Cloud modernization providers help enterprises address architectural limits, technical debt, and operational constraints that can persist after applications move to the cloud. The goal is to make the technology estate easier to change and operate, based on each workload’s business and technical needs.
A modernization program may involve changes to applications, platforms, databases, and engineering practices. The right scope depends on the constraints an enterprise needs to resolve and the value it expects to create.
What Cloud Modernization Services Include
Cloud modernization is the process of transforming existing applications, platforms, and technology environments so they can take better advantage of cloud-native capabilities.
Cloud application modernization can involve replatforming, refactoring, rearchitecting, containerization, API enablement, database transformation, automation, and the introduction of modern engineering practices.
The ISG Provider Lens® Multi Public Cloud Services 2025 U.S. report, published in December 2025, identifies Hexaware as a Leader in the Consulting and Transformation Services — Midmarket quadrant. ISG’s observations describe a move toward repeatable delivery spanning assessment, implementation, and operations, supported by platform engineering, automation, and AI.
The report also notes buyer interest in selective refactoring and reducing technical debt. Its evaluation criteria consider migration expertise supported by reusable designs, automation, and data conversion capabilities.
Why Moving to the Cloud Is Not Enough
A traditional migration can move an application without fundamentally changing it.
That can leave enterprises with:
- Monolithic applications
- Complex dependencies
- Manual deployment processes
- Aging databases
- High infrastructure costs
- Limited scalability
- Technical debt
- Slow development cycles
Legacy application modernization examines which changes to architecture, code, dependencies, and supporting platforms will resolve these constraints. Each workload needs a proportionate approach rather than the same treatment across the estate.
9 Providers Assessed by ISG
ISG assessed 63 companies in the overall study; 30 qualified for Consulting and Transformation Services — Midmarket, with eight designated Leaders and one a Rising Star.
This quadrant covers consulting and transformation services more broadly than modernization alone. Its assessment provides relevant context for buyers considering application and platform changes.
The following summaries cover the eight Leaders and the Rising Star, listed alphabetically. These are ISG quadrant classifications, not a ranking of the top nine cloud modernization providers.
Brillio
ISG identifies Brillio as the quadrant’s Rising Star. Its assessment highlights orchestration that uses AI to coordinate work across a client’s tools, together with investment in industry solutions and offshore delivery capacity.
Coforge
ISG highlights Coforge’s use of industry-specific intellectual property and AI in its cloud services. The report also notes contracts linked to measurable results, open-source delivery tools, and increased collaboration with nearshore teams.
Hexaware
ISG places Hexaware among the quadrant’s Leaders, citing a standardized approach to modernization and closer collaboration with hyperscalers. Its assessment emphasizes delivery speed and compliance, supported by the platform engineering and application modernization capabilities described below.
Hitachi Digital Services
ISG notes that Hitachi Digital Services incorporates service-level objectives into its contracts and draws on experience with operational technology across industries. The report also describes a transition toward using AI-supported operational guidance in production environments.
Innova Solutions
ISG describes Innova Solutions as combining engineering services with AI-supported delivery. It is bringing its accelerators into a common approach to transformation while extending partnerships and capabilities across infrastructure environments.
Mphasis
ISG highlights Mphasis’s use of platforms to connect development with operations and its work to standardize reusable designs for cloud changes. The report also notes AI-related improvements in incident costs and broader coverage of U.S. industries.
Persistent Systems
ISG emphasizes Persistent Systems’ cloud engineering capabilities, including reusable configurations that combine cloud foundations with monitoring and financial management. Its assessment also points to investment in industry offerings and local leadership for regulated sectors.
Rackspace Technology
ISG describes Rackspace Technology’s expansion from operating cloud environments into transformation services. The report points to AI-supported assessment and governance, dedicated modernization teams, and integrations with external platforms to help deliver complex enterprise resource planning migrations.
Unisys
ISG highlights Unisys’s consulting approach to preparing clients for AI and its investment in security for multicloud transformation. The assessment also notes broader use of zero trust and modernization work extending beyond public cloud infrastructure.
Starting Modernization with Assessment
Large application estates rarely have one modernization path.
Some workloads may need minimal change. Others may require significant architectural redesign.
ISG’s criteria consider methods for understanding and improving complex IT estates, managing technical debt, and delivering application migration. AI-based assessment and planning tools are identified as preferred capabilities.
A structured assessment can help determine:
- Which applications are ready for migration
- Which need remediation
- Which should be replatformed
- Which should be refactored
- Which may need rearchitecture
- Where dependencies could create risk
- Where modernization can produce measurable business value
This creates a more deliberate modernization roadmap instead of applying the same migration strategy to every application.
Making Modernization More Repeatable
A modernization program becomes easier to scale when teams can reuse appropriate assessment methods, architecture designs, testing procedures, and deployment processes. AI can support parts of this work, subject to engineering review.
ISG describes providers using reusable technical assets and automated delivery pipelines to implement transformation plans. Its observations also highlight AI-supported operational guidance and collaboration with hyperscalers.
That becomes particularly valuable when modernizing large application portfolios with different technologies, dependencies, and levels of technical debt.
Addressing Both Code and Architecture
Code changes alone may leave architectural constraints unresolved. Assessment needs to consider both the existing implementation and the design the application will need.
ISG’s Hexaware profile describes Amaze® and RapidX® as complementary tools for these tasks.
According to ISG, Amaze® uses rules-based processing and generative AI to assess applications and support changes to code.
RapidX® supports analysis of existing systems and the design of new ones, using AI-based subject matter expertise to help produce early design documents and code.
The tools support two areas of work:
Code Level Change
Assessing existing code and identifying changes needed for the target environment.
Architecture Level Change
Designing the structure and interactions an application needs to meet its cloud and business requirements.
This distinction is important because simply changing code does not necessarily create a modern architecture.
Modernizing the Application Landscape
A broader modernization plan may need to address several parts of the estate. The considerations below provide general planning context, with Hexaware examples where ISG identifies specific capabilities.
Application Modernization
Legacy applications can be assessed and transformed based on their technical condition and business requirements. The modernization path may involve targeted refactoring, replatforming, or broader architectural redesign.
Database Modernization
Database modernization becomes important where legacy technologies create dependencies or constrain the target architecture. Database environments can be assessed and transformed alongside applications to support the broader modernization strategy.
ISG’s quadrant criteria include data conversion capabilities for application migration. Assessing the data an application relies on can help teams plan the changes needed alongside modernization.
Platform Modernization
The platforms supporting applications also need to evolve.
Infrastructure as code, governed access to self-service environments, and standardized configurations can support applications consistently as they change.
ISG describes Hexaware’s centralized platform engineering model as using AI and self-service environments, with infrastructure as code and policy controls. The profile associates this model with more consistent provisioning and fewer coordination delays.
Engineering Modernization
Modernization also changes how applications are developed and delivered.
Repeatable deployment and testing processes can reduce manual work and make changes easier to review. ISG’s market observations emphasize reusable assets and automated delivery as providers scale modernization.
Considering Industry Requirements
There is no universal modernization blueprint.
ISG highlights Hexaware’s industry consulting and proprietary assets for Kubernetes workloads on AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. The profile names Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, Google Kubernetes Engine, and Azure Kubernetes Service, and describes reference designs and accelerators for legacy applications.
This matters when modernization needs to account for industry-specific requirements, including security, compliance, data considerations, and established business processes.
What Platform Engineering Adds to Modernization
Modernization does not end when an application is transformed.
The enterprise also needs a consistent way to build and provision the environments that support those applications.
The self-service environments and reusable designs described in Hexaware’s ISG profile give teams a more consistent way to provision resources while keeping policy controls in place.
This helps shift modernization from project-by-project execution toward a more repeatable model for transforming larger application portfolios.
Building a More Adaptable Technology Foundation
Modernization should ultimately make the technology estate easier to evolve.
That means addressing technical debt, improving deployment velocity, creating more consistent environments, strengthening governance, and enabling applications to take advantage of cloud-native capabilities.
ISG notes that midmarket buyers want evidence of improved reliability, spending efficiency, and development delivery. Enterprises can translate those expectations into baseline measures and targets for their programs.
Begin Cloud Modernization with Hexaware
Hexaware’s cloud modernization services bring together Amaze® and RapidX®, platform engineering, hyperscaler collaboration, and industry consulting, as described in ISG’s assessment.
Begin by identifying the applications and constraints that matter most to the business. Those priorities can guide a discussion with Hexaware about assessment, target architecture, and a practical delivery roadmap.
For enterprises with complex application portfolios, an assessment-led, automation-driven approach can provide a more repeatable path from legacy environments to cloud-native foundations.
