Insights
Redundant applications, duplicate technology, duplicate IT systems... Whatever you call it, maintaining multiple applications that perform the same or similar functions in your portfolio is wasteful.
Duplication in IT can be a consequence of varying factors: organic growth, reorganization of an enterprise, poor IT governance, or a lack of communication among business units - just to name a few. Whether your organization recently decided to undergo a "spring cleaning" for its application portfolio or is trying to consolidate after a merger and acquisition, eliminating redundant applications is the first step in reducing IT cost and complexity.
What is Application Portfolio Management (APM)?
Application Portfolio Management is the process of monitoring and managing an organization's on-premise, cloud, SaaS, PaaS, iPaaS and all other applications from purchase to disposal. Businesses create an inventory of software applications they have in an APM process. So, thanks to APM, businesses know what they have, have information about the criticality level of applications and detect inefficient applications. Application Portfolio Management enables businesses to detect duplicate applications and optimize IT costs.
Hazards of Duplicate Technology
High Maintenance Costs
Cost is the first thing that comes to mind when discussing the detriments of duplicate technology to organizations. Especially in large corporations, different business domains make independent purchases to address their immediate strategies.
Note that by duplicate technology, we don't necessarily mean the same application bought several times by different parties. Likewise, different applications with similar functions (and that can be replaced by one another without losing any crucial features) pose the same amount of redundancy. This accumulation of applications, most of which could have been avoided by simply scanning the organization's existing software beforehand, leads to licensing and maintenance costs stacking up.
Compatibility Issues
Purchases stemming from the disorganization of the enterprise architecture can easily build up and evolve into an excess of systems that are similar to each other but don't work with one another. For example, let's say a department head is in need of an application to serve a specific function. An application exists in the organization’s portfolio and fulfills the required business capabilities. However, it doesn't integrate with the department's existing software system.
Without a planned roadmap, organizations often introduce incompatibility risks into their IT landscape. Incompatible systems may require additional capital and effort if integration is necessary for business goals. In this case, the IT department would have to develop an integrated system or seek third-party products or services - an inconvenience that could be avoided by planning before purchasing.
Unnecessary IT Complexity
All these IT complexity results in a loss of agility and create a strain on an organization’s IT landscape, preventing IT departments from effectively supporting new business projects. Similarly, the business end of the organization suffers from inefficiency in addition to soaring IT maintenance costs, hindering room for innovation.
Eliminating Duplicate Software Applications
Eliminating duplicate technology significantly reduces costs and keeps the IT system clean and flexible for high-value, efficient and innovative solutions. Improvement of the application portfolio enables better overall governance, which reflects on the organization's success.
Once an inventory of the organization's software applications is formed, determining reoccurring applications is straightforward. Simply sort the applications by name and see which ones repeat themselves. The next step will depend on your company policy and the nature of the licensing agreements of the applications. The IT Manager can begin planning for migrating all the licenses under the same product.
Determining applications that have overlapping functions is slightly more complicated. IT managers should map the business capabilities of each application and see which replacements would be most effective. The decision of which application to keep should be made in coordination with the application owners while keeping in mind two key factors: IT quality and business value. For insight on determining a value for the applications in your portfolio see our blog post titled Which Applications You Should Tolerate, Invest In, Migrate, and Eliminate.
Conclusion
It's important to remember that the best practice for avoiding duplicate purchases is prevention. Organizations must ensure that each application purchase is based on a well-informed decision, with careful regard given to the existing IT landscape.
An effective application portfolio management strategy starts with identifying the organization's application assets and determining redundant elements. While most of this practice involves multi-faceted analysis of a variety of factors, finding and eliminating duplicate applications is an obvious and simple way to begin the process.
Application Portfolio Management Software is a digital solution that enables businesses to manage their application inventory throughout their lifecycle from a single platform. Businesses can easily perform APM processes that they cannot perform through spreadsheets with an APM software.
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