Modernize the system while the business keeps running

We move aging software onto modern ground one stage at a time, while the business keeps operating.

Two rotary phones, blank paper and old calculators on a desk

The system nobody wants to touch

It might be a database built a decade ago or a desktop program from a developer who has moved on. It still runs the schedule or the billing, which is exactly why nobody touches it.

Every year it keeps working, it gets harder to replace. The emergency picks its own timing, and modernizing on your schedule costs less than modernizing on the system’s.

Ellery & Stroud LLP

The intake reader pulls the parties and key dates out of a client’s own words and stages the matter. Ellery & Stroud is a company we invented, so we could build its website and back office in full.

Open the Ellery & Stroud build

What we take on

Typical candidates

Desktop databases still running daily operations
Custom code from a developer who has moved on
Platforms a vendor has stopped supporting

Commitments we hold through the work

The business keeps operating while we work
Every stage leaves you better off, even if you pause
No cutover without a way back

How the staging works

Map before touching
What the system does today, including the undocumented behavior the business depends on. You keep that map whatever happens next.
Stabilize first
Backups, monitoring and source control come before any change, so the current system stops being a single point of failure.
Replace the riskiest piece
The most fragile or most limiting component moves to modern ground first, connected to everything that remains.
Run in parallel, then retire
Old and new run side by side until the new piece has earned trust with live work, and rollback stays possible at every stage.

Questions

What if nothing is documented?

That’s the usual starting point. Reading an undocumented system to map what it does is a core part of this work.

Can you keep parts of the old system?

Often, yes. If a component is sound, we connect to it instead of replacing it.

How long does it take?

It depends on what the mapping stage finds, which is why we scope that stage first, on its own. You get a clear picture and a plan before committing to the larger move.