Open Access
A Strategic Framework For Modernizing Legacy Enterprise Applications Through Cloud-Based Migration Models
4
Department of Information Systems Shinagawa Institute of Technology
4
School of Engineering and Innovation Nagano Advanced Studies University
Abstract
The modernization of legacy enterprise applications has become a strategic priority for organizations seeking operational agility, scalability, resilience, and digital competitiveness. Traditional enterprise systems often suffer from technological rigidity, high maintenance costs, limited interoperability, and reduced adaptability to dynamic market conditions. Cloud computing has emerged as a transformative paradigm capable of addressing these limitations through elastic resource allocation, distributed architectures, virtualization, and service-oriented infrastructures. However, migration from legacy environments to cloud ecosystems involves substantial architectural, operational, security, governance, and financial challenges. This research develops a strategic framework for modernizing legacy enterprise applications through cloud-based migration models by integrating architectural transformation principles, migration methodologies, operational optimization mechanisms, and governance-oriented deployment strategies. The study synthesizes contemporary research on cloud migration frameworks, adaptive planning approaches, cloud-native architectures, security integration, and enterprise transformation models. A structured methodology is proposed that aligns migration readiness assessment, architectural decomposition, deployment selection, security governance, automation, and continuous optimization into a unified modernization framework. The paper further evaluates the implications of migration strategies such as rehosting, replatforming, refactoring, and cloud-native transformation in enterprise contexts. Findings indicate that successful modernization depends not only on technical migration mechanisms but also on organizational alignment, cost governance, DevOps integration, workload prioritization, and resilience engineering. The proposed framework contributes to research by establishing a multidimensional migration model capable of balancing scalability, security, operational continuity, and business value generation. The study concludes that strategic cloud migration enables sustainable enterprise modernization when supported by adaptive governance, architectural modularity, and continuous optimization practices.
Keywords
Cloud migration,
legacy modernization,
enterprise applications,
cloud-native architecture
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