The Forrester Wave™: Application Modernization And Migration Services, Q1 2024

Application Modernization And Migration Services Vendor Product Comparisons 2024

Key features and pros and cons of top Application Modernization And Migration Services products:

Accenture - Leaders

Pros:

Possesses significant breadth with multibillion-dollar investments ($3B in Cloud First, $3B in genAI)
Pioneered hyperscaler-specific go-to-market business units
Sophisticated talent strategy with $1.1 billion annual investment in staff training
Large community and partner ecosystem
Strong end-to-end capabilities
Sets the pace for service accelerators and cloud-native development capabilities
Strong in mainframe and COTS disciplines
Modernization via COTS solutions or SaaS is a significant strength
Trademark balance of technical and business acumen

Cons:

Size and breadth sometimes translates to lack of pricing flexibility and transparency
Can appear pricey to customers
Statement of work (SOW) contents can sometimes be vague

Capgemini - Leaders

Pros:

Expanded global footprint beyond traditional EMEA comfort zone (almost half of revenues from non-EMEA)
Strong community and great talent strategy
Dedicated to improving sustainability and inclusion through insights
Growing focus on genAI
Well-balanced approach with capabilities spanning all relevant areas
Clear Sight portfolio management capability among most powerful tools available
Strong in cloud-native development and service accelerators
Strong application design and development capabilities

Cons:

Transformational capabilities don't always scale to the business process level

IBM - Leaders

Pros:

Powerful vision for genAI featuring watsonx and Watson Gov products
IBM Garage Method for Cloud with comprehensive migration and modernization solutions
Acquisitions (Nordcloud) provided new IP focusing on hybrid cloud transformation
Significant progress in partnering with hyperscaler providers since Kyndryl split
Significant applications management business
Strength in mainframe and legacy apps, COTS, and transition management and testing
Ability to serve as a strategic partner

Cons:

Rigidity declining but bureaucratic barriers still a reality for some customers
Relatively high and inflexible pricing continues to be an issue

Infosys - Leaders

Pros:

Vision of 'AI first' with Infosys Cobalt framework
Broad range of assets for service delivery and vertical industry solutioning
Strong services capabilities including COTS, legacy capability, support for advanced teaming models, managed services, and database migration
Focus on employee education and training (Infosys Global Education Center in Mysore, India)
Benefitted from series of large wins ($7.7 billion in large-deal total contract value for Q2 2024)
High marks from reference customers for ability to execute across modernization and migration tasks
Strong in banking sector

Cons:

Must improve capabilities in ensuring customer success
Still battles reputation for rigidity in process execution

TCS - Leaders

Pros:

Emerged as a juggernaut with significant revenues
Legendary ability to leverage personnel resource effectively
Sets the standard for pricing flexibility and transparency
Less affected by attrition than rivals
Strong legacy technologies
Sheer scale allows it to check key capability boxes including COTS, mainframe, legacy technologies, and cloud-native development
High marks from reference customers for advisory, build, migration, and modernization in ideal proportion
Reputation for reliable delivery

Cons:

Struggled to articulate a differentiating high-level vision (though improved since last evaluation)
Training capabilities not differentiated
Prefers organic growth over acquisitions

Wipro - Leaders

Pros:

Substantial scale and experience in service personnel
Strong technical strengths including cloud-native development
Strong managed services capabilities
Skilled resources with overall good experience
Cost competitiveness
New leadership embracing simplified operating structure
Strong position in AMS incumbency

Cons:

Service accelerators and past performance are weaknesses
Could improve ability to address business goals
Historically struggled with effective executive engagement (though improving under current leadership)

Cognizant - Strong Performers

Pros:

Significant strength in transition management and testing capabilities and database migration
Software engineering capabilities acquired with Softvision and Devbridge strong in cloud-native development
Resources in eastern Europe largely immune to India's attrition pressures
Strong vision for platform-based delivery
$1 billion investment in genAI announced
Successful AMS supplier extended expertise into modernization and migration

Cons:

Coming out of period of instability marked by low growth and high attrition
Revenues largely flat for FY 2022 and 2023
Innovation weaknesses
Eastern Europe resources represent only small percentage of overall capacity

Deloitte - Strong Performers

Pros:

Notably strong in service accelerators, COTS, and SaaS offerings
Flexible engagement partner without arrogance
Strengths in both technical and business acumen
Engages with open mind, unlikely to apply predetermined solution
Particular strength in ERP
Solid AMS business from which to launch modernization services
Acquisition of ATADATA and InnoWake equipped firm with significant technology base

Cons:

Relatively high billing rates
Engagements tend to be heavy on assessment and strategy
Strategy solid but doesn't stand out relative to broader market outside Big Four
Declined to participate in full Forrester Wave evaluation process

EPAM - Strong Performers

Pros:

Highly regarded for engineering skills and technical competency
Strong capabilities and knowledge of cloud hyperscalers
Particularly solid vision for future of applications modernization
Active in software engineering community with high participation in open-source projects
Notable geographic range for its size
Uses advanced teaming models
Reference customers find little to fault with performance

Cons:

Limited COTS capabilities
Limited scale and managed services
Cannot benefit from AMS incumbency like major offshore outsourcers
Typically works in project-based capacity rather than multiyear engagements
Higher price tag sometimes difficult to justify for procurement organizations

EY - Strong Performers

Pros:

Significant strengths in COTS and SaaS
Strong in governance
Can help foster cross CFO-CIO conversation
Advantage in customer advocacy and vertical know-how
Leverages lengthy history in tax and audit consulting
Notable talent strategy and innovation
Intent to expand and improve capabilities in technology and personnel structure

Cons:

Remains highly Microsoft-centric in approach
Some gaps in capability including certain legacy technologies
Lacks AMS business from which to leverage incumbency
Audits many cloud companies limiting ability to launch marketing programs with these firms
Leveraging last-mover advantage after failure of project Everest

HCLTech - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strong transition management and testing capabilities
Positive customer experience (CX) approach
Employee-first philosophy helps reduce impact of turnover
Extensive hyperscaler competencies
Solid overall strategy with recent financial performance and steady growth
Flexibility and cost competitiveness
Strong account management skills
Strong on execution with opinionated advocacy

Cons:

Lags in strategy consulting
Room for improvement in cloud-native development
Not a culture changer
Has more work to do to help customers progress on their own
Growing emphasis on digital consulting which has been a limitation in the past

NTT DATA - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strong cloud-native development capabilities (notably improved)
Quality of personnel and their dedication to achieving business results
Strong vertical industry profile
Broad geographic range with notable strength in Asia Pacific
Strength across multiple industries including automotive, manufacturing, FSI, hospitality, and public sector
Focus on automation with Nucleus family and LEAP
Launched Diana genAI-based development assistant

Cons:

Relatively light in other COTS capabilities beyond SAP and Salesforce
Lags in transition management and testing
Planned merger with NTT Ltd. effective April 2024 creates uncertainties

Eviden - Contenders

Pros:

Strong focus on mainframe modernization
Developed more balanced approach beyond GCP focus
Acquisition of Cloudreach in 2022
Will emphasize genAI including SyntBots

Cons:

Split from Atos still pending, limiting ability to make new investments
Cloud-native capabilities limited compared to competition
Lacks scale in comparison to more established entities
Lesser capabilities in COTS, database, and overall services personnel
Internal strains sometimes visible due to pending separation

PwC - Contenders

Pros:

Very strong SaaS application delivery practices
Dedicated playbook for CFO engagements
Competitive in innovation, pricing flexibility and transparency, and partner ecosystem
$1 billion investment in genAI announced
Strong existing position in AI services (ChatPwC)
Strong advisory and strategy capabilities
Strong COTS application experience
Competitive database migration capabilities
No constraint from audit relationships with major cloud providers

Cons:

Has not yet demonstrated substantial application modernization capabilities
Participation in hyperscaler partnering and marketing programs appears highly limited
Strengths do not fully extend to modernization execution on application-by-application basis
Declined to participate in full Forrester Wave evaluation process

Tech Mahindra - Contenders

Pros:

Strong mainframe and legacy app support
Managed services capabilities
Strong customer experience (CX)
Approaches modernization with open mind
Strong background in engineering and industrial use cases including telecom and 5G
History of strong application development, testing, and delivery services

Cons:

Lacks the scale of larger market players
Limited in certain competencies and capabilities
Does not always articulate clearly differentiated value proposition
Talent strategy focuses on building technical competencies rather than acting as consultative partner
Readily partners with firms like EY and McKinsey to compensate for consulting gaps

FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2024?

A: Accenture, Capgemini, IBM, Infosys, TCS, Wipro

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

A: Leaders in this market have scale and geographic breadth of capability, strong vision for application modernization, ability to invest in and make effective use of emerging technologies including genAI, and conversance with modern software development processes including cloud-native development, product teams, platform teams, and site reliability engineering (SRE) concepts.

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

A: https://www.forrester.com/policies/forrester-wave-methodology/

Report:

Top Vendor Products for Application Modernization And Migration Services in 2024

Application Modernization And Migration Services Vendor Product Comparisons 2024

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FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2024?

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

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