As mentioned earlier, there are two key dimensions to measuring return on investment (ROI) from legacy modernization: technology ROI and business ROI. From a technology perspective, the primary benefits include faster time to market, improved platform stability and resilience, and lower operating costs. These advantages are among the most important outcomes of a successful legacy system modernization strategy.
Modernization also gives organizations access to a broader talent pool, stronger security controls, and a platform that is better protected against vulnerabilities in today’s digital environment. By simplifying the technology landscape, businesses can innovate more efficiently, release software faster, deliver new features sooner, and respond quickly to emerging technologies and changing customer expectations. However, these are only the technical benefits.
From a business perspective, ROI is reflected in measurable customer outcomes and revenue growth. Organizations often track improvements in metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer retention, conversion rates, and mobile app ratings. These indicators provide valuable insight into customer satisfaction and the quality of the digital experience. For this reason, leaders should evaluate modernization ROI from both a technology and business perspective, with business outcomes remaining the ultimate priority.
The second part of your question was about advice for business leaders. Asifa covered several important points, including the value of a one-team approach, creating a safe environment where employees can openly discuss what is working and what is not, and maintaining focus on the desired business outcome. I would also emphasize that legacy modernization should not be viewed solely as a technology initiative.
Modernizing legacy systems is a strategic opportunity to rethink the business platform itself. Organizations can use this investment to improve customer experience, simplify operational processes, and build modern capabilities such as real-time personalization, advanced analytics, and data-driven decision-making. The greatest value is achieved when technology transformation is directly connected to clear business objectives rather than treated as a simple system migration.
Finally, leaders should approach modernization from first principles. Artificial intelligence is not a replacement for sound engineering practices. Instead, AI enables organizations to apply proven practices more quickly, consistently, and at scale. Strong architecture, disciplined software engineering, effective governance, and clearly defined business goals remain essential—and will become even more important as AI adoption increases. These fundamentals should be a central focus for any organization beginning a legacy modernization program.
Megan: I really like the idea that this is not simply a migration project. As you said, it is an opportunity to rethink what an organization can offer and what is possible with a modern digital platform. Let’s end on a positive note. Asifa, what innovations are you most excited about—especially those that were not possible before modernization—and what do you think lies ahead?
Asifa: There is certainly a great deal of innovation ahead. However, what excites us most is not a particular technology. It is the way the questions in the conversation are changing. In the past, we asked, “We used to do this, but can our platform support it?” Today, we ask, “Is this the right experience for the customer?” That shift represents a significant change in how we approach technology and innovation.
Megan, there are three capabilities that were generally not possible before. We have touched on some of them, and Sanjeev has discussed them as well. The first is speed as a permanent organizational capability. Since launching our Android and iOS applications, the team has delivered multiple releases in rapid succession, including migrations to new payment gateways. Invoice processing became four times faster, code reached testers in approximately one hour, the codebase was reduced by 30%, and the application footprint decreased by 18%.
In this context, simplicity is no longer just an aesthetic preference. It makes every future change faster, less expensive, and easier to manage. By simplifying the platform, we created the flexibility to innovate continuously and respond to customer needs more effectively.
The second capability is delivering higher quality at that speed. This was the area we were most skeptical about five years ago. We used AI-powered triage and predictive defect analysis across nearly 1,400 cases, focusing testing efforts on the highest-risk stages of delivery. As a result, we entered production with zero security vulnerabilities and no high-severity defects, as Sanjeev mentioned earlier.
The traditional trade-off between moving quickly and moving safely is being redefined. Modern application development, supported by AI-driven testing and improved engineering processes, allows organizations to increase release velocity without compromising software quality, cybersecurity, or reliability.
The third capability is AI-driven accessibility testing. Our team treated accessibility as an essential responsibility rather than an optional enhancement. In healthcare, the people who most need access to our services may also be the people most affected by poorly designed digital interfaces. The ability to test accessibility systematically and at scale has therefore been a major breakthrough.
As you mentioned, Megan, the next major opportunity is already on the horizon: agentic AI. Organizations are moving from using AI to support individual tasks toward using AI to complete entire outcomes end to end, with appropriate governance and human oversight at critical decision points.
This modernization program has shown us that technology constraints are no longer the primary limitation. What matters is whether the platform, data, processes, and controls are mature enough to allow AI to operate safely and responsibly. That is why this work is so important now. As Sanjeev noted, the underlying architecture is critical.
In healthcare, responsible AI should be viewed as a source of business and customer value—not merely as a compliance exercise. Nothing we build will succeed if people do not trust how their information is collected, protected, and used. We did not modernize simply to adopt newer technology. We modernized to create the foundation needed to deliver meaningful improvements in weeks rather than years.
Megan: Absolutely. With these foundations in place, a wide range of new opportunities is becoming possible. Finally, Sanjeev, as companies complete their legacy modernization journeys, what innovations and benefits are you seeing today, and what do you expect to see over the next five years?
Sanjeev: Of course. That is another important question, Megan. There is still no single approach that works for every modernization program. As mentioned earlier, simply lifting and shifting an existing codebase to a new platform—or replacing one system with an equivalent solution—usually delivers limited benefits.
Organizations should apply first-principles thinking and consider whether they need to reimagine, rebuild, and refactor their systems. This creates a foundation for a more flexible and scalable digital platform. Business rules do not need to remain embedded in the architecture; they can be managed in a way that allows changes to be introduced more quickly. This approach also supports real-time personalization and can significantly improve time to market.
As a result, we are seeing substantially greater business value from modernization. Bupa is a strong example of this step change, both in terms of customer experience and the speed at which teams can deliver new capabilities. App ratings have improved considerably, reflecting a better digital customer experience. Even foundational journeys, such as login success rates, have improved significantly.
From an engineering perspective, teams are now building and releasing features approximately four times faster. Nearly 100% of customers have also moved to the new platform. These results demonstrate how a well-executed legacy modernization strategy can improve application performance, accelerate software delivery, enhance customer satisfaction, and create a stronger foundation for future innovation.
Source: www.technologyreview.com