As organizations evolve, they build context-specific software applications to meet business needs. Over time, the environment for which these applications had been developed to execute business operations changes shape. Shifting business imperatives, mergers and acquisitions, and more often than not, the disconnected operations of different business units create a gap between what the applications were built to do and what the company needs its applications to do today. Organizations are left with a portfolio of applications that are redundant, no longer provide the required business functionality, and are increasingly expensive to maintain.

In the age of the digital economy, when business agility and quick delivery are required to compete effectively, having a rigid and costly application portfolio can become truly detrimental to the business. Company leaders (often CTOs, CIOs or heads of IT) need to conduct an application portfolio rationalization to assess their software platform's capabilities relative to business needs. Rajeev Sharma, chief solutions officer at Ness Software Engineering Services, a company that helps its clients build new digital platforms and modernize existing software solutions, shares his recommendations for the five steps critical to the application portfolio rationalization process.