Denmark is facing significant investments in defense, climate initiatives, and the transition into a more sustainable future. By modernizing smaller systems in the public sector, we can free up resources and generate economic benefits that will ultimately benefit both citizens and society. However, achieving this requires a fundamental rethink of the traditional approach to public IT development.
By Jesper Overgaard, Business Development Director, NNIT
For most public organizations, the term application modernization should be as important as it is long.
Many public IT applications that support everything from payments to infrastructure are approaching obsolescence. In the worst case, this could have serious implications for cybersecurity and data protection.
The big question is how each organization should tackle this challenge without it turning into a massive project where budgets spiral out of control and oversight is lost. Large modernization projects carry significant risks of cost overruns, which is a real concern when upgrading decades-old legacy systems.
The good news is that modernization projects can be approached gradually, allowing organizations to reap benefits early in the process.
This approach can create new opportunities across society, but it requires an IT development strategy with a stronger focus on value creation, business cases, ownership, modularity, and future-proofing. Here’s how.
1. Focus on value creation
The desire to modernize IT often stems from challenges related to security, scalability, new workflows, or other factors that ultimately revolve around risk management. However, to make a real difference in the long run, discussions about risk must be transformed into discussions about value.
A focus on value creation makes it easier to take a holistic approach and have a broader discussion about opportunities and synergies: Does a given project improve user experience, resilience, development potential, and ongoing costs? Can we integrate multiple systems when modernizing one, merge two systems, or optimize workflows?
This is where the concept of silent value becomes relevant. Even if users do not see an immediate change from a given modernization, the investment can lay the foundation for future expansions. Focusing on silent value helps organizations be better prepared when new needs arise.
2. Focus on business cases
Public IT investments are often planned within the constraints of annual budgets. If there isn’t room for modernization this year, there might be room next year or the year after. However, this approach not only risks delaying decisions and increasing costs - it also imposes a narrow framework on IT development, making it difficult to factor in long-term value creation.
A more effective alternative is to focus on business cases. This approach makes it easier to define potential value creation, prioritize projects, and invest with tangible improvements for users and citizens in mind.
A well-structured business case also makes it significantly easier for decision-makers to act and for employees to fully support the initiative. Finally, it provides a much stronger foundation for engaging with vendors, consultants, and colleagues, enabling organizations to gather inspiration for well-planned modernization efforts.
3. Focus on ownership
Should organizations build their own IT systems or invest in standard solutions? Should they handle service and development internally or outsource the task? For years, the pendulum has swung toward standard solutions and outsourcing models, but this approach comes with drawbacks: Licensing costs can quickly escalate, innovation becomes more challenging, and what about data security?
Organizations should not shy away from leveraging standard solutions, but they must be aware of the costs of transitioning away from them and have a clear exit strategy in place.
At the same time, it is often beneficial to prioritize ownership - both in terms of maintaining control over solutions and developing the necessary internal competencies. This approach makes it easier to think long-term, manage costs, and ensure that IT remains closely aligned with the organization’s overall strategy.
4. Focus on modules
Today, most public organizations lack the resources to take full ownership of their IT. Therefore, a step-by-step modernization approach allows for gradually increasing ownership with each project.
This can be achieved by saying goodbye to large, complex procurement processes and welcoming the concept of composability. A system design based on the Composable Enterprise approach consists of independent components that can be easily assembled and replaced without affecting the rest of the IT infrastructure. This enables organizations to build at their own pace and in the order that suits them best.
A composable setup should be accompanied by DevSecOps - which stands for development, security, and operations. DevSecOps ensures automated monitoring of vulnerabilities in applications, providing real-time insights into where and how security measures should be strengthened.
5. Focus on future-proofing
Composability makes it easier to develop IT in small, manageable steps while gradually increasing ownership. This approach provides several benefits - not just in the present but especially in the long run.
For one, it enhances your attractiveness as an employer. Most skilled IT professionals prefer to work in an innovative organization where they have a real opportunity to make an impact.
Additionally, it prepares you for AI agents. The IT crystal ball predicts that data will become increasingly decoupled from the application layer. Instead, it will be organized around business capabilities and managed by AI-driven software - so-called AI agents.
This ensures that the next generation inherits a strong digital foundation.
