Unsupported software.
The application, its database or its server no longer receives security updates.
Application modernisation
Keep what works. Rebuild what’s underneath.
Your business runs on a system that works, but it is unsupported, on ageing servers or tied to a vendor that has moved on. We re-engineer it onto a modern, supported stack in Azure or AWS, keeping the workflows your people know.
Since the 1990s Whatever the system is, we have probably worked on its ancestor.
Book an application assessment See the methodEngineering focus
01Understand the system
02Prove its behaviour
03Rebuild and move it
Is this you?
The system works. Everything around it does not.
Most organisations have one application they cannot afford to lose and cannot safely keep. These are the usual signs.
Ageing hardware.
It lives on an on-premises server that is past its best, and nobody wants to touch it.
A vendor that has moved on.
The supplier has gone, the product is discontinued, or support costs more than the system is worth.
One person who understands it.
Knowledge of how it really works sits with one person, or with nobody.
Locked out of modern tools.
It cannot connect to Microsoft 365, other systems or AI, so people rekey data by hand.
Failing security checks.
Cyber Essentials requires software to be supported and patched. Unsupported systems fail it.
The method
Six steps. Nothing assumed.
Engineer-led and AI-assisted. AI speeds up the reading, the testing and the mapping, and engineers review every line.
Understand
AI-assisted analysis of the code, database and screens, documenting the business rules nobody wrote down.
- Code analysis
- Data mapping
- Business rules
- What we do
- We read the code, schema and data with AI assistance, then talk to the people who use the system every day.
- What you get
- A documented model of the system and its rules, before anything changes.
Prove
Tests that capture exactly how the system behaves today, so the new version can be held to it.
- Characterisation tests
- Reference data
- Acceptance criteria
- What we do
- We record real inputs and outputs and turn them into automated tests.
- What you get
- Parity proven by tests, not assumed.
Rebuild
A modern, supported stack with the same workflows and familiar screens.
- .NET
- SQL Server or Azure SQL
- Web front end
- What we do
- We rebuild module by module, running the parity tests at every step.
- What you get
- The same system, on technology with years of support ahead.
Move
Data migrated into Azure or AWS, with every record reconciled.
- Azure
- AWS
- UK regions
- What we do
- We rehearse the migration, reconcile every record and keep a way back.
- What you get
- A planned cut-over, with the old system kept until you sign off.
Run
Secured, backed up and monitored from day one.
- Monitoring
- Backups
- Patching
- What we do
- We run it for you, or hand it over with everything needed to run it.
- What you get
- A supported system with a clear owner.
Enhance
Optional AI features once the system is modern.
- Search
- Summaries
- Agents
- What we do
- We add AI where it earns its place, such as search across records or drafted summaries.
- What you get
- A system that keeps improving instead of ageing.
After go-live
Your system. Your choice.
Choose how the modernised system is run, and change your mind later if you need to.
We run it.
Hosted in Azure or AWS, in UK regions, and run by Toltec under a service agreement: monitored, patched and backed up.
You own it.
Handed over in your own cloud tenancy, with the code, documentation, tests and runbooks your team needs to run it.
Systems we modernise
Old platforms. Familiar territory.
Thirty years of running these platforms means we know how they were built, and why.
Access databases.
Departmental systems that outgrew the desktop.
Bespoke .NET and Windows applications.
Line-of-business software built years ago, still doing its job.
Legacy CRMs.
Customer systems the business depends on but the vendor no longer develops.
Unsupported SQL Server and Oracle.
Databases on versions past the end of support.
Discontinued SaaS products.
Your data extracted and the service rebuilt as a system you own.
Spreadsheet-driven processes.
Critical workbooks turned into a proper, auditable application.
The first step
An assessment. Then a decision.
A fixed-scope review of the system, its data and its risks, ending in a plan you can act on, whoever does the work.
What it does.
Its modules, integrations and the business rules the code actually enforces.
What it risks.
Support status, security exposure, single points of knowledge and recoverability.
What it needs.
A target architecture in Azure or AWS, a plan in slices and the parity tests that prove it.
A closer look
Good questions.
Straight answers.
Will it look different to our users?
Only where you want it to. We keep the workflows and screens your people know, and modernise what sits underneath.
What if we have no source code?
We can rebuild from the system’s behaviour and its data. The parity tests define exactly what the new version must do.
Where will our data live?
In UK regions of Azure or AWS, in your own cloud tenancy or ours, as you choose.
Who owns what?
You always own your data. Ownership of the code is agreed at the start, and the hand-over option includes all of it.
Talk to an engineer
Tell us about the system that works.
Call 0345 257 4447 or send an outline. The first conversation is with an engineer, and it costs nothing.