IT Departments are custodians of an organization's application portfolio. As the business changes so does application business fit. The alignment between applications and business needs needs be gauged regularly.

Who doesn't recall having MS Office installed on their PC desktop? Very useful application deployed on many PCs across the planet. How useful was MS Office Desktop during the pandemic? Not so much. The example illustrates the need to conduct regular application rationalization efforts before circumstances dictate it. Why does it take unpredictable circumstances to make us look at the application portfolio holistically? Many of the organizations I have spoken with cite a lack of resources to maintain the general application portfolio health. Not uncommon is the "if it isn't broke don't fix it" philosophy often found in the tech community. Tolerating the unpredictable is not a strategic plan.

There is a better approach. A yearly application rationalization assessment model around the 5 R's and business needs can be invaluable to any organization. The number of applications is irrelevant.  However, how effectively the technology supports the business is not. An architect working with business stakeholders can concisely define current states and develop a roadmap to a future state to prepare for business needs down the road. Some applications may no longer have the features the business needs. While some applications could be slightly changed to add features important to the business. Other applications could bring added value by moving them onto better-performing infrastructure. An application rationalization assessment report will help measure the value the current portfolio is delivering to the business.

The architecture questions are framed by the 5 R's of application rationalization Rehost, Refactor, Rearchitect, Rebuild, and Replace. Determining business fit has several matrixes defined in industry as well as matrixes tailored specifically to an organization. Measuring the 5 R's together along with business fit are important exercises for all organizations to schedule every year.

GOGI Software Solutions offers application rationalization assessment. Reach out to us today and schedule your annual assessment.