There has been a slew of recent attempts to modernize one of the longest-standing technological languages in use today, that being COBOL. Many companies wish to replace COBOL with languages such as Java or .NET. Most of the newest applications which you use in everyday life are written with either the .NET or the Java language. This is why many companies are being forced to replace their systems with the updated languages. However, there are still many everyday applications which have been around for quite some time which still rely on COBOL. These applications include such things as ATM transactions or online banking transactions. Neither of these services and plenty more, rely solely on the COBOL language. This is why they are in desperate need of application modernization services.
The reason why application modernization is so critical is that developers are able to extend the use of COBOL to different working environments without actually having to rewrite the code the language is based upon. These modernization platforms are much cheaper and efficient to implement versus the only other method which would be completely rewriting the COBOL code.
Application modernization on legacy systems can be fully rolled in an average timespan of 15 months. Once the project has been completed, the return on investment can be expected to be seen within 18 months.
According to experts in the industry, there are well over 240 billion lines of COBOL code being used in the world. Keeping this immense volume in mind, nobody in their right mind would want to dispose of the code and rewrite it from scratch due to the amount of money which has been invested into the global scope of it. There is also the prevalence of installed-base COBOL codes to consider, which would make the apps a huge task to replace.
It has already been reported that using a company such as AveriSource to modernize the legacy applications has saved countless companies an average of 80% percent of what their original expansion expenditures were projected to be.
One of the underrated benefits of programming in COBOL code is its simplicity in relation to writing in Java or .NET. COBOL is more similar to actual language due to its minimal use of syntax codes and commands. By continuing to be able to reuse the language of COBOL, programmers can look toward the future without completely getting rid of the past.
