A study by research firm Aberdeen Group of more than 300 enterprises shows that the most successful approaches for modernizing legacy apps involve plenty of SOA, SLAs, and a minimum of CYA.Here are some details FYI:

The Aberdeen study revealed the following about best-in-class companies, which Aberdeen defined as those companies finishing in the top 20% on the survey based on performance:

* Best-in-class companies used Service-Level Agreements twice as frequently as laggard companies (bottom 30% by performance) did.

* Rather than attempting the radical approach of "rip and replace," most best-in-class companies elected to leave the apps running on legacy systems while adding software adapters or services layers to provide access to other SOA applications. * Speaking of SOA, twice as many best-in-class companies deployed SOA service layers on mainframes when compared with laggard companies. And of those high achievers, 48% said that investing in SOA platforms is their #1 or #2 funding priority for the next 12 months. * The best-in-class companies said these approaches allowed them to cut costs across the critical areas of development, maintenance, and infrastructure. * Also, 71% of those top performers said the approach also allowed them to reduce spending on outside professional services firms. * The top objectives cited by best-in-class companies for launching these attacks on the legacy monster are agility, which Aberdeen defined as the speed required to build services that enhance business capabilities and success, and lowering overall costs. Agility was cited as the top objective by 40% of the best in class, while cutting costs was put at the top by 26% of those top performers. Where does your company stand on this critical issue -- would you make it into the best in class, or would you swim with the laggards?