Applications landscapes need pruning: Capgemini

IT departments are struggling with an overly complex applications landscape, with nearly half (48%) of organisations believing they have more applications than they need, according to a global survey.

The survey from IT services and consulting provider Capgemini shows that this percentage has increased from just 34% over the last three years.

Only 37% of companies from the 16 countries surveyed - including Australia - believe that the majority of their applications are mission critical. And 57% believe that at least a fifth of their current applications should be replaced.

Australian respondents cited mobility as the most disruptive technology in terms of their application landscape, followed by the cloud and social media.

The report on the survey’s results states that a modernised applications landscape is essential to deriving a competitive advantage from technologies including mobility, the cloud and big data.

“On the surface, a badly organised, overloaded and outdated applications landscape sounds like a minor irritation for the IT team, absorbing bandwidth and wasting money, but ultimately not a problem that should keep the wider business up at night,” Capgemini CTO of Application Services for Continental Europe Ron Tolido said.

“But in a world where all facets of an organisation are starting to embrace digital transformation ... a well-rationalised applications landscape suddenly becomes a much bigger, strategic imperative for the whole company.”

Image courtesy of Michael Cannon under CC