Organizations face a critical decision when it comes to application modernization. They need to determine whether they’re going to refactor (restructure) their applications, move towards more containerization, leverage their existing ecosystem and infrastructure, or move to a different one entirely. The path forward is not as straightforward as simply replacing VMs with containers.
Let’s explore the most common changes impacting digital transformation and IT modernization today.
Cloud-Native Applications Are Changing
Research shows that 48% of organizations are building cloud-native applications in a private or public cloud. Only 11% of respondents indicated that they’re building their cloud-native applications on-premises. But here’s what’s interesting. When asked about two years from now, the data shows a repatriation of those applications back from the cloud to an on-premises ecosystem or infrastructure.
Organizations are doing two things:
- They’re moving to the cloud and using the cloud resources for their production or development.
- They’re modernizing their on-premises or edge location and moving the applications to those specific locations.
Application portability matters critically here. Twenty percent of research respondents indicate that application portability is critical, and 67% say it’s very important.
“Being able to move around is incredibly important, but also to modernize your existing infrastructure makes the cloud a useful tool to do so.”
– Paul Nashawaty, Principal Analyst, The Cube Research
Your Tech Stack Matters
What does this mean for your organization and its tech stack? Well, it’s not all containers. The tech stack matters. According to Paul Nasawaty, when CIOs discuss their modernization efforts, two things consistently come up as challenges: complexity and skill gap issues.
If organizations have a tech stack that might be heritage and they want to move away from it, or they want to modernize to more of a containerization approach from VMs, that requires an evolution, a change that has to occur. That also requires skill to do so. You either take that hit from the organization and invest and train your staff to do something, or you figure out how to leverage your existing teams.
Organizations Are Hiring Generalists Over Specialists
Research shows that 67% of organizations are hiring generalists over specialists. The reason they’re doing this is not because they can’t find specialists or because they don’t want to hire a specialist. They just can’t find them. Also, generalists are now able to do the work with the assistance of the tech stack with AI.
This modernization treadmill is occurring. Moving from one tech stack to another, as long as it’s frictionless and it’s addressing the company’s needs with the resources and reducing complexity, that’s where there’s a big green light. Cost is a factor as well. Licensing costs can accelerate in certain scenarios, and those things you have to think about.
It’s Not Just Replacement, It’s Freedom of Choice
There’s freedom of choice at this point to pick what tech stack you want to use. Organizations that are working with vendors that can provide a solution that’s frictionless and easier to deploy with a generalist to do the work versus a specialist have a clear advantage.
You don’t have to bring in a team of people when you can have that push the big green button approach. If you’re just looking at moving from one heritage environment to a modern environment, you want it to be frictionless.
Ultimately, containers are not replacing VMs. The reality is a mixed environment where organizations need infrastructure that supports both, reduces complexity, and works with the teams they actually have rather than the specialists they wish they could hire.
Learn more about these insights in our PodMagic episode, What Real-World IT Teams Want from Infrastructure with Paul Nashawaty.
