feels like pushing a boulder uphill, or if your monolith can’t support new services, you may need to consider moving from a monolith to microservices as part of your modernization strategy.
Security and compliance risks
Old software stacks are rarely equipped to handle modern threats. If you're unsure how user data is being stored or whether your dependencies are still secure, you're already at risk. Modernization addresses common issues like:
Use of deprecated libraries or outdated security protocols
Lack of controls needed for GDPR, HIPAA, or SOC 2 compliance
Poor visibility into data flows or access permissions
Reducing these risks protects not just your users, but your brand.
Missed business opportunities
When your product becomes a barrier to growth, it's time for a strategic reset. Maybe you've delayed launching new features because your system can't support them. Or you've passed on enterprise deals knowing your infrastructure wasn’t ready. In many cases, companies find themselves saying “we can’t do that yet” too often. That’s when it becomes all to clear: the platform is holding the business back.
7 application modernization service providers
Now that you know the benefits of application modernization services, are you interested in updating your app? If yes, you have to find an experienced professional that can deliver your desired results. Choose one of these top application modernization service providers to update your app.
1. DevSquad
DevSquad is a leading software development agency with years of experience equipping SaaS companies of all sizes to succeed. How? We help SaaS businesses ideate, develop, and launch products that satisfy their strategic goals and target market. If you already have a product, but it’s outdated, contact us for application modernization services.
Our application modernization service is perfect for legacy software providers that are losing customers to more modern tools. We will put our strategy, UX, product management, engineering, DevOps, and QA specialists at your disposal to turn your legacy application into a more modern, attractive, and user-centric version of itself.
Our modernization service also includes user testing and UX flow optimization to improve your product’s user experience and retention rates. Lastly, we’ll update and launch your product quickly and without disruption so you can keep serving customers while we optimize your SaaS software.
2. ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft provides application modernization services that help businesses future-proof their products. The agency can modernize your web, mobile, enterprise, or SaaS application, and the service starts with a consultation to understand your goals. Once the agency understands your needs, they can get to work strategizing and modifying your app to be more user-friendly, scalable, secure, and attractive.
ScienceSoft’s legacy application modernization services include cloud migration, app reengineering, app recoding, and containerization. Depending on your desired services, modernizing your app may take as little as two months or up to two years.
3. Accenture
Accenture offers to update your SaaS product by adding innovative features that will keep the product attractive and valuable for years to come. The service will turn your legacy application into a valuable asset that ensures your brand’s continuity. It will also enhance your ability to satisfy your target customers’ evolving needs. Besides new feature development, other modernization solutions offered by Accenture include rehosting, re-platforming, and code transformation.
4. ConvergeOne
ConvergeOne (C1) offers fast solutions for rebuilding and modernizing applications to perform optimally in a cloud environment. You can count on the agency to transform your SaaS app, legacy customer software, mainframe system, BI tool, or monolithic application.
C1 promises value in the form of improved app performance, scalability, uptime, and security. C1 can also make your application smarter by adding AI and machine learning.
5. Hitachi Vantara
Hitachi Vantara offers comprehensive application modernization services tailored to help businesses drive growth. The agency’s services include application portfolio evaluation and modernization roadmap planning to identify and map out how to modernize your app. Next comes application re-architecting to leverage cloud-native architectures and containerization to drive scalability and high availability.
Unlike many competitors, Hitachi Vantara also offers consultation to help you optimize pricing and performance. The team relies on DevOps processes to enhance collaboration and ensure fast and reliable software delivery.
6. Infosys
Infosys helps businesses modernize legacy applications with zero operation disruption. The agency prevents disruptions by leveraging micro-change interventions until your app modernization is complete. The interventions include minor and gradual updates and improvements until your application reaches its best form. The service will make your product more relevant, and your brand more resilient and responsive.
7. XDuce
XDuce provides an expert team to handle everything from strategic planning to deployment when you order application modernization services. The service starts with assessing your legacy code to identify modernization opportunities with the best return on investment.
Depending on your unique needs, modernizing your app may include cloud migration, re-platforming, and UI/UX modernization. Other modernization services you can receive are automation and cloud strategy.
DDo you want an application modernization service provider that puts clients’ needs first at all times? Look no further than DevSquad. We’ll listen to what you want and provide solutions tailored to help you quickly and effectively achieve your goal. Learn more about our legacy application services and schedule a free consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I know when it’s time to modernize my legacy application?
If users are complaining, features are hard to build, or your system can’t keep up with modern tools or security standards, it’s time to consider modernization. Technical debt compounds over time, and performance issues rarely fix themselves. A well-timed update can protect your product’s value and keep it competitive.
What’s the difference between replatforming, refactoring, and rebuilding?
Replatforming involves moving your app to a new hosting environment without changing its core architecture. Refactoring updates the internal code structure while keeping the same functionality. Rebuilding means starting over with a modern architecture and often a redesigned feature set. The right approach depends on your goals, tech stack, and budget.
How long does a typical application modernization project take?
The timeline depends entirely on the scope. Some apps only need a UX refresh and code cleanup, while others require a complete architectural overhaul. Factors like team size, testing needs, and feature complexity also play a role. The best way to understand what’s realistic for your product is to schedule a consultation.
Can I modernize my application without disrupting current users?
It’s often possible, but not guaranteed. Seamless modernization depends on how your app is structured and which systems need updating. In many cases, strategic planning and phased rollouts can minimize downtime. To get a clear answer, you’ll need to review your current setup with an experienced team.
How much of my legacy system can be reused in a modernization effort?
Some components—like your data models or business logic—might still be valuable, while others may be holding your product back. The level of reuse for legacy system upgrades depends on the quality of your codebase, tech stack, and long-term goals. The only way to make that call confidently is through a technical discovery process.