Choose the Right Path for AI-Augmented Code Modernization

Our advice: AI adds value when modernization starts with business behavior, path selection, and validation

Enterprises depend on mission-critical COBOL and PL/I applications to process payments, manage claims, run inventory, coordinate logistics, and maintain customer records. Business objectives should drive modernization of those applications, not technology constraints. Rocket helps organizations preserve essential business behavior, transaction integrity, and operational continuity while choosing the modernization path best aligned to their goals.

Application modernization can take many forms, including platform modernization, application replatforming, code refactoring, and language modernization. The right approach depends on business objectives, architecture, risk tolerance, and operational priorities. Rocket helps organizations understand their applications, evaluate options, transform code where appropriate, and validate outcomes.

That is where AI can help, but only when it supports disciplined discovery and decision-making. AI-augmented code modernization creates value when developers, architects, and application owners use artificial intelligence to understand code before they transform it. Rocket grounds AI-assisted explanations, business rule extraction, dependency analysis, impact assessment, and documentation in code facts, structured application models, product documentation, and customer-specific context.

From the Rocket point of view, key areas to consider  

• Identify the business behaviors modernization must preserve
• Map dependencies across programs, data, batch schedules, transaction flows, and operational controls
• Improve developer workflows while preserving COBOL business logic
• Use grounded AI to accelerate code explanation, business rule extraction, dependency analysis, impact assessment, and documentation

Modernize mission-critical applications without blurring the path

Rocket combines AI-assisted analysis with deterministic testing and validation to help organizations modernize with confidence, preserve critical business functionality, and reduce transformation risk. Customers using Rocket code modernization solutions have achieved measurable outcomes, including improved developer productivity, reduced testing cycles, lower transformation risk, and significant operational cost savings.

Rocket's code modernization portfolio helps organizations understand, modernize, test, validate, and evolve mission-critical COBOL and PL/I applications across mainframe, distributed, and cloud environments. Through Rocket Enterprise Suite and Rocket Visual COBOL, organizations can analyze dependencies, extract business logic, improve development workflows, automate testing and validation, and choose modernization strategies aligned to business objectives.

Read the full Gartner^® report

Disclaimer

Source: Gartner, Magic Quadrant^™ for AI-Augmented Code Modernization Tools, by Prasanna Lakshmi Narasimha, Deacon D.K Wan, Erin Khoo, Wei Jin., August 3, 2026.

Disclaimer: Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.