Legacy systems on borrowed time — with the business depending on them
An established UK asset finance company had accumulated a myriad of legacy applications over the years. The problem was that these systems were running on outdated operating systems and ageing hardware — no longer supported, increasingly expensive to maintain, and a growing risk to the business.
While the applications had served them well historically, the cost and complexity of ongoing support had become unsustainable. The company needed to upgrade, migrate, or replace these systems entirely — without affecting the day-to-day operations the business relied upon.
"The challenge wasn't just moving the technology — it was doing so without touching business continuity. Every decision had to account for the systems underpinning live operations."
Inventory first. Prioritise ruthlessly. Then plan the path forward.
Cordapse took a structured approach — working closely with the IT department and business stakeholders to build a complete picture before recommending any course of action. Nothing was assumed, and nothing was rushed.
Three clear paths — for every system in the estate
Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach, Cordapse defined distinct strategic pathways tailored to each system's role, criticality, and long-term value. The result was a clear, prioritised roadmap the business could act on with confidence.
- Developed a migration strategy to move legacy on-prem hardware to Platform-as-a-Service on Microsoft Azure.
- Phased the migration to maintain system availability throughout, with rollback contingencies built into the plan.
- Identified cost savings from reduced hardware maintenance and improved scalability within Azure's managed environment.
- Identified legacy applications where cloud-native alternatives offered superior functionality, support, and long-term value.
- Defined a structured replacement plan for each system — including data migration, user transition, and training considerations.
- Ensured each replacement was assessed for fit within the client's existing Microsoft 365 environment where possible.
- Identified systems that were no longer actively needed — or whose functionality was already covered by other platforms in the estate.
- Defined a decommissioning plan that safely retired redundant applications without disrupting connected workflows.
- Freed up licensing, infrastructure, and maintenance spend previously tied to systems delivering no active business value.
