Application Modernization is Top Software Priority, Forrester Says

June 9, 2009 Alex Woodie

Modernizing key legacy applications is the top software initiative for businesses this year, according to Forrester Research‘s annual survey on software adoption trends, “The State Of Enterprise Software,” which was unveiled yesterday.

Forrester says that updating “key legacy” applications was cited as the top initiative for 64 percent of enterprises and 55 percent of small and mid size businesses. More than 25 percent of enterprises and 20 percent of SMBs said that updating and modernizing key legacy applications is “very important,” Forrester says.

Both enterprises and SMBs cited cost savings as the main reason for pushing for application modernization, the IT analyst said. “The costs of operating monolithic legacy applications makes them unsustainable, and these survey results show that firms are seeking efficient ways to modernize,” Jean-Pierre Garbani, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, said in a press release.

“Companies are willing to adapt their business processes to cheaper packaged software solutions rather than wait for custom applications. Automation is the key to IT’s future,” Garbani continued.

Forrester’s survey also found that companies’ software budgets will maintain relatively flat for 2009. Reducing IT costs remains an “important” goal at 81 percent of respondents, while application integration was deemed an “important” goal by 77 percent of respondents.

Forrester surveyed 2,200 IT executives and technology decision-makers in North America and Europe for its annual study on software spending and adoption trends.