Global technology spend in 2025 is expected to surpass $4.9 trillion, largely fueled by IT services, generative AI, and cloud technologies. Companies worldwide are undergoing significant digital transformation, and that includes application modernization.
AI is becoming central to app modernization. A recent State of Application Modernization Report highlighted that more than three-quarters of organizations surveyed are leveraging AI to support their development process. About half are using AI to facilitate modernization, while others are adding AI capabilities to existing legacy apps.
Understanding the Role of AI in Application Modernization
Traditionally, application modernization has been a time-consuming and resource-intensive process, often taking large teams of engineers and spanning years. AI tools have changed the digital transformation process, however, by handling much of the manual work and leveraging intelligent code analysis to aid in modernization.
One of the primary ways AI is changing the application modernization process is through intelligent code analysis and refactoring. Algorithms can scan millions of lines of code and identify bugs, outdated patterns, and opportunities for optimization. This can happen rapidly, often in a few hours, compared to a manual review that could take months and still fall short.
AI can also analyze the structure and functionality of legacy systems and automatically generate code that works more efficiently in cloud environments. This significantly accelerates the migration process while minimizing the potential for human error.
Implementing AI Strategies for Enhanced Software Development
AI in software development goes beyond just application modernization. DevOps teams are increasingly using AI as a core component of their entire development process to accelerate time to market and streamline CI/CD pipelines.
Two key strategies include using AI for code generation and testing and predictive analytics in project management.
AI-Assisted Code Generation
AI-powered code generation tools are able to generate boilerplate code, suggest completions, and even create entire functions based on natural language descriptions. This can dramatically speed up the development cycle while freeing up developers to focus on more complex, creative aspects of software design.
GitHub’s Copilot is a prime example of this technology, using AI to suggest code and functions in real-time. Based on feedback, it also learns the developer’s coding style for a more consistent codebase.
Predictive Analytics for Project Management
AI is also transforming project management in software development. By analyzing historical project data, AI can predict potential hurdles, helping to better phase projects and resource allocation.
Project management tools use machine learning to analyze project data to help managers make better decisions for efficient project execution. Generative AI automation tools are helping manage software sprawl and connected resources. When you consider that the number of cloud-native apps is forecast to grow from 531 million now to more than one billion by 2028, such tools will be crucial to understand and manage dependencies.
Harnessing Private LLMs for Enterprise Modernization
As generative AI continues to mature, enterprises are moving beyond public tools and adopting private, fine-tuned large language models (LLMs) to support modernization at scale.
These internal LLMs are customized with company-specific data, allowing organizations to generate highly relevant code, documentation, and system recommendations while maintaining full control over sensitive IP.
By training models on proprietary application logic and historical ticket data, companies can automate legacy code refactoring, accelerate migration timelines, and even assist with change impact analysis across interconnected systems.
This internalization of AI capability ensures that modernization workflows are more secure, context-aware, and aligned with enterprise compliance policies. For businesses looking to scale their transformation efforts without exposing critical infrastructure to third-party platforms, private LLMs are quickly becoming an essential part of the modernization toolkit.
Exploring the Benefits of AI-Driven Velocity Multiplier
Developers are constantly looking for tactics to shorten the development cycle. And, when it comes to speed and efficiency, AI is one of the most powerful velocity multipliers.
AI testing tools can generate test cases, automate tests, and analyze results significantly faster than traditional methods. This accelerates the quality assurance (QA) process and improves codebase quality with more comprehensive testing.
We’re also seeing AI used to enhance DevOps in general, automating the software delivery pipeline from CI and CD to monitoring and incident response. Machine learning can analyze system logs and metrics, detecting and predicting potential issues for remediation. Similarly, performance tuning with AI can predict when proactive maintenance will reduce downtime.
Another way AI is changing the development cycle is by tracking projects against validation requirements and constantly measuring whether builds are meeting goals and deliverables. This helps identify conflicts or ambiguities earlier in the development cycle that may not meet project requirements.
Future Trends: AI Innovations in Application Development
We’re also seeing a movement toward self-healing and self-optimizing applications. By automatically detecting and fixing issues, the software can continuously improve itself. Self-optimization adjusts resource allocation based on usage patterns and makes intelligent decisions for optimal performance.
The future is bright for AI in application modernization, helping developers accelerate the pace of progress. Natural language processing (NLP), no-code, and low-code tools are continuing to evolve, democratizing the app development process and helping overcome critical shortages of qualified software engineers. By embracing these advancements in AI, businesses can not only streamline their development processes but also achieve new levels of efficiency and innovation.
Ready to unlock the full potential of AI-powered application modernization for your business? Contact us today to discuss how our expertise can help you accelerate your digital transformation and maximize your organization’s ROI. Let’s build the future together.
