A New Agile Approach to Application Modernization Services and What to Expect

Legacy systems are increasingly expensive to maintain, difficult to scale, and risky from both a security and performance standpoint. Traditional application modernization methods often require large teams, long timelines, and full rebuilds, making the process slow, disruptive and costly. 

Recognizing the need for a leaner, more iterative path, we set out to redefine what a legacy application modernization solution could look like. The result is an agile application development model that combines senior engineering talent with AI-powered tools, delivering modernization projects faster, with better outcomes and less overhead.

Let’s look at why this approach works and how AI is changing the game.

AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a productivity accelerator. Here’s how it supports faster, higher-quality legacy app modernization:

AI is transforming how modernization work gets done – not by replacing developers, but by automating time-consuming tasks like code analysis, refactoring and testing. Our agile application development model is built around this shift, combining expert oversight with AI-powered acceleration to deliver real results faster and more efficiently. Here is how that translates into practice:

Modernization should start with alignment. This phase is about understanding your specific business objectives, industry, budget constraints and risk tolerance. AI plays an important role by analyzing analytics logs and user data to identify usage patterns, identify pain points and surface feature requests, thereby facilitating the prioritization of features that deliver the highest business value.

Client Experience: Key stakeholders are actively engaged to identify business priorities and current challenges. This collaborative approach ensures that the modernization goals align perfectly with your strategic vision.

Key Deliverables: A detailed roadmap outlining the steps, timelines and resources required for your AI-powered app modernization project. You’ll have a clear vision, defined success criteria and validated technical architecture.

We start with a deep dive into your current systems using AI-driven analysis.

Outcome: A clear, validated modernization strategy aligned with your goals.

This is where the “Senior Developer + AI = Agile Team” comes to life. The senior developer, augmented by AI, works in 2-week agile sprints, handling backend, frontend and infrastructure tasks. We suggest this Agile Team methodology due to the support it provides for inherently iterative and data-driven projects.

Client Experience: You’ll receive regular status updates and benefit from continuous delivery of working features. This sprint-based approach ensures demonstrable progress and transparency every two weeks.

Key Deliverables: Increased development velocity, improved software quality and rapid, continuous delivery of modernized components.

Modernization begins with agile sprints powered by AI.

Outcome: Faster releases, better code and reduced risk.

Beyond delivery, we focus on long-term enablement. We help your internal teams to adopt AI for future development through training, workshops and best practices. Successful AI adoption within an organization necessitates strong buy-in and proper staff training.

Client Experience: You’ll gain significant knowledge transfer and an upskilled internal team, leading to increased self-sufficiency and innovation capacity.

Key Deliverables: Accelerated future application development cycles, reduced long-term development and maintenance costs, and an empowered development team with cutting-edge AI expertise.

Outcome: A self-sufficient, AI-savvy team ready to scale innovation.

We help define and track KPIs to measure success, such as improvements in performance, maintenance cost reduction and user satisfaction. Based on results and feedback, we identify further optimization opportunities. AI models are monitored for accuracy, potential drift and biases.

Client Experience: Data-driven insights, iterative improvements and a strategic partnership focused on long-term success. We refine AI tools and processes based on lessons learned and strengthen your internal AI Center of Excellence.

Key Deliverables: Continuous improvement of the modernized application, maximized return on investment (ROI) from the modernization effort and sustained competitive advantage.

Modernization is continuous and we help you evolve.

Outcome: Ongoing ROI and a scalable, future-ready application ecosystem.

AI-powered application modernization offers a faster, leaner way to rebuild legacy systems while improving quality and scalability. Withum’s “Senior Developer + AI = Agile Team” model delivers a predictable, efficient path to modernization — designed to reduce costs, accelerate delivery, and support long-term growth.