Evaluate your software applications and determine which apps align with your business goals and deliver the most value.
Application portfolio assessment is a process used by organizations to evaluate the software applications they currently use. The main goal of this assessment is to identify which applications are most beneficial to the organization and align with its business goals and objectives.
By conducting this assessment, organizations can make informed decisions about which applications to invest in, retire, or replace in order to optimize their overall application portfolio and improve their operations.
APM tools provide businesses with a standardized process and visual maps, increasing the quality of assessments over time and more straightforward rationalization.
There are several reasons why organizations may conduct an application portfolio assessment. These reasons include:
Overall, the main goal of application portfolio assessment is to ensure that the organization's application portfolio is well-aligned with its business goals and is optimized to support its operations and growth.
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There are several use cases when any organization – large or small – will assess its application portfolio.
Each of the following processes require IT architects to set a target architecture. This is done using the methodologies described further down this page.
Cloud computing is a huge part of modern enterprises. Third-party services like Google, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, and IBM enable IT processes and services to be accessed online.
The process of migrating to cloud services will require an assessment of the current application portfolio. This is to establish which SaaS, IaaS or PaaS services will best achieve the goals of the business and their impact.
When two businesses merge, redundant software or duplicate applications can become part of the newly formed IT landscape. As a result, analysis and rationalization of the new application portfolio must be carried out as part of a successful integration process.
IT optimization is the process of continuously analyzing an organization’s business technology processes and applications to discover cost-saving opportunities. These areas include cloud services, infrastructure, and applications amongst others.
Large enterprises tend to have complex IT infrastructure which can become burdensome and expensive to the business over time. Software complexity reduction allows enterprises to streamline and rationalize their application portfolio.
Technology moves at lightning speed; especially in the IT world. There are always new updates, versions, and applications organizations need to adapt to stay competitive. By assessing application inventory, old software can be retired.
Application portfolio assessments help businesses discover possible risks in their IT landscape. Risks can include security gaps, running redundant software, and shadow IT.
To perform a successful application portfolio assessment, a few basic requirements need to be established before the process can begin.
The more detailed information IT teams have about the following, the better the decisions that can be made. Main Application portfolio analysis strategy must-haves are:
