Legacy System Modernisation

Signs your legacy system is now a liability

• The original developer left years ago and no one wants to touch it
• It runs on Windows Server 2008/2012 R2 — both end-of-life and unsupported
• Each Windows or SQL Server upgrade breaks something different
• It can't integrate with the modern SaaS your business now uses (Xero, HubSpot, Stripe)
• Audit, compliance or insurance requirements need encryption and access logs it can't provide
• Staff have built shadow Excel systems alongside it because adding fields is impossible
• Reports take an hour to generate, or have to be exported and reformatted manually

The strangler-fig migration approach

Big-bang rewrites — where you build a replacement system in parallel and flip the switch on launch day — fail catastrophically more often than not. We use the strangler-fig pattern: traffic moves gradually from the legacy system to new components, feature by feature. After feature 1 ships, feature 2 follows in 4 weeks; the legacy system slowly becomes smaller until it's fully replaced.

This means you see real value from week 6, not week 60. Risk is contained per feature. Rollback is straightforward. And critically: your team learns the new system one feature at a time, not all at once on go-live day.

Free legacy system audit

We offer a free 60-minute audit call for Australian businesses considering modernisation. We'll review your system over screen share, identify the realistic modernisation paths, and tell you honestly which is right for your situation — including the option of not modernising if your legacy is stable and doing its job.

Output: a written summary of options with cost ranges, timelines, and a recommendation. You own it whether you proceed with us or not.

Common migration paths

MS Access → Web app + cloud database

Data migrates to PostgreSQL or SQL Server. UI rebuilds as a Next.js or Blazor web app. Reports become in-app dashboards or scheduled PDFs. Typical scope: AU$25,000–$80,000.

Classic ASP / WebForms → Modern ASP.NET Core or Next.js

Often the database can stay (SQL Server), and we just replace the front-end and middle-tier. Typical scope: AU$40,000–$150,000.

FoxPro / VB6 / Delphi desktop → Cloud-hosted web

Data migrates to a modern relational database. Workflow rebuilds as a web app accessible from any device. Typical scope: AU$50,000–$200,000 depending on workflow complexity.