Ditch the dinosaur in your IT landscape

Legacy software is the common term for outdated applications built on technologies and standards that are no longer up to date. While companies often can’t avoid continuing to use older systems, these applications are increasingly becoming a liability. Let’s be honest—those “perfectly fine” legacy apps? They no longer meet your business needs and are burning through your budget.

In theory, software should last for decades. In practice, an application is often considered outdated after just three years—even though it still plays a crucial role in your core business processes.

Ditch your legacy software today

A legacy application may still function properly, but the technology behind it is becoming less and less sustainable. Legacy software is like that old car in your garage: it still runs, but it guzzles fuel, lacks safety features, and no one remembers how to fix it when something breaks.

Companies maintaining these kinds of systems eventually hit a breaking point—one where the drawbacks can no longer be ignored. That’s when real risks emerge, especially since these applications are often mission-critical for business continuity. It’s high time to say goodbye to the digital dinosaur and switch to a future-ready model.

A family business trapped by legacy tech

One of our clients, a successful family-run business in the fresh produce sector, relied on a legacy system built with outdated technology. Only one developer in the company still understood the system. Whenever he took time off, issues and outages simply went unresolved. Clearly not a sustainable situation. On top of that, it took them far too long to incorporate new developments from the market into their software.

We solved this by upcycling their legacy software with the Thinkwise platform. The result? A fully modernized application powered by a future-proof programming language and the latest development techniques. And that’s just one example—companies struggling with legacy systems face a wide range of challenges.

The painful reality of legacy software

• Rising costs and time-consuming maintenance – Keeping old systems running eats up more resources by the day.
• A threat to business continuity – As tech support fades, the risk of outages grows. Your customers won’t tolerate that.
• Reduced competitiveness – Innovation slows down when you can’t easily integrate new technologies.
• Shortage of developers – It’s getting harder to find IT specialists willing to work with outdated tech.
• Security and compliance risks – Legacy software lacks modern safeguards, increasing vulnerability to cyber threats.
• Barrier to innovation and growth – These systems reduce your agility and ability to respond to market shifts.

The true cost of doing nothing

If you decide not to tackle your legacy systems, the risks only grow. Sooner or later, software vendors stop supporting outdated tech. That means no more updates, no maintenance—leaving you with declining performance and growing security holes.

And the cost of maintaining legacy software only rises over time. The older the system, the more expensive the upkeep and the greater the risk of failure. You’re just putting on band-aids—never addressing the root of the problem.

So what’s the right move?

Since no one can predict the future, it makes sense to build software on a platform that always stays current. Think of Thinkwise, where developers use a low-code, model-driven approach to create software. Thinkwise handles the tech layer for you—keeping your application up-to-date, secure, and future-ready.

By investing in software modernization today, you shield your business from falling behind. You’ll stay competitive and innovative in a fast-moving market. Don’t wait until your business hits a wall. Now’s the time to transform your IT landscape into one that’s built for the future.