
As enterprises grapple with the complexities of modernizing legacy systems while adopting cloud-native technologies, platform engineering is increasingly positioned at the center of that transformation.
By developing internal developer platforms (IDPs) that automate provisioning, standardize infrastructure, and enforce security and compliance policies, platform engineers are laying the foundation for scalable, sustainable modernization efforts.
Rather than relying on one-off migrations or disruptive rewrites, organizations are shifting toward continuous modernization—a process enabled by IDPs that streamline workflows across hybrid environments.
These platforms act as an interface between legacy systems and modern architectures, supporting both DevOps adoption and long-term flexibility.
“IDPs help shift modernization from a massive one-time event to an ongoing, scalable process,” said David Ernst, principal architect at ClearScale.
In hybrid environments, they abstract complexity and provide dev teams with consistent ways to build, deploy, and run apps, whether that’s on-premises or in the cloud.
That consistency is particularly critical in organizations with a diverse mix of legacy systems and modern deployments. Internal platforms reduce friction by presenting developers with unified tooling and deployment paths across environments.
Ernst explained that’s key to enabling the shift to microservices and API-first development strategies.
“You can refactor incrementally,” he said. “That’s huge when you’re dealing with long-standing technical debt that can’t be tackled all at once.”
Derek Ashmore, AI enablement principal at Asperitas, emphasized that platform engineering provides “a safe and consistent interface” that simplifies the transition to modern architectures.
“IDPs simplify the path from legacy systems to cloud-native architectures by giving developers a consistent, user-friendly interface for provisioning and deploying services,” he said.
In Ashmore’s view, the real value of platform engineering lies in standardization and automation.
“They enforce consistent security, compliance, and operational practices across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid deployments,” he said.
These practices allow organizations to move away from ad hoc tooling and toward a unified model for infrastructure management and application delivery.
Security and observability are two areas where platform engineering provides outsized value.
Ashmore noted that modern IDPs embed key security controls—such as zero-trust frameworks and secrets management—into the development workflow.
“Zero-trust security, least privilege IAM, and policy-as-code must be embedded into the platform,” he said, pointing to technologies like OPA and Kyverno as part of that stack.
For Ernst, observability must be part of the foundation from the start.
“If your platform doesn’t support centralized logging, metrics collection, and tracing from day one, you’ll fight visibility gaps forever,” he said.
Pre-scanned base images and hardened AMIs are another area where platform teams are adding consistency and reducing drift.
“Pre-scanning base AMIs, storing them in image pipelines, and limiting what teams can launch is a game changer.”
That same drive for consistency applies to application modernization. Wrapping legacy applications in modern APIs can help organizations gradually shift away from monoliths.
“You create a thin API layer around a legacy app to make it accessible to new services,” Ernst said. “Then you slowly replace components behind the scenes.”
Ashmore described this as an “API-first, microservices-driven approach” that allows functionality to be extracted and modernized incrementally.
While technology plays a central role, culture and collaboration remain essential to successful platform engineering.
Ernst stressed that platform teams must work closely with developers, SREs, and security teams to align around shared tooling and standards.
“Platform engineering builds the foundation that SRE, security, and DevOps teams operate on,” he said. “Instead of every team solving the same problems repeatedly, platform engineering steps in to create reusable modules, templates, and APIs.”
Ashmore echoed that need for tight integration, noting that platform teams often serve as “connective tissue” between functions.
“Security requirements are built into the platform from day one, so they’re not seen as last-minute blockers but as part of the developer experience,” he said.
Treating the platform as a product is one of the key tenets for which both experts advocated.
“Listen to feedback, demonstrate to internal teams that you’re addressing their pain points, and track adoption in the same way you would customer growth,” Ernst said.
Metrics such as deployment frequency, lead time for changes, and time to first deploy help teams evaluate success and spot friction.
Ashmore added that real-world adoption depends on providing developers with “standardized golden paths” that are well-documented but flexible.
Resilience must be baked in—automated rollbacks, canary deployments, and circuit breakers,” he said. “These mechanisms allow you to innovate without putting production stability at risk.”
While modernization can be a daunting initiative, both Ashmore and Ernst emphasized that platform engineering offers a practical and sustainable route.
“Modernization isn’t just about tech upgrades. These metrics indicate whether the platform is helping the organization move forward or merely adding more layers,” Ernst said.
For organizations navigating legacy systems, cloud migration, and rising expectations for velocity and security, platform engineering offers more than just tooling—it provides a framework for continuous transformation.
“You’re not just enabling modernization,” Ashmore said. “You’re industrializing it.”