# Aligned — Full Content > Aligned helps businesses do more with the software they depend on. We work out what needs to change and carry out the engineering alongside the people responsible, with client ownership and continued maintenance and support available by agreement. This file inlines the full text of the key pages; the link index is at /llms.txt. ## Services https://aligned.net/services/ Hands-on engineering for businesses that depend on software: technology evaluation, application and data integration, AI-built application hardening, cloud cost optimization, AI workflow automation, and cloud operations. Ongoing maintenance is available by agreement. ### Core Services Choose technology, build useful capability, and make existing systems more dependable. #### Technology Evaluation & Planning _Choose a practical build, buy, or hybrid route, including future support._ We compare buying software, building it, or combining both against your requirements and existing feasibility work. We weigh integration, cost, security, adoption, and future support, then recommend a practical implementation plan. Unresolved questions and assumptions about ongoing costs remain explicit. **Why it matters:** Choose a workable path forward, including who can maintain the result, before committing to a platform or an implementation budget. #### Application & Integration Engineering _Build useful capability and connect the systems behind your workflows._ We build and improve applications and connect the systems behind everyday work. That includes moving and transforming data, keeping content in sync, and replacing manual handoffs with tested integrations. We build in checks for failures so problems can be spotted and addressed. **Why it matters:** Help teams handle more work with fewer manual steps and better information, improving suitable systems rather than assuming everything needs replacing. #### Systems & Delivery Diagnostics _Find the underlying causes of recurring problems, slow delivery, and rising costs._ We investigate recurring problems across applications, infrastructure, costs, and delivery practices. We test likely causes against the available evidence and explain what they mean for the business. Findings become implementation priorities, with financial consequences and uncertainty made clear rather than presented as false precision. **Why it matters:** Understand what is holding the system back and where engineering effort is most useful, before committing resources to symptoms rather than causes. #### System Reliability Engineering _Address structural weaknesses that make systems fragile and difficult to change._ We change the architecture and integrations behind recurring failures and fragile workflows. We plan the work around operating constraints, with tests, staged rollout, and recovery arrangements agreed with the people responsible. We address underlying weaknesses rather than assuming a full replacement is necessary. **Why it matters:** Reduce recurring disruption and make changes easier to manage, with a practical view of what has improved and which risks remain. #### System Security Remediation _Fix identified vulnerabilities and make remaining risks explicit._ We investigate identified vulnerabilities and implement fixes in applications and infrastructure. We prioritize work around the systems and information at risk, check that changes address the exposure, and document remaining concerns. The result is evidence of remediation, not a blanket security or compliance guarantee. **Why it matters:** Reduce avoidable exposure and give customers, leadership, and reviewers a clear account of the risks addressed and the work still needed. #### System Knowledge Recovery _Understand and document how critical software works so it’s easier to maintain and improve._ We investigate how critical software behaves, trace its dependencies and data flows, and recover knowledge missing from the documentation. We turn that understanding into practical system guides and operating instructions, working with available maintainers and making gaps in the evidence explicit. **Why it matters:** Make maintenance, change, and handover less dependent on individual memory, so the people responsible have a clearer basis for decisions and support. #### Software & Dependency Upgrades _Replace aging components and bring unsupported dependencies up to date._ We update unsupported dependencies and aging software components, addressing compatibility issues and testing important workflows as we go. We plan the rollout and recovery steps around the systems you rely on, keeping suitable parts in place rather than replacing more than necessary. **Why it matters:** Keep essential software maintainable and easier to change, with fewer obstacles from unsupported components and less pressure for a rushed replacement. #### Cloud Engineering & Operations _Build and operate cloud infrastructure, with responsibilities agreed._ We build and improve AWS or Azure environments with access controls, reusable infrastructure, automated deployment, and monitoring. We reuse suitable foundations and document how to operate them. Shared infrastructure, application onboarding, and ongoing maintenance are separately scoped, with operating responsibilities agreed. **Why it matters:** Give applications a consistent foundation and make future deployments repeatable, rather than rebuilding each environment by hand or leaving support responsibility unclear. ### Focused Services Reduce cloud costs, strengthen applications built with AI, and automate workflows using AI. #### Cloud Cost Optimization _Reduce unnecessary consumption across infrastructure, applications, and databases._ We trace cloud spending to the infrastructure, applications, and databases driving it, then implement changes. That can mean resizing resources, retiring unused systems, or reducing unnecessary processing. We weigh savings against performance, reliability, and recovery needs before changing what the business relies on. **Why it matters:** Bring running costs into line with the work being done, without moving hidden costs or risks onto the people operating the systems. #### AI-Built Application Hardening _Turn an AI-built prototype into something your business can rely on._ We review applications developed with AI coding tools and agree what to keep, change, replace, or stop. We implement security and reliability fixes, test important workflows, and prepare deployment, monitoring, and operating instructions. Release decisions use agreed criteria and documented remaining risks, not a blanket guarantee. **Why it matters:** Add dependable operation to fast prototyping, for one application or a recurring backlog. Code written with AI need not contain AI functionality. #### AI Workflow Automation _Build AI-powered workflows with integration, evaluation, and review controls._ We build AI-powered workflows into your existing systems, with checks on output quality, human review for consequential actions, and ways to handle exceptions. We agree how the workflow will be operated and its costs monitored. Where conventional automation is more dependable or economical, we use it. **Why it matters:** Reduce repetitive work with automation people can use and oversee. This delivers AI functionality, rather than hardening software built with AI tools. ### Specialist Services Prepare technology for a business sale or a platform for external customers. #### Technical Exit Readiness _Prepare systems and technical evidence for buyer scrutiny, and address the gaps._ We identify technical risks likely to matter during a sale and carry out agreed remediation before diligence. We prepare evidence of how systems operate, what has improved, and which risks remain, so leadership can answer buyer questions with a clearer factual basis. **Why it matters:** Prepare for technical scrutiny with fewer avoidable surprises and stronger evidence, without treating engineering improvements as a guarantee of valuation or transaction outcome. #### Platform Commercialization _Engineer an internal platform for use by external customers._ We assess and close the engineering gap between an internal platform and a product for external customers. Work covers reliability, security, and the operating practices needed to serve those customers. This is product preparation, not a prerequisite for dependable internal application use. **Why it matters:** Develop an internal asset toward a commercial product, with engineering grounded in external customer needs rather than assumptions carried over from internal use. ## Engagement and Maintenance Options ### Start with the work you need Start with an implementation-oriented assessment, scoped delivery, or substantial embedded engineering. An assessment does not oblige you to award us implementation. Existing plans receive proportionate validation, not a compulsory diagnostic. We agree scope, decisions, and operating responsibilities with your sponsor and available maintainers. Substantial engagements can span 6–18 months where appropriate; duration follows the work. ### One prototype or a recurring application backlog Bring one application developed with AI coding tools or a recurring backlog. We can provide shared foundations where needed, per-application review, hardening and deployment, and optional maintenance. These are options, not mandatory phases. Reuse suitable infrastructure and agree scope and release criteria around each application’s complexity and risk; not every prototype should be released. ### Optional ongoing application and cloud maintenance Maintenance can be commissioned separately, whether or not we built the system. Maintenance retainers are separately scoped and priced from implementation and can continue long term. We agree covered systems, upkeep, responsibilities, and coverage, including incident handling. Coverage is not assumed. Enhancements, major upgrades, and new application onboarding are separate work. ### Built for ownership. Supported for continuity. You control your accounts and retain access to source, configuration, infrastructure definitions, and current runbooks, respecting third-party licenses. We confirm support responsibility before production handover. Choose continuing Aligned support, your team, or another provider, with transition assistance agreed. Client control does not require self-maintenance, and continuing with Aligned is a choice, not a technical necessity. Discuss an implementation decision, one prototype, a recurring application backlog, or a maintenance need: https://aligned.net/talk/ ## Case Studies ### Reducing Security and Delivery Risk Across Two Out-of-Support Platforms https://aligned.net/case-studies/reverse-engineering-legacy-platforms/ A company ran two large, business-critical platforms built on out-of-support technology. Both moved sensitive data through third-party integrations, neither was documented, and the engineers who built them had moved on. The company could not confidently say what the systems contained, how they worked, or how exposed they were. That is a difficult position for any business, and an expensive one the moment a security review, an audit, or an acquisition puts the systems under scrutiny. ## The Situation Years of growth had left both platforms without a current map of how they worked. Builds were manual and hard to reproduce, onboarding a new developer took weeks, and the technology underneath had passed end-of-life, so security patches and vendor support were gone. A first static-analysis pass made the exposure concrete: more than 1,500 potential SQL-injection paths across the two codebases, 64 credentials hardcoded directly in source, weak password hashing, and unauthenticated test endpoints reachable in production. None of it was quantified, prioritized, or owned. Leadership needed three things at once: a clear picture of what it owned, an honest read on the real risks, and a credible plan to reduce them without stalling day-to-day delivery. ## Our Approach Aligned built lightweight static-analysis tooling that read each codebase and produced a browsable catalog of its front-end, back-end, and database components, their dependencies, and their security hot spots, turning two opaque systems into something the team could navigate and reason about. With that map in hand, we stood up containerized local environments so any developer could bring up the full system in minutes, and we wired reproducible, multi-stage build and release pipelines with linting, static analysis, and container-image scanning into continuous integration, producing versioned artifacts traceable back to source. On the security side, we hardened session handling with secure cookie flags and server-side token expiration, moved all 64 hardcoded credentials out of source and into managed configuration, remediated the highest-risk injection paths, and closed an unsafe file-access route. Where the integration layer had been copy-pasted, we refactored it behind a clean interface so new integrations are simpler and safer to add. Throughout, we documented what we found and ranked every remaining issue by risk, so the work that followed could be sequenced by exposure, not guesswork. ## Value Delivered The team came away knowing what it owned. Two previously undocumented platforms became a navigable map, and a sprawling, invisible risk surface became a prioritized, evidence-backed backlog leadership could plan and resource against. That is the kind of clarity that holds up in a customer security review or a diligence process. - **Onboarding dropped from weeks to minutes.** A single command brings up a production-parity environment, eliminating bespoke setup and "works on my machine" drift. - **Secure defaults are now in place.** Hardened sessions, server-side token expiration, and 64 secrets removed from source control shrink the blast radius of a compromise; the highest-risk injection paths and an unsafe file-access route are closed. - **Releases are reproducible and scanned.** Linting, static analysis, and image scanning run on every change, with traceable versioned artifacts replacing manual builds. - **The integration layer is simpler and safer to extend**, refactored behind a clean, testable interface. - **A risk-driven modernization roadmap** carries the work forward, sequencing the move off end-of-life technology and the remaining remediation by exposure rather than guesswork. Legacy Modernization Application Security Reverse Engineering Developer Productivity ### OCA Aspire Reduces Hosting Costs With Multi-Tenant Architecture https://aligned.net/case-studies/oca-aspire/ Aligned changed OCA Aspire's architecture and automated clinic provisioning to reduce the work and cost of onboarding clinics. The engineering also included technology upgrades, access controls, and a new data platform. OCA Aspire is an electronic health record (EHR) and practice management solution designed for Ontario chiropractors and allied health professionals. Developed by the Ontario Chiropractic Association, OCA Aspire improves patient care and simplifies administrative tasks through online booking, scheduling, billing, payments, and integrated accounting, while ensuring compliance with evolving healthcare standards. ### The Situation OCA Aspire needed to expand across Canada, but its architecture made onboarding and supporting additional clinics costly. The team faced several connected problems: - **High Scaling Costs:** Onboarding new clinics required time-consuming manual processes with inefficient resource allocation that would have compounded as the platform expanded. - **Legacy Technology:** An outdated technology stack created performance bottlenecks and increased maintenance overhead, diverting engineering resources from innovation. - **Missed Monetization Opportunities:** Lack of centralized clinical data aggregation slowed insight generation, limiting platform value for research and advocacy. - **Strategic Misalignment:** No clear plan connected technical execution with business goals like cost optimization and multi-clinic expansion. - **Reduced Pace of Innovation:** Legacy architecture hindered agility in developing new features, causing delays in addressing evolving market needs. - **Reduced Developer Velocity:** A bloated codebase and outdated tools slowed development cycles, extending time-to-market for essential enhancements. ### Our Approach Aligned investigated the platform with OCA Aspire and implemented the following architectural changes: #### Multi-Tenant Architecture for Cost-Effective Growth Implemented a multi-tenant architecture with automated provisioning to cut clinic onboarding time and operational overhead, creating isolated yet scalable environments that right-size costs while ensuring compliance. #### Technology Stack Upgrades to Accelerate Delivery Upgraded to latest stable versions, boosting performance and cloud-native compatibility while refactoring the codebase to eliminate outdated libraries and accelerate development cycles. #### Security & Compliance Reinforcement for Proactive Risk Mitigation Deployed role-based access controls, tenant isolation frameworks, and privileged identity management, designing infrastructure to be PIPEDA/PHIPA-ready with comprehensive audit trails. #### Centralized Data Aggregation for Professional Insights and AI-Readiness Built a new data platform that securely aggregates anonymized clinical data across all clinics, enabling dynamic reporting and laying groundwork for AI-driven insights to fuel research and advocacy. ### Value Delivered The case reports these results from the architecture, provisioning, and technology changes: Reduced reliance on legacy technology and right-sized cloud resource allocation. Slashed per-instance costs through automated capacity adjustments. Achieved significant performance gains, enabling seamless Canada-wide expansion. Drastically increased developer productivity and removed delivery friction. Multi-tenant architecture and automated provisioning changed how OCA Aspire onboards and supports clinics. The smaller, updated codebase gave its engineers less legacy code to maintain as they developed the platform. If onboarding, hosting costs, or an aging codebase are limiting what your business can do, [let's talk](/talk/). Platform De-risking Value Creation Healthcare Technology Embedded Execution ### ListSimple Builds Scalable Platform to Prevent Margin Erosion and Sustain Hypergrowth https://aligned.net/case-studies/listsimple/ [ListSimple](https://www.listsimple.com/) is the leading provider of measurement and media services for [REALTORS®](https://www.crea.ca/) in Alberta, offering property measurements, floor plans, photography and marketing materials. Known for relentless focus on innovation, efficiency, and process automation, ListSimple built a reputation for delivering fast, reliable services as a privately owned post-PMF company. ### The Situation With growing demand across multiple cities, ListSimple required a scalable technical foundation that would prevent margin erosion during rapid expansion. Fragmented workflows, manual scheduling, and disconnected third-party integrations would have created operational drag, forcing engineering resources away from core innovation. Building this system from scratch demanded a partner who could architect a resilient platform while ensuring ListSimple's team could own it long-term. ListSimple aimed to achieve the following objectives: - Scale quickly to meet high seasonal demand without operational drag - Implement a custom scheduling system to maximize technician efficiency and margins - Cut manual steps from photo processing and measurement report generation - Support multiple service areas with specific document and reporting requirements - Seamlessly integrate third-party APIs for ordering, accounting, and fulfillment - Transfer platform ownership to internal team post-launch ### Our Approach Aligned partnered with ListSimple's leadership to architect a green-field system that eliminates systemic constraints before they erode value. Our approach was structured into several focused areas: #### 1. Technical Architecture & Ownership Transfer We designed the platform with clear abstractions and documentation, enabling ListSimple's engineering team to take full ownership upon completion. Our architecture prevented technical debt accumulation, ensuring sustainable maintainability. #### 2. Intelligent Scheduling Engine We architected a flexible scheduling system inspired by ride-share models, ensuring optimal technician utilization and seamless customer experiences while building internal capability to extend it. #### 3. Automated Reporting & Photo Processing We developed a fully automated pipeline for measurement report generation and media file processing, eliminating manual tasks that would have drained margins as volume scaled. #### 4. Resilient Third-Party API Integration We integrated essential APIs for accounting, ordering, and fulfillment through a simplified back-office interface, ensuring the client success team could operate independently. #### 5. Launch & Knowledge Transfer Upon launch, we systematically transferred deep platform expertise to ListSimple's engineers, equipping them to extend the system autonomously and control their technical destiny. ### Value Delivered Together, we built a scalable, resilient platform that eliminated systemic constraints and enabled sustainable hypergrowth: Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge. Doubled annual volume across four consecutive years. Seamless handling through custom systems. Repeat business through efficient, reliable experiences. If your platform needs a scalable foundation that your team can own and evolve, [let's talk](/talk/). Platform Architecture Cost Structure Alignment Scalable Architecture Team Enablement ### Ripple Operations Captures New Revenue Through Scalable Azure Analytics Platform https://aligned.net/case-studies/ripple-operations/ [Ripple Operations](https://www.rippleoperations.com/) is a leading eLearning technology provider for the maritime industry, backed by private equity firm [Bleecker Street Group](https://www.bleeckerstreetgroup.com/). Their web-based learning management system revolutionizes on-board training by dynamically adapting content based on vessel and route, delivering seamless learning experiences on land and at sea independent of connectivity. ## The Situation Ripple Operations identified a critical capability gap: the absence of customer-facing analytics was limiting pricing power and creating competitive disadvantage. Manual provisioning processes and fragmented data isolation introduced future compliance risks and would have created operational drag at scale. These impending blind spots threatened to consume engineering capacity and constrain margin expansion, directly impacting value creation timeline. ## Our Approach Aligned embedded within Ripple Operations to diagnose this systemic gap and architect a forward-looking data platform that eliminates margin leakage before it materializes. We engineered an automated, multi-geography Power BI analytics infrastructure that simplifies complex learning data while enforcing strict tenant separation. Our team designed right-sized Azure data pipelines and licensing structures, fully automating environment provisioning through infrastructure-as-code. Throughout the engagement, we enabled Ripple Operations' engineers through continuous knowledge transfer, equipping them to own and extend this new capability independently. ## Value Delivered The new platform eliminated future manual provisioning overhead, strengthening data security and regulatory compliance from inception. Automated customer onboarding accelerated time-to-insight and enabled tiered pricing aligned to customer scale. The scalable analytics foundation opened premium data mart offerings, expanding addressable market and creating new revenue streams. Critically, Ripple Operations' team now possesses the internal capability to evolve the platform autonomously, positioning the company for enhanced exit valuation. PE Portfolio Value Creation Azure Analytics Enablement Platform Architecture Cost Structure Alignment Embedded Knowledge Transfer ### Responsive Simplifies AWS Infrastructure and Automates Customer Onboarding https://aligned.net/case-studies/responsive/ Aligned simplified Responsive's AWS infrastructure and automated customer onboarding, working directly with its engineers as the company expanded into new regions. [Responsive](https://responsive.ai/) is a Canadian fintech company whose unified software platform helps financial advisors be more productive and engaging, providing clients with ongoing guidance to generate long-term wealth growth. Backed by strategic investors including [Co-operators](https://www.cooperators.ca/), Responsive is privately owned and operating in the post-PMF expansion phase. ## The Situation As Responsive expanded into new regions, manual infrastructure provisioning took engineering time and complicated compliance work. Application architecture and fragmented development processes also made changes slower and more error-prone. ## Our Approach Aligned worked within Responsive's team to investigate these constraints and implement a multi-account AWS environment built on the AWS Security Reference Architecture, implementing infrastructure-as-code with AWS CDK to enable rapid, repeatable provisioning. Our engineers collaborated directly with Responsive's team to architect a solution using Amazon EKS for scalable microservices deployment, AWS-managed DocumentDB and RDS for PostgreSQL to eliminate costly self-managed database overhead, and AWS Cognito to enable new B2B product offerings. Throughout the engagement, we continuously upskilled Responsive's engineers, transferring ownership of the remediated platform architecture. ## Value Delivered The remediation program eliminated infrastructure redundancy and reduced operational costs while strengthening security posture and compliance readiness. Customer onboarding was automated for both single and multi-tenant configurations, accelerating time-to-revenue and eliminating manual errors. Responsive's developers now spin up production-like environments on demand, increasing iteration velocity and incident response capability. By working directly with Responsive's engineers, Aligned also transferred the knowledge needed to maintain and change the architecture. Platform De-risking Margin Expansion AWS Kubernetes Embedded Execution ### Genus Capital Management Eliminates Performance Bottlenecks to Accelerate Investment Decisions https://aligned.net/case-studies/genuscap/ [Genus Capital Management](https://genuscap.com/) is an independent Vancouver-based investment firm founded in 1994, providing sustainable investing solutions to Canadians. They harness data-driven insights to deliver customized portfolio strategies that align with clients' financial goals and environmental values. ### The Situation Genus had built a successful investment platform, but performance bottlenecks were creating decision-making latency and limiting research throughput. Inefficient database queries and strained data processing pipelines were consuming all available system resources, threatening to require costly infrastructure upgrades and slowing critical portfolio management workflows. These structural blind spots constrained the firm's ability to serve clients with the speed and analytical depth required in active capital markets, directly impacting their competitive positioning. ### Our Approach Aligned performed a comprehensive diagnostic of Genus' application and data processing systems, identifying structural inefficiencies that were leaking value across the investment research lifecycle. We executed deep database performance analysis, pinpointing inefficient queries overloading their data systems. Our code review uncovered low-cost, high-reward optimization opportunities. Aligned then implemented these remediation measures directly, working alongside Genus' IT team to monitor results and ensure seamless execution without disrupting day-to-day operations. ### Value Delivered The remediation delivered a 40% performance boost in critical execution paths, accelerating data processing and shortening feedback loops for research and portfolio management decisions. By eliminating systemic bottlenecks, we deferred the need for costly infrastructure upgrades, while improving system scalability. Genus now operates a technology platform that performs as a competitive asset, enabling leadership to focus on core investment strategy while benefiting from enhanced system efficiency. Faster data processing and enhanced user experience. Deferred need for costly infrastructure upgrades. Faster decision-making for research and portfolio management. If your platform is creating latency in critical workflows or pushing you toward premature infrastructure spend, [let's talk](/talk/). Performance Engineering Diagnostic & Remediation Data Pipeline Optimization ### RXO Matches Loads to Capacity in Near Real Time on a Ground-Up Event-Streaming Platform https://aligned.net/case-studies/rxo/ [RXO](https://rxo.com/) is one of the largest tech-enabled brokered freight transportation providers in North America, connecting shippers with carrier capacity at national scale. The economics of that business turn on a single question, asked constantly: which available truck should carry which load, right now. ## The Situation Matching freight to capacity is the core of a brokerage, and doing it quickly and well is what separates a covered load at a healthy margin from a missed one. RXO needed that matching to happen in near real time and at scale, faster and more consistently than manual and batch-oriented workflows could sustain as volume grew. That meant a new, purpose-built platform component, designed and built from the ground up rather than bolted onto existing systems, and a team that could deliver it without disrupting day-to-day operations. ## Our Approach Aligned embedded with RXO and spearheaded the solution design for this key platform component, then built it from the ground up. We architected an event-driven system on .NET and Apache Kafka, using Kafka Streams to process load and capacity signals as they arrived and surface matches in near real time, giving the business a streaming foundation it could extend as new signals and rules emerged rather than a fixed, brittle batch job. Alongside the architecture, Aligned managed the development team through delivery, keeping the work focused on the highest-value problems and moving steadily toward production. ## Value Delivered RXO gained a production, near-real-time matching capability where there had been manual and batch-bound workflows, built on an event-streaming architecture designed to scale with freight volume and to absorb new matching signals over time. Just as important, the team delivered it predictably: leadership had consistent confidence that the work was on track and aimed at the right problems, and RXO came away with a foundational component it owned and could keep building on. Platform Architecture Event-Driven Architecture Near-Real-Time Matching Embedded Delivery Leadership ## Tools ### Gross Margin Health Check https://aligned.net/tools/gross-margin-health-check/ Pinpoint where systemic inefficiency is eroding your margins and get a clear path to relief. ### Scale vs Cost Friction Scorecard https://aligned.net/tools/scale-vs-cost-friction-scorecard/ Discover where scaling friction is silently eroding your margins and get a clear path to relief. ## Events ## Blog ### Payer Behavior Is Now the Top Barrier to RCM Growth. Can Your Platform Keep Up? https://aligned.net/blog/payer-behavior-rcm-growth-barrier-2026-platform-readiness/ — 2026-02-26 Adonis recently published their Inside RCM 2026 research report, surveying RCM leaders on the biggest threats to revenue performance. The findings mark a clear shift. ### What the data says In 2025, RCM leaders identified three factors most impacting their ability to grow and collect revenue: 1. Frequent changes to payer adjudication rules 2. Denial volume and complexity 3. Payer reimbursement levels and contract terms For 2026, leaders predict the biggest obstacles to revenue growth will be: 1. Denial and underpayment management 2. Payer reimbursement pressure 3. Staffing constraints Adonis' conclusion is direct: "Payer behavior has overtaken internal constraints as the top barrier to growth." This is a departure from prior years, where internal optimization was viewed as the primary lever for improvement. In 2026, revenue performance is increasingly dictated by external forces rather than patient volume or internal capacity. ### The visibility problem The report also surfaces a deeper issue. Persistent gaps in real-time insight are driving reactive operating models. Revenue risk gets identified only after claims are denied or cash is delayed. Denials, once viewed as a back-office concern, have escalated into a strategic financial issue discussed at the executive level because of their direct impact on margin and cash flow. Adonis frames this as "reactive RCM," and they're clear about the cost: organizations that can't see payer behavior in real time are absorbing both operational strain and financial exposure. ### What this means for RCM platform companies If you build the software that RCM teams depend on, this report is a demand signal. Your buyers are describing, in specific terms, the gap between what they need and what they're getting: - Real-time visibility into payer behavior and denial patterns - Faster adaptation to shifting adjudication rules - Predictability instead of reaction The market isn't asking for incremental improvement. Adonis puts it plainly: "The difference between average and high-performing RCM teams will be defined by predictability and leverage. Organizations that can identify revenue risk earlier, reduce payer-driven surprises, and scale through technology rather than headcount will be better positioned to navigate ongoing reimbursement pressure." The question for platform companies is whether your engineering organization can ship these capabilities fast enough to matter. ### What "fast enough" actually means When payer rules shift and the platform can't keep pace, the downstream effect on your customers is concrete: claims get denied, rework piles up, cash collection slows down, and some revenue gets written off entirely. The longer the gap between a payer change and a platform update, the more your customers absorb in operational cost and lost revenue. A decade of research from Google's DORA program confirms that the speed and stability with which a company delivers software predict financial performance, customer satisfaction, and overall valuation. In RCM, that connection is direct. Your customers' financial outcomes depend in part on how quickly your platform adapts to a changing payer environment. ### Two different AI conversations Many RCM platform companies are investing in AI capabilities within their product: denial prediction, payer behavior analysis, real-time visibility. That's exactly what the Adonis report suggests the market needs. Building those features well is a significant engineering challenge, and the organizations that get there first will have a real advantage. But there's a separate question about the engineering process itself. Many teams are also adopting AI coding tools to try to build software faster. On that front, the evidence is more cautious. DORA's 2025 research found AI adoption at 90% across engineering teams while platform stability declined. A controlled study from METR found experienced developers using AI tools were 19% slower on real tasks, despite believing they were faster. These are two different conversations. AI in the product may be exactly the right bet. But AI in the development process doesn't automatically translate into shipping faster, especially if the underlying codebase and architecture carry years of accumulated complexity. ### The real gap This isn't a strategy problem. Most RCM software leaders know where their market is heading. The gap is years of accumulated complexity in the platform that makes every new capability harder and slower to ship than the last. And these are the kinds of problems that are nearly impossible to diagnose from the inside, when the team responsible for fixing the foundation is the same team expected to keep delivering on top of it. Your buyers just told you what 2026 looks like for them. The question is whether your platform is ready for it. ### Technical Debt vs. Growth Potential: How to Evaluate Legacy Systems Before Scaling Up https://aligned.net/blog/how-technical-debt-undermines-innovation-and-what-to-do/ — 2025-09-03 When companies pursue growth through acquisitions, the focus is often on synergies. Private equity firms are looking to expand market share, strengthen capabilities, or acquire talent. But after the deal closes, one problem emerges again and again: Technical debt. Think of technical debt (or “tech debt”) like financial debt. It can help you move fast in the short term, offering quick fixes and keeping outdated systems running. However, over time, the “interest” builds up. If not managed properly, technical debt becomes a barrier to innovation, scaling, and, in the case of acquisitions, the ability to realize ROI quickly. This can be especially true after an acquisition. As a parent company, you could often find that the acquired startup’s tech stack is misaligned with your own. It might be built on a different cloud provider, running on outdated on-premises infrastructure, or relying on obscure technologies that don’t integrate well. What once supported this startup’s early success now causes bottlenecks for your organization that acquired it. In this blog, we’ll break down what tech debt is, typical technical debt examples, how to measure it, and strategies to reduce it, so you can evaluate legacy systems and protect growth potential before scaling up. ## What Executives Need to Know About Tech Debt At its core, technical debt represents the long-term costs of past technology decisions. Executives and the management team often need to make choices under pressure to deliver quickly. For startups, this might mean taking shortcuts to launch a product faster. For established companies, it often stems from legacy systems that weren’t designed to scale or integrate with modern platforms. Knowing this, executives should consider some key takeaways. To begin, technical debt is not just a technology issue: it’s a growth inhibitor. It shows up in slower product launches, higher integration costs, mounting security risks, and missed opportunities. In the context of M&A, unmanaged debt can subtly chip away at the value of an acquisition, causing delays in realizing synergies and adding extra workload with costly rework. Being aware of this helps teams stay on track and achieve better outcomes. Finally, if left unchecked, tech debt grows and restricts strategic options. When systems become too inflexible to adapt to new business models, regulations, or customer expectations, companies miss vital growth opportunities. In this case, it’s not because the market isn’t there, but because the technology cannot keep pace. For executives, understanding these dynamics reframes technical debt from a back-office IT problem into a boardroom-level risk and opportunity driver. Managing it proactively ensures that your business remains agile enough to capture growth when it matters most. ### Common Examples of Technical Debt in Acquisitions Executives evaluating a newly acquired company’s stack often encounter: - **Incompatible Cloud Providers:** A startup built entirely on AWS, while the parent company operates on Azure or GCP. - **On-Premise Legacy Infrastructure:** Critical workloads remain hosted locally, which creates obstacles to scaling and modernizing. - **Niche or Obscure Tech Choices:** Frameworks or languages that few developers are familiar with, making support and growth challenging. - **Security Gaps:** Outdated code and unsupported platforms that increase regulatory and cybersecurity risks. - **Lack of Documentation:** Knowledge silos that hinder integration or future development, making it slow and expensive. Each of these examples represents not just a technical inconvenience but a strategic decision point: do you refactor, replace, or unify? ![cloud computing](../../assets/images/blog/how-technical-debt-undermines-innovation-and-what-to-do/cloud-computing.jpeg) ## Technical Debt vs. Growth Potential Before scaling, you need to assess whether existing systems are positioned to support growth or whether they’re silently holding your company back. In many cases, you must focus your evaluation on any legacy systems still in play. ### Key Questions to Ask About Legacy Systems - **Scalability:** Can this system handle 2x or 10x the workload without massive re-engineering? - **Compatibility:** Does it integrate with your company’s cloud or tech stack? - **Cost of Ownership:** Will you be spending more budget on maintenance and support than if you modernized? - **Security & Compliance:** Is this system creating regulatory or cybersecurity risks? - **Speed of Innovation:** Does it enable fast feature releases or slow them to a crawl? When legacy systems fail these tests, they don’t just add cost; they actively limit your company’s growth potential. ## How to Evaluate Your Legacy Systems Before Scaling When you’re thinking about scaling, you must remember that evaluating legacy systems isn’t just about looking at the technology; it’s about determining whether those systems align with business growth objectives. A structured evaluation ensures that you’re not just identifying risks but also weighing opportunities to modernize. ### Assess Business Alignment The first step is to ask whether your legacy systems still support your current strategy. Many platforms were initially implemented to serve specific business models or markets that may no longer be relevant. If your company is expanding into new regions, pursuing digital-first operations, or shifting revenue streams, can these systems adapt? A system that no longer aligns with business priorities is a form of hidden technical debt, even if it still “works.” ### Evaluate Scalability and Performance Scalability often exposes the weaknesses of legacy systems. What worked for thousands of users or transactions can quickly fail under exponential growth. Performance issues like slow response times, bottlenecks, or downtime become magnified as demand increases. Executives should look beyond current performance and ask: Can this system reliably support two, five, or ten times the workload? If the answer is no, scaling will pause before it begins. ### Check Integration Readiness Another key factor is integration. Growth rarely occurs in silos; systems need to operate smoothly across different functions and entities. Legacy systems based on proprietary technology or outdated standards often resist integration and thus require costly workarounds. Your company must assess whether a system supports open APIs, modern protocols, and compatibility with enterprise platforms like ERP or CRM. Without being ready for integration, legacy systems can become bottlenecks in achieving post-acquisition synergies or digital transformation initiatives that align with your business goals. ### Analyze Cost of Ownership Cost of ownership goes beyond licensing fees. It includes maintenance, vendor support, developer time, and the opportunity cost of slower innovation. Your team may not be able to see it right away, but legacy systems often drain IT budgets in unexpected ways. This is because resources are spent just to “keep the lights on.” As an acquiring company, you must compare the long-term costs of maintaining the system against the investment required to modernize. In many cases, modernization pays for itself within a few years through reduced overhead and improved efficiency. ### Audit Security and Compliance Security and compliance risks are some of the most critical issues associated with aging systems. Unsupported software, unpatched vulnerabilities, and outdated compliance frameworks can lead to regulatory fines and harm to reputation. As organizations grow, these risks increase. Organizations like yours need to assess whether their legacy systems align with current cybersecurity and data privacy standards as a vital component of their evaluation. ### Gauge Flexibility and Innovation Potential Finally, your team should consider whether legacy systems empower or constrain innovation. If you think your development teams spend the majority of their time fixing bugs, writing workarounds, or maintaining brittle code, that is time not spent creating new features or entering new markets. If your new acquisition cannot innovate quickly, it is one of the clearest indicators that technical debt is undermining its growth potential. ## Measuring and Managing Debt Before Scaling You can’t manage what you don’t measure. If you’re serious about scaling, you need to shine a light on your technical debt and fully understand how it impacts your business. Handle it the same way you’d handle financial liabilities: visible, measurable, and prioritized, so it doesn’t surprise you when growth is at risk. We recommend focusing on these tasks as you prepare for scaling: 1. **Conduct a Post-Acquisition Tech Audit:** Don’t wait until you’re knee-deep in integration headaches. Evaluate legacy systems immediately after closing. 2. **Quantify Time-to-Market Impact:** How much longer will new features take under current systems? If features that should take weeks are dragging into months, your systems are already costing you opportunities. 3. **Identify Integration Gaps:** Cloud providers, infrastructure, and frameworks must align. Spot any issues early so you can decide whether to unify, migrate, or replace before scaling up. 4. **Prioritize High-Risk Debt:** Some debt is inconvenient; other debt is dangerous. 5. **Balance Refactoring with Growth Goals:** Don’t fall into the trap of saying, “We’ll fix the systems later.” Plan modernization alongside scaling, not after. ![stock down graph](../../assets/images/blog/how-technical-debt-undermines-innovation-and-what-to-do/stock-down-graph.jpeg) ## Measuring and Managing Debt: How to Reduce Technical Debt Without Slowing Growth If you’re leading growth, you already know technical debt can’t just be ignored. The question is how to reduce technical debt while still keeping your business moving forward. Eliminating it entirely isn’t realistic, but managing it strategically is. Here are some strategies you can implement to make sure you’re in control of your tech debt: ### 1. Build Technical Debt Reduction into the Roadmap Don’t treat debt reduction as a side project. Incorporate it into your strategic roadmap with dedicated budgets, timelines, and accountability. By giving tech debt the same visibility as revenue-generating initiatives, you prevent it from being endlessly postponed. ### 2. Modernize Legacy Systems in Phases Large-scale replacements are costly and disruptive. Instead, consider opportunities to modernize gradually. These could be tasks like migrating workloads to the cloud, refactoring high-impact components, or unifying platforms across business units. Phased modernization allows you to reduce technical debt without halting business operations entirely. ### 3. Prioritize High-Risk Debt As we mentioned beforehand, not all types of technical debt are equal. Focus first on areas that create security vulnerabilities, compliance risks, or significant integration barriers. Addressing these high-risk categories delivers immediate value while protecting your organization from costly incidents. ### 4. Empower Teams with Better Practices Debt often accumulates when development teams are under pressure. Improving processes such as automated testing, continuous integration, and robust documentation helps prevent new debt from forming. Make sure you champion a culture of long-term thinking, even under tight timelines. ### 5. Measure Progress and ROI Finally, as a leader, you need to make results visible. Use metrics such as shorter time-to-market, lower maintenance costs, and fewer integration problems to measure the impact of debt reduction. These figures not only show ROI but also strengthen the case for ongoing investment in modernization. ## Evaluating Legacy Systems Before Scaling Is Non-Negotiable Tech debt and growth potential aren’t abstract concepts; they are decisions you confront each time you assess a legacy system. Ignoring outdated technology will quietly undermine your ability to scale, causing delays in integrations and diminishing the value of your acquisitions. The key is tackling technical debt early. By identifying, measuring, and addressing it as part of your post-acquisition strategy, you ensure that scaling up doesn’t mean slowing down. The companies that win aren’t the ones with zero debt; they’re the ones that manage it strategically and turn unification into a competitive advantage. That’s where Aligned.net comes in. We work with teams like yours to turn technical debt from a liability into a growth enabler. Our integration and unification services are designed to standardize platforms across business units, eliminate scaling barriers caused by outdated or incompatible systems, and reduce long-term costs by addressing debt before it compounds. Instead of letting technical debt undermine your growth potential, we help you build a unified, scalable foundation that positions your business and every acquisition for sustainable expansion. If you’re looking for support in evaluating your legacy systems and unlocking growth potential, [connect with Aligned today](https://aligned.net/talk/). Let us help you transform any technical debt into a competitive advantage for your company. ### Why Legacy Software Systems Are the Biggest Threat to Innovation in Financial Services https://aligned.net/blog/legacy-software-systems-threat-financial-services/ — 2025-08-05 Legacy software systems remain deeply embedded in the financial services industry (FSI). While these legacy systems may support daily operations, their outdated architecture, limited scalability, and resistance to integration pose significant threats to innovation in today's rapidly changing financial landscape. For private equity firms, especially those in the financial services space, legacy infrastructure is more than a technical liability. It's a drag on EBITDA, scalability, and eventual exit value. [A report from the Software Improvement Group (SIG)](https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/legacy-technology-in-financial-services/) found that systems with outdated architectures are 40% slower at delivering updates compared to modern architectures. Meanwhile, financial institutions still operating on these systems are projected to face \$57 billion in cumulative losses by 2028, primarily due to missed payment revenue. Additionally, [over 55% of banks](https://ibsintelligence.com/ibsi-news/core-banking-crisis-55-of-banks-cite-legacy-systems-as-top-barrier-to-transformation/) now cite legacy core solutions as the top barrier to achieving their digital transformation goals. Despite these growing risks, modernization projects remain under-prioritized for many financial institutions. In this article, we examine the growing threat of legacy software systems, the warning signs of obsolescence, and how financial institutions can develop a modernization roadmap that strikes a balance between risk and opportunity. ## Overview: What Is a Legacy Software System? Legacy software systems are outdated applications and infrastructure that continue to be used despite their technological obsolescence. They are often characterized by the following: - Built with outdated programming languages (e.g., COBOL, developed in 1959) - Hosted on-premise rather than in the cloud - Difficult to scale, maintain, or integrate - Poorly documented or dependent on retiring developers According to [Payhawk](https://payhawk.com/en-us/blog/migrating-from-legacy-financial-systems-and-when-to-consider-new-solutions), 43% of banking systems still rely on COBOL. Maintaining these systems accumulates technical debt and restricts flexibility, particularly in markets where speed, automation, and customer-centricity are crucial. ![legacy computers](../../assets/images/blog/legacy-software-threat-financial-services/legacy.jpg) ## Legacy System vs. Modern System Legacy software solutions differ significantly from newer cloud-based tools. To better understand the challenges posed by legacy IT systems, we must compare their limitations with the advantages of modern platforms. Legacy software systems were built for an era that prioritized internal stability over external adaptability. These platforms often run on decades-old code, tightly coupled to in-house hardware, and demand constant IT intervention. As a result, implementing even minor changes to these legacy systems can be costly, time-consuming, and prone to error. By contrast, modern platforms, particularly cloud-native architectures, are modular, scalable, and built to adapt as business requirements change. From an operations perspective, legacy software limits agility. Data is often scattered across multiple systems, and automation is minimal. That translates to finance teams spending countless hours on manual processes instead of focusing on value-added tasks, such as forecasting or strategic planning. Modern systems flip this equation, embedding automation, real-time access, and advanced analytics into daily workflows. | Feature | Legacy Systems | Modern Cloud-Based Systems | | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- | | Deployment | Installed on-premise; requires IT setup | Cloud-native; deploys quickly across devices | | Scalability | Difficult and expensive to expand | Built to scale with usage and business growth | | Data Access | Siloed, delayed reporting | Real-time access with centralized visibility | | Automation | Mostly manual processes | Integrated automation with AI/ML capabilities | | Security | Dependent on outdated, reactive protections | Continuously updated; proactive security | | Integration | Custom-built connectors; limited compatibility | Seamless API-based integration | | Maintenance | High cost and effort; resource-intensive | Regular updates included; minimal IT involvement | ## Why Legacy Systems Are a Barrier for the Financial Industry For private equity firms invested in financial institutions or fintech portfolios, legacy systems pose a multi-layered threat. These platforms don't just slow operations, they compromise integration synergies, audit readiness, and long-term scalability. ### Manual Workflows Increase Risk and Overhead Outdated systems often require manual intervention for tasks that modern platforms automate by default. From data entry to reconciliations, these legacy processes are time-consuming and prone to human error. By using outdated systems, financial teams are left “firefighting” instead of focusing on strategy and growth. The results? Slow revenue recognition and delayed reporting can directly impact operational leverage and return on invested capital (ROIC). ### Delayed Data Undermines Visibility Legacy tools struggle to provide real-time insights. Data often remains in disconnected silos or batch-processed systems, making it hard to get a complete view of cash flow, profitability, or performance metrics at any moment. Legacy platforms also lack predictive analytics. This gap limits your ability to detect churn early, forecast accurately, or adjust pricing strategies in response to trends. ### Limited Integration Hinders Ecosystem Growth Modern finance relies heavily on connectivity, including CRM, ERP systems, APIs, and embedded finance platforms. However, older software wasn't designed for easy interoperability, making the integration of new tools often require custom development, middleware, or complex workarounds. Portfolio companies with disconnected, legacy systems usually face challenges scaling, entering new markets, or onboarding bolt-ons. ![](../../assets/images/blog/legacy-software-threat-financial-services/financial.jpg) ### Inflexibility Blocks Digital Innovation As we mentioned above, legacy infrastructure wasn't designed to support today's innovations, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, or ESG reporting. Even basic upgrades often require downtime or full re-architecture, making experimentation and agility nearly impossible. We know 55% of banks cite core system limitations as their primary obstacle to transformation. Even more concerning is that only 32% have successfully integrated AI into their systems. The failure to adopt newer technologies means that the FSI as a whole is falling behind. ### Security and Compliance Risks Escalate Security patches for legacy systems are often reactive and infrequent, creating vulnerabilities that modern platforms are better equipped to address. In 2023 alone, [72.7% of organizations were targeted by ransomware](https://payhawk.com/en-us/blog/migrating-from-legacy-financial-systems-and-when-to-consider-new-solutions)! With increasing regulatory scrutiny, older software stacks also struggle to meet compliance standards out of the box. ![](../../assets/images/blog/legacy-software-threat-financial-services/secure.jpg) ### Rising Operational Costs and Technical Debt Legacy infrastructure demands costly maintenance. Some studies claim [companies lose up to 20%](https://payhawk.com/en-us/blog/migrating-from-legacy-financial-systems-and-when-to-consider-new-solutions) of their annual IT budget managing outdated systems. The technical debt incurred, sometimes exceeding [$1 million per 300,000 lines of code](https://payhawk.com/en-us/blog/migrating-from-legacy-financial-systems-and-when-to-consider-new-solutions), diverts funds from innovation and modernization efforts. ## Signs It Is Time to Update Your Legacy Software Systems You may already be feeling the pain of legacy infrastructure. The most common and important red flags to keep in mind include: - Slow report generation and system response times - High support costs or frequent outages - Poor user experience or low employee adoption - Difficulty integrating with modern platforms like ERPs or CRMs - Security incidents or compliance failures Surveys conducted by [IBS Intelligence](https://ibsintelligence.com/ibsi-news/core-banking-crisis-55-of-banks-cite-legacy-systems-as-top-barrier-to-transformation/) reveal that 93% of financial institutions believe selecting the right core system is vital for future success, yet only 2% state they have no plans to abandon their legacy systems. Legacy tech debt not only limits growth, but it also increases risk at exit. Buyers today expect modern systems that can scale with minimal transition cost. ## Creating an Effective Modernization Strategy for Your Financial Services Your company can drive operational improvements and long-term enterprise value by guiding your portfolio companies through a strategic modernization roadmap: ### Evaluate Your Current Tech Stack Start with a complete audit of your systems: - Architecture performance (uptime, speed, throughput) - Security posture and regulatory alignment - Integration capabilities and API support - Cost of ownership and scalability limits ### Define Strategic Business Goals Clarify what the organization aims to achieve. Is it improved efficiency or real-time financial reporting? It might also be better forecasting or a more improved customer experience. This is important because developing the right strategy for your company depends on the focus and goals you set. You should be able to collaborate with your modernization partner and establish modernization objectives that align with these goals. ### Choose a Suitable Modernization Path There are several approaches to creating an effective modernization plan for your specific company: - **Replatforming**: Shift to new infrastructure with minimal code changes - **Refactoring**: Rework the codebase for efficiency - **Re-architecting**: Redesign software for cloud and scalability - **Greenfield**: Start fresh with a completely new solution - **Encapsulation**: Wrap legacy systems with APIs to extend capabilities ### Involve Stakeholders Early Successful modernization requires buy-in from across the business. Survey users, involve IT and compliance teams, and ensure the C-suite is aligned. Stakeholder resistance is a significant contributor to the failure of digital transformation projects. ### Pilot, Test, and Scale Roll out changes gradually. Pilot new systems in low-risk areas and scale based on results. Measure KPIs such as uptime, transaction speed, error rates, and user satisfaction. ## Ensure You Have the Support Required to Transform Your Legacy Software Systems The numbers don't lie. Legacy software systems are more expensive, less effective, and expose financial organizations to unnecessary risk. In contrast, modern cloud-native platforms enable scalability, automation, real-time reporting, and integrated compliance, all vital for thriving in today's financial landscape. Better architecture leads to faster change, lower costs, and fewer operational bottlenecks. In an industry where agility and security are everything, modernizing your tech stack isn't optional. It's essential. Don't let legacy systems hold you back. From system audits to seamless migration, Aligned.net delivers customized digital transformation strategies built for long-term growth. [Connect with our knowledgeable team today.](https://aligned.net/talk/) ### Legacy Tech Is Holding You Back: Boost Corporate Valuation Through Software Modernization https://aligned.net/blog/legacy-tech-is-holding-you-back/ — 2025-07-14 If your portfolio companies are still relying on outdated software, you’re leaving value on the table. Legacy tech is slow, fragmented, and expensive to maintain. It isn’t just a drag on operations; it’s a direct threat to corporate valuation, especially for Private Equity Groups (PEGs) looking to maximize returns at exit. According to a SnapLogic survey, legacy tech upgrades cost the average business nearly $3 million in 2023, with compounding impacts on data infrastructure and AI readiness. Maintenance costs, siloed systems, and integration challenges are pushing more companies toward modernization, not as an IT initiative, but as a business necessity. In this blog article, we explore how software modernization directly enhances business valuation and provide a practical roadmap for PEGs to integrate tech upgrades into their acquisition and exit strategies. ## Modern Tech Maturity = Higher Business Valuation Before diving into the "how," we must address the "why." Corporate valuation can be assessed using EBITDA multiples, discounted cash flow, or comparable transaction analysis. Regardless of the method employed, it isn’t solely focused on revenue; it also encompasses risk and scalability. Modernized platforms enhance audit readiness, deliver accurate real-time reporting, and demonstrate operational maturity, all of which reduce risk and increase buyer confidence. When buyers see that a company is still using legacy platforms, it raises red flags: - **Rebuild risk:** Will they need to rebuild from scratch? - **Scalability concerns:** Can the system scale with future growth? - **Security & compliance:** Is sensitive data secure and compliant? - **Talent availability:** Can I easily find and retain the talent to support growth and innovate? - **Margin pressure:** Will margins shrink as more users join? In contrast, a modern, secure, and scalable tech stack is well-positioned to leverage available resources, driving innovation and market share growth. ## Five Reasons Software Modernization Boosts Corporate Valuation 1. **Improves Operational Efficiency** Legacy systems are often paired with or require manual, slow, and error-prone operational processes, resulting in costly downtime. By replacing these with automated, streamlined, cloud-based solutions, companies reduce overhead and enhance productivity. This improves EBITDA, one of the key drivers of valuation in PEG environments. 2. **Unlocks and Activates Siloed Data** Older systems hinder the extraction and analysis of business-critical data. Modern platforms eliminate data silos, integrate reporting, and enable predictive analytics that drive smarter business decisions. This results in greater business value and more accurate investment valuation. 3. **Increases Buyer Confidence** Strategic buyers and institutional investors carefully examine tech stacks during the due diligence process. A clean, modern infrastructure signals that the company is low-risk and well-positioned for growth and innovation. It also enhances your company’s appeal during a competitive bidding process. 4. **Enhances Security and Compliance** Legacy systems often use out-of-support technology and are vulnerable to security breaches. Modernization enhances cybersecurity, ensures compliance with evolving standards, and minimizes risk exposure. These are factors that are increasingly impacting valuation in industries such as healthcare and finance. 5. **Future-Proofs the Business for Growth** Whether scaling operations, enabling digital transformation, or supporting M&A roll-ups, modern technology enables your company to adapt quickly. In an era where agility is a differentiator, scalable technology is an essential asset, not merely a nice-to-have. ![Business man running on arrow-shaped bridge to the light](../../assets/images/blog/legacy-tech-is-holding-you-back/growth.jpg) ## The Cost of Doing Nothing: How Legacy Systems Hurt Your Bottom Line The longer legacy systems remain in place, the more enterprise value erodes. - Operating inefficiencies eat away at margins. - Data blind spots prevent effective forecasting. - Tech debt scares away potential buyers. - And worst of all? Fixing it too late in the holding period often leads to a sunk cost with minimal to no ROI before exit. ![Worried senior businessman listening presentation](../../assets/images/blog/legacy-tech-is-holding-you-back/businesspeople.jpg) ## How to Approach Software Modernization in a Portfolio Company ### 1. Include Tech in Due Diligence Don’t wait until after the acquisition to assess the tech stack. Build technology assessments into your diligence process to identify red flags, such as unsupported platforms, inadequate architecture, vendor lock-in, or inadequate data accessibility. ### 2. Build a Strategic Modernization Roadmap Identify which systems need upgrading, prioritize them, and establish a timeline for implementation. Ensure this roadmap aligns with your overall value creation strategy and anticipated exit window. A phased approach can minimize disruption while providing consistent benefits over time. ### 3. Prioritize Quick Wins Not all modernization efforts require a complete overhaul. Begin with low-risk upgrades that have a tangible impact. Focus on changes that minimize friction and show a clear return on investment. ## Modernization as a Strategic Lever, Not Just IT Spend For PEGs focused on maximizing ROI, software modernization is not just about improving systems; it is about enhancing improving. From operational efficiency to buyer appeal, modern tech unlocks hidden value across the board. **Looking to uncover opportunities hiding in your portfolio’s tech stack?** Let’s discuss how a strategic modernization plan can drive better outcomes at acquisition and exit. [Book a personalized consultation now](/talk/). Read more in our How to Create an Application Modernization Roadmap blog post. ### Scaling Without Modernization: The Hidden Cost That Destroys Profitability https://aligned.net/blog/scaling-without-modernization-hidden-cost-destroys-profitability/ — 2025-06-12 ## Impact of Scaling Without Modernization on Profit Margins You're scaling. Revenue is growing. But your margins are disappearing. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Your team hustled to bring in new customers. They signed up. Revenue climbed. Goal achieved - on paper. But then reality hits: * Onboarding those new users causes costs to balloon exponentially. * You bolted AI features onto a legacy platform - before modernization. * Cloud costs are climbing fast. * Users complain: the platform is slow, AI features are clunky, and support wait times are rising. * Engineers are stuck keeping the lights on, not building new features. Result? Profit margins nosedive. If platform support costs increase by just 5%, expect your margin to fall by at least that much. If you didn't foresee that impact, it's tough to explain to the CFO who then must deliver the bad news the CEO, to investors and your board - especially when your roadmap promised profitable growth, not a cost explosion. And if you didn't forecast that drop in margin? You're managing by hope. ## Scaling Without Modernization Is Predictably Costly If you chose to scale without modernizing and clearing technical debt, your costs won't just rise - they'll spiral out of control. That's the only predictable thing about it. This isn't hypothetical. It's happening everywhere: * HFS Research: Global 2000 firms carry $1.5–2 trillion in accumulated tech debt. * Pegasystems: 88% of IT decision-makers say tech debt limits agility; 57% say legacy systems drive customer churn. * SnapLogic: 63% report tech debt creates severe issues like data silos and internal conflict over where to invest limited engineering capacity. Despite the data, CEOs continue to green-light AI features and customer-facing upgrades - before modernizing the foundations. Why? *Because Modernization Sounds Like an IT Problem.* McKinsey found that CEOs often assume modernization is something IT should just handle. "AI first (because it will automate so much, reducing costs, right?), then we'll modernize" is their strategy. But that's backward. Without modernization, AI doesn't save - it multiplies complexity, cost, and churn. ## Why Engineering Can't Make the Case Here's the crux: Engineering sees the cliff ahead, but business leaders don't. And here's why they can't connect: 1. **Tech Jargon ≠ Business Value** - Engineers say: "We need to refactor the monolith." - Executives hear: "You want budget for code that already works." - Translation is missing: How does this impact margin, risk, or time to value? 2. **No Quantified ROI** - Engineering talks about speed and performance. - CEO cares about cost reduction, customer satisfaction, scale and growth enablement, or AI feature readiness. 3. **Framed as Cost, Not Growth** - Modernization is seen as a sunk cost, not a strategic enabler. - Multi-year technical projects sound like black holes with no near-term return. 4. **Fear of Disruption** - Execs ask: "Will this break what's working? How long will it take?" - Engineers rarely present a phased, low-risk plan. *End Result: A Communication Breakdown.* Engineering feels unheard. The CEO moves forward. Costs surge. Customers leave. And blame ricochets. ## The Fix? A Bridge Builder. What CEOs need is a problem reframing of the technical issues to the strategic implications - it's translation. That's a special skill set few have. Bring in a strategic product leader who can: - Speak fluently to both sides, reframing the technical challenges in light of the strategic goals. - Quantify modernization's business impact. - Develop a phased roadmap that delivers quick wins and strategic stability. This role saves millions by preventing misguided scaling. Because scaling without modernization isn't just expensive - it can crater the platform and bring down the business. If you are curious how we have deconstructed the engineering problem so that the CEO can scale up without escalating costs, please book a meeting and we'll take you through our case studies. ### How Software Challenges Are Hurting Your Association’s Financial Sustainability & Member Retention https://aligned.net/blog/how-software-challenges-hurting-association-financial-sustainability-and-member-retention/ — 2024-12-11 ## Is This Happening in Your Association? * Does your association offer members a proprietary software platform? * Is your board constantly juggling the platform’s budget without a clear path forward? * Are you questioning whether the association has the expertise to overcome persistent software challenges or guide its evolution? If your answer to these questions is “yes,” you’re not alone. Many associations face these pain points, which can undermine financial sustainability and member retention. This article will help demystify why your association might be struggling and provide actionable insights to tackle these challenges head-on. ## Why Software Challenges Impact Association Goals When your software platform underperforms, achieving critical board responsibilities becomes nearly impossible: 1. **Increasing Member Engagement and Retention**: Relevant and seamless software is essential for attracting new members and keeping existing ones engaged. 2. **Ensuring Financial Sustainability**: Budgeting becomes unpredictable as software issues siphon resources away from events, sponsorships, and other revenue streams. 3. **Maintaining Governance and Compliance**: Outdated or ineffective software hinders adaptability to changing legal and operational landscapes. The result? Associations face a dual challenge: managing limited resources while attempting to optimize a platform that fails to deliver its promised value. ## Competing with Commercial Software Providers Software companies have extensive resources, including teams with expertise in: * **Product Leadership**: Staying ahead of technological advancements. * **Product Management**: Delivering new features members want. * **Marketing and User Retention**: Scaling platforms and keeping users engaged. * **Customer Support**: Meeting daily helpdesk needs and resolving issues promptly. In contrast, associations often rely on a single technical leader or outsource to vendors who may not fully understand their strategic goals or how to drive platform sales. Lacking a comprehensive team approach with all the needed expertise puts associations at a significant disadvantage. ## Signs Your Association's Software Platform Needs a Health Check Consider these symptoms of poor software management. If any resonate, your board might benefit from an independent evaluation so you can make the right changes before cost control becomes out of reach: 1. **Slow Response Times**: Bugs, slow feature updates, and integration issues frustrate users. 2. **Outages and Performance Declines**: Members experience slow loading times or outages. 3. **High Costs for Limited Improvements**: Fixes are expensive, time-consuming, and fail to address underlying issues. 4. **Declining Membership**: Users leave for commercial alternatives. 5. **Staff Burnout**: Internal teams spend excessive time troubleshooting without addressing systemic issues. 6. **Missed Opportunities**: Communication gaps between the board and technical teams prevent alignment with strategic goals. 7. **Inadequate Reporting**: Data storage is costly, and reporting features fail to meet user needs. 8. **Inability to Adopt New Technologies**: Outdated systems hinder the integration of advancements like generative AI. 9. **Reputation Damage**: An outdated platform impacts member trust, recruitment, and sponsor interest. ## When Is the Right Time to Act? The best time to address these issues is **now**, before approving another costly patch or workaround. By stepping back, your board can: 1. **Identify Root Causes**: Work with an independent third party to evaluate strategic, financial, and technical challenges. 2. **Create a Long-Term Plan**: Collaborate with experts to develop a roadmap that aligns software goals with the association’s mission. 3. **Optimize Resources**: Invest strategically to build a scalable, cost-effective platform that meets member needs. ## Case Study: Turning Around a Troubled Platform A professional association struggled with escalating software costs and declining member satisfaction. Their technical vendor provided vague timelines and budgets, treated strategic goals as afterthoughts, and lacked a clear growth plan. Faced with a 20-year timeline to achieve their user growth targets, the board sought an independent software health check from our team at Aligned. The evaluation uncovered root causes, from technical limitations to misaligned priorities. Armed with these insights, the association partnered with experts to: * Redefine their strategic goals. * Develop a realistic roadmap. * Transition to a scalable solution that balances cost and performance. The result? A revitalized platform that increased member engagement, stabilized the budget, and positioned the association for sustainable growth. ## Final Thoughts Investing in a strategic platform evaluation is critical to aligning your software’s capabilities with your association’s mission. Don’t let ongoing software challenges drain your budget and alienate your members. Instead, equip your board with the insights to make informed, impactful decisions. How would you describe any challenges in managing your software platform while also running the association? We'd love to hear from you at hello@aligned.net. ### Aligned Software Solutions Earns Microsoft Solutions Partner Designation for Digital & App Innovation on Azure https://aligned.net/blog/aligned-software-solutions-earns-microsoft-solutions-partner-designation/ — 2024-08-21 We are excited to announce that Aligned Software Solutions have earned the prestigious Microsoft Solutions Partner designation for Digital & App Innovation on Azure. This achievement marks a significant milestone in our ongoing mission to empower businesses with cutting-edge technology, enabling them to innovate faster and achieve their digital transformation goals. The Microsoft Solutions Partner designation is awarded to organizations that have demonstrated a deep expertise in leveraging Microsoft technologies to deliver impactful solutions to clients. **"We are thrilled to receive this recognition from Microsoft," said Chris Constantin, Founder & Principal at Aligned Software Solutions. "Our team's proven expertise in Azure allows us to bring added value to our clients by providing them with access to the latest Microsoft technologies and resources. This partnership opens up a world of possibilities for our clients, enabling them to innovate more rapidly, improve operational efficiency, and achieve their digital transformation objectives more effectively than ever."** As a trusted Microsoft Solutions Partner, we thrive to support businesses by offering comprehensive consulting services that help clients harness the power of the Microsoft developer platform. This includes leveraging AI-assisted development tools, as well as utilizing the full suite of resources offered by GitHub, Azure DevOps, and Visual Studio. The designation also reflects our commitment to helping clients with specialized needs, including the modernization of web applications and the management of hybrid cloud infrastructure. By working closely with clients, we ensure that businesses not only meet but exceed their digital transformation goals, staying ahead of the competition in an increasingly dynamic market. Whether your business needs support in building, running, or managing intelligent applications, we are ready to deliver tailored solutions that align with your unique needs and objectives. How we can help you: - **Expertise in Azure**: Leverage our deep knowledge and proven expertise in Microsoft Azure to build, modernize, and scale intelligent applications that meet your business needs. - **Access to Cutting-Edge Technology**: Gain early access to the latest Microsoft technologies, tools, and resources, enabling your business to innovate faster and stay ahead of the competition. - **Comprehensive Development Platform**: Benefit from the most comprehensive developer platform, including GitHub, Azure DevOps, and Visual Studio, to accelerate app development and enhance productivity. - **AI-Assisted Development**: Utilize AI-powered tools and solutions to streamline development processes, reduce time to market, and deliver smarter, more efficient applications. - **Tailored Solutions**: Receive customized consulting services that align with your specific goals, whether it's modernizing web applications, managing hybrid cloud infrastructure, or optimizing multi-cloud environments. - **Enhanced Productivity**: Empower your developers to focus on innovation by providing them with best-in-class tools and platforms, allowing for quicker and more efficient delivery of high-value applications. - **Scalable Solutions**: Ensure that your applications are built to scale, allowing your business to grow without compromising performance or reliability. - **Seamless Upgrades**: Experience smooth and hassle-free upgrades to your existing applications, supported by our extensive experience in Microsoft technologies. - **Digital Transformation Leadership**: Partner with a recognized Microsoft Solutions Partner committed to driving your digital transformation and helping you achieve your strategic objectives. ### The Manifest Recognizes Aligned as One of the Most Reviewed Cloud Consulting and Software Development Companies in 2023 https://aligned.net/blog/most-reviewed-cloud-consulting-software-development-2023/ — 2023-10-17 We'd like to extend our gratitude to our clients for trusting us with solving complex technology challenges and helping them grow their business. We are proud of being publicly recognized by our clients, placing us in the top tier of cloud consulting and software development companies in Canada in 2023, as verified by The Manifest business blog website. We are motivated to maintain our high-quality service while also striving to improve. We'd love to help your organization maximize the benefits of technology. Contact us today to see out how we can help you achieve your business goals. ### Don't Waste Your Money: Unlock AI's Full Potential through Data Modernization https://aligned.net/blog/dont-waste-money-unlock-ai-potential-through-data-modernization/ — 2023-04-03 ## Overview In today's digital age, businesses want to leverage advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to gain a competitive edge. However, to make the most of these technologies, companies need a modern data practice. So don't waste your money by ignoring this crucial first step! Companies looking to invest in AI/ML initiatives must prioritize data modernization because it enables them to enhance data quality, accessibility, processing speed, governance, and integration. ## What is data modernization? Data modernization refers to updating legacy data systems to modern platforms supporting advanced analytics and AI/ML initiatives. Legacy systems are often outdated, siloed, and incompatible with modern data technologies, making it challenging for organizations to extract insights and value from their data. Data modernization entails moving data from outdated platforms to contemporary ones, enhancing data quality and accessibility, and implementing robust data governance policies and procedures. ## Why is it important for AI/ML initiatives? AI/ML initiatives are highly dependent on data. The quality, quantity, and accessibility of data can make or break the success of ML and AI models. Here are some reasons why data modernization is essential for companies looking to invest in ML and AI initiatives: ### 1. Improved data quality For AI/ML models to generate accurate insights and predictions, they need high-quality data. Conversely, poor data quality can produce inaccurate results and reduce the effectiveness of ML and AI projects. Data modernization helps organizations improve data quality by standardizing data across various systems, removing duplicate data, and ensuring data accuracy. ### 2. Increased data accessibility AI/ML models require large volumes of data to train effectively. Modern data platforms enable organizations to store and process large amounts of data and make it accessible to machine learning models. By improving data accessibility, organizations can train ML models more effectively, resulting in better insights and predictions. ### 3. Faster data processing speed AI/ML models require fast processing speed for real-time insights and predictions. Organizations can process data more quickly thanks to modern data platforms that use cutting-edge data processing technologies like parallel processing and in-memory computing. This, in turn, enables AI models to deliver insights and predictions in real time. ### 4. Robust data governance AI/ML initiatives are subject to strict data governance requirements. Data modernization enables organizations to establish robust data governance policies and procedures to ensure data privacy, security, and compliance with regulatory requirements. This, in turn, helps organizations maintain the trust of their customers and stakeholders. ### 5. Integrated data sources Machine learning models require data integration from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive view of the data. Modern data platforms enable organizations to integrate data from various sources, including internal databases, third-party systems, and external providers. This, in turn, helps AI/ML models to deliver more accurate insights and predictions. ## Conclusion In conclusion, data modernization is essential for companies investing in AI/ML initiatives. By improving data quality, accessibility, processing speed, governance, and integration, organizations can derive more value from their data and deliver better customer outcomes. Furthermore, data modernization will become increasingly important as businesses continue to adopt advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Therefore, business leaders should prioritize data modernization to ensure that their organizations are well-positioned to take advantage of AI/ML opportunities. If you need assistance with your data modernization efforts, our solution architects and data engineers are just one phone call or email away. Learn more about our data engineering and analytics consulting services. ### How to Meet Data Residency Requirements in Power BI https://aligned.net/blog/meet-data-residency-requirements-in-power-bi/ — 2023-03-20 ## Overview Power BI is Microsoft’s robust business intelligence tool that allows you to create interactive dashboards and reports from various data sources. You may face challenges meeting data residency requirements if you have customers or users in different regions or countries. This blog post will explain the options for building a multi-region Power BI environment to address these challenges. ## Where does Power BI store your data? The first user in an organization to sign up for Power BI or Microsoft 365 chooses the country or region for the business identity. The region selected during sign-up, called the home region, determines where data is stored. Power BI stores all data, for all users, in this home region: models, push datasets, query cache, dashboard/report metadata, etc. Power BI offers two licensing models: *per user* and *per capacity*. Per user licensing (Free, Pro, or Premium Per User) provides individual users with access to its modern, self-service analytics capabilities. Per capacity licensing (Premium or Embedded) allows organizations to reserve and share Power BI compute and data resources, called capacities, without per-user licenses for content consumers. Power BI Premium and Power BI Embedded have *Multi-Geo* support: each capacity can be created in a region other than the home region. However, only some data is stored in the capacity region, with the rest remaining in the home region for the tenant. For the latest details on which data is stored in the capacity region, consult the Microsoft documentation. ## Single-region applications Suppose your application is not subject to strict data residency requirements, or you know all your users are in the same country/region as your organization’s home region. In that case, you can avail yourself of any Power BI licensing structure. If you’re using per capacity licensing, ensure all your capacities are configured with your home region. ## Multi-region applications If your user base is distributed globally, and your application needs to meet stricter data residency requirements, you have two options described below. ### Single multi-region Power BI tenant - Premium or Embedded only A single Power BI Premium Capacity tenant is one option for building a multi-region Power BI environment. You purchase one or more dedicated capacities for your Power BI subscription and choose a region for each capacity. A Power BI capacity is a pool of resources that multiple workspaces and users can share. Any workspaces created under a capacity will store their content in the capacity’s region. However, some items such as push datasets, Excel workbooks, dashboard/report metadata, service buses for gateway queries or scheduled refresh jobs will remain in the home region of your tenant. The advantage of this option is that it simplifies the management of your Power BI environment. You only need one tenant and one set of licenses for your users. You can also leverage features, such as incremental refresh and XMLA endpoints, only available for Premium capacities. The disadvantage of this option is that it can be expensive. You must purchase enough v-cores to support your workload and performance requirements across all regions. You must also pay attention to data sovereignty and compliance issues, as some data can still cross region boundaries. ### Multiple single-region Power BI tenants - any license Another option for building a multi-tenant multi-region Power BI environment is to use multiple per-region Power BI tenants with any license type (Free, Pro, Premium Per User, Premium Capacity, or Embedded). You create separate tenants (organizations) for each region where you want to store your data and assign licenses to your users depending on their needs. With this option, all data is stored in the tenant’s home region (assuming you’re not relying on the Multi-Geo feature of Power BI Premium or Embedded). Remember that you choose your home region when you create a tenant. Then, ensure that users are appropriately assigned to their region’s tenant. The advantage of this option is that it gives you more flexibility and control over your data location and licensing costs. You can use per-user licensing if you don’t need dedicated capacities or premium features. You can also ensure compliance with local regulations by keeping all data within a specific region. The disadvantage of this option is that it increases the management overhead of your Power BI environment. You need to create and maintain multiple tenants and subscriptions for each region. You also need to invite users from other tenants as guest users if you want them to access content across regions. ## Conclusion In summary, there are two main options for building a multi-region Power BI environment: single tenant with Power BI Premium or Embedded licensing using the Multi-Geo feature or multiple single-region tenants with either per user or per capacity licensing. The first option is simpler to manage but does not ensure all data is stored in the target region and can be expensive for smaller organizations. The second option ensures all data is stored in the target region, which can be more cost-effective, but requires a higher management overhead. Depending on your business needs and preferences, you can choose either option or combine them as needed. If you need assistance with your Power BI or Azure environments, our solution architects and data engineers are just one phone call or email away. Learn more about our data engineering and analytics consulting services. ### Maximizing Your Business Potential: Why You Should Upgrade Your Legacy Software https://aligned.net/blog/upgrade-legacy-software-to-maximize-your-business-potential/ — 2023-01-06 ## Overview Legacy software applications can hold your business back and prevent you from reaching your full potential. These outdated systems are often inefficient, inflexible, and expensive to maintain, which can lead to decreased productivity and increased costs. Modernizing your software tools can bring numerous benefits to your business and help you stay competitive in today's rapidly changing business environment. Below are eight reasons why upgrading your legacy software applications can help you maximize your business potential. ## Improved efficiency and productivity Modern software solutions are designed to be user-friendly and efficient, which can help your employees work more effectively and efficiently. By streamlining your business processes and eliminating unnecessary steps, you can save time and resources, and you can also improve the quality of your products and services. ## Enhanced security Cybersecurity is a top concern for businesses of all sizes, and legacy software applications are often vulnerable to security threats. Modernizing your software applications can help you protect your business data and systems with the latest security features and protocols, which can prevent data breaches and downtime. This can also improve customer trust and loyalty. ## Better integration with other systems Modern software solutions are often designed to easily integrate with other business systems, such as your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and customer relationship management (CRM) system. By upgrading your legacy applications, you can get a more comprehensive view of your business operations and make better-informed decisions. This can help you optimize your workflow and improve your bottom line. ## Improved scalability As your business grows, you may find that your applications are no longer able to meet your needs. Upgrading them can help you scale your business more easily, as these modern solutions are often designed to be flexible and adaptable. This can help you take advantage of new opportunities and expand your market reach. ## Cost savings Legacy software applications are often expensive to maintain and support, as they require specialized expertise and resources. By upgrading to a modern software solution, you can reduce your IT costs and free up budget for other business priorities. ## Future-proofing Upgrading to a modern software solution can also help you future-proof your business. As technology continues to evolve, your legacy applications may become increasingly outdated and unable to keep up with the demands of your business. By modernizing now, you can ensure that your business has the tools it needs to succeed in the long term. This can help you stay competitive and adapt to changing market conditions, and it can also reduce the risk of technical issues and downtime. ## End-to-end data governance In addition to the benefits listed above, modern software solutions often offer advanced data governance capabilities. This can help you ensure that your data is accurate, secure, and compliant with relevant regulations and standards. By providing end-to-end data governance, you can protect your business and its reputation while making better-informed decisions based on reliable data. Data governance is crucial for businesses that handle sensitive data, such as personal information or financial records, and are subject to regulatory requirements. Upgrading legacy applications to align with robust data governance practices can help you safeguard your business and its assets. ## Enhanced talent retention and acquisition Upgrading to modern technology can also help you attract new talent to your organization. Many professionals, particularly younger generations, are attracted to companies that use the latest technology and tools. By modernizing your applications, you can show that you are a forward-thinking, innovative company that values its employees and their professional development. This can help you attract top talent and retain your existing employees, which can ultimately drive business growth and success. ## Conclusion Upgrading your legacy software applications can help you maximize your business potential and succeed in today's rapidly changing business environment. By modernizing your software, you can improve efficiency and productivity, enhance security, better integrate with other systems, improve scalability, save costs, future-proof your business, provide end-to-end data governance, and attract new talent. Investing in application modernization is a smart move for any business looking to stay competitive and succeed in the long run. ## Application modernization with Aligned Choosing the right technology partner for your application modernization initiative can be the difference between success and failure. At Aligned, our experts have the experience and knowledge to help you take a holistic approach and re-imagine your applications and data in the cloud, in alignment with your business priorities. We are deliberate in our process. We help you uncover what matters and how to measure progress. Our experienced architects and engineers make the process of modernizing your legacy data systems and applications faster and more cost-efficient. We minimize or avoid service interruptions and help upskill your employees. Let's talk through your application modernization goals and create and execute your modernization roadmap. Contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve your business goals. ### How to Make Data Modernization Your Winning Strategy https://aligned.net/blog/make-data-modernization-your-winning-strategy/ — 2022-05-16 ## Overview In today's digital world, data is one of your company's most valuable assets. As a result, you can no longer ignore capabilities that can enhance its value. Data modernization should be at the center of any digital transformation initiative, allowing you to achieve faster speed to market, competitive advantage, and cost savings. Investment in a modern data platform facilitates a transition to data-driven decision-making and lays the foundation for future growth and success for your organization. ## What is data modernization? Data modernization is the process of moving existing siloed data out of legacy databases and into modern data platforms where it can be protected and cataloged, so it can be discovered and consumed by everyone in the organization as soon as it is collected. Most modern data platforms are cloud-based and offer virtually limitless storage and unparalleled processing power and speed for advanced analytics at a convenient price point. Previously siloed data can be more easily correlated with new high-velocity data, such as IoT sensor data or web clickstreams, as well as unstructured data such as blog posts, videos, or PDF documents. By democratizing access to data in your organization, you empower your workforce to make better decisions with up-to-date information. Communication and collaboration within teams are enhanced, and product teams can leverage the newly available data to build new digital properties and features to better serve your users. At the same time, data access controls are easier to implement, so you can protect your customers' private data and meet regulatory requirements. ## Benefits of a modern data platform A well-architected data model backed by a modern data platform will give your workforce a cohesive view and a single point of access to your diverse data assets, and allow your company to: * **Improve the security of your data storage and management systems**. Modern data platforms provide enhanced monitoring and threat detection capabilities and help protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access. Moreover, they have built-in audit trails to help quickly identify and address any unusual activity. * **Streamline your data governance**. Easily apply consistent data collection, access, and 'expiration' policies for compliance with data protection and privacy regulations. * **Bring data from multiple sources together**, bridging organizational silos for more collaborative and effective decision-making. * **Enable data discovery**. Implement and maintain a data catalog to make data easy to find. An up-to-date data catalog is also a key enabling component for the protection of private information. * **Extract insights from unstructured data**. Take advantage of cutting-edge easy-to-use machine learning cloud services to surface knowledge hidden in your organization's or your customers' data. * **Become a data-driven organization**. Ensure access to the right data at the right time and get valuable, actionable insights to make business decisions in real-time. * **Make Big Data your friend**. Big Data is characterized by what's dubbed the three Vs: volume, velocity, and variety. Modern data platforms are designed to ingest and store heterogeneous data at high speed, easily scaling with your growing needs, while staying cost-effective. ## Key considerations before pursuing data modernization Modernization of legacy data systems is a complex and demanding process. Finding and extracting data from traditional siloed and proprietary databases and applications, organization-wide file share systems, on-premise data warehouses, and even your custom-built application are resource-intensive and long-running operations. In some circumstances, transferring live data into a new modern data platform has major performance implications on the source system, leading to enterprises postponing data modernization indefinitely, rather than assuming the challenges and risk of replacing them. As is the case with application modernization, data modernization should be iterative and incremental, starting with the low-effort high-value data assets to quickly realize ROI and allow your workforce to become familiar with the new, modern toolset and technologies. Application modernization creates opportunities for modernizing the application's data persistence mechanisms, so make sure to align the goals of both modernization efforts and be on the lookout for synergies. Here are some key considerations when creating your data modernization roadmap: * **Align with prioritized business capabilities**: focus on data assets that have the most value for your organization and are hardest to access. * **Re-imagine your data architecture**. You need an effective data strategy, a framework of models, policies, rules, and standards that enables easier, faster, and more flexible access to large volumes of diverse cleaner data ingested from multiple data sources. Think about how data is going to be consumed, how quickly it needs to be available, how it's going to be updated, when it expires, and who should be permitted to view fully unobscured values, and when should it be archived or purged from the system. * **Identify the right mix of open source and proprietary technologies**. Most modern data platforms build on state-of-the-art open source technologies while offering improved user experience and operation, as well as better integrations with popular systems and paid support. Every organization has different skills and tolerance to risk, so choose the service that is right for you and your team. ## Creating a data modernization roadmap Similar to [our recommended approach to application modernization](/blog/create-application-modernization-roadmap/), data modernization should be a structured, iterative process comprised of the steps described below. 1. **Discover**. Take an inventory of all your data assets. Inspect your configuration management database, IT and software architecture spreadsheets, and knowledge bases. 2. **Categorize and Prioritize**. Categorize data assets based on value and alignment to critical business capabilities and quantify the effort to modernize. Start with the high-value/low-effort cohort, through to the low-value/high-effort one. 3. **Plan**. Map out the modernization journey ensuring your systems can continue to serve customers and employees throughout the multiple stages of the migration process. 4. **Execute**. Carefully execute your plan, and be ready to adjust mid-flight if needed. The goal is to ensure optimal outcomes with minimal disruptions. Accumulate knowledge and document recipes to be applied in future iterations. 5. **Assess**. Evaluate the ROI of the modernization effort and compare it with the projected ROI. Reflect on the process and address any shortcomings in the next iteration. It is important to measure application and business performance before and after each iteration, to properly track and assess progress. You can read more in our post on how to [identify and use KPIs to reach your modernization goals](/blog/identify-and-use-kpis-to-reach-application-modernization-goals/). ## Conclusion Data modernization enables organizations to extract value from data hidden in legacy siloed systems. It is a structured data-driven iterative process that democratizes access to data and makes it easily discoverable. It results in improved data governance and easier compliance with data protection and privacy regulations. ## Data modernization with Aligned Choosing the right technology partner for your data modernization initiative can be the difference between success and failure. At Aligned, our experts have the experience and knowledge to help you take a holistic approach and re-imagine your data platform in the cloud, in alignment with your business priorities. We are deliberate in our process. We help you uncover what matters and how to measure it. Our experienced architects and engineers make the process of modernizing your legacy data systems and applications faster and more cost-efficient. We minimize or avoid service interruptions, and help upskill your employees. Let's talk through your data modernization goals, and create and execute your modernization roadmap. Contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve your business goals. ### Identify and Use KPIs to Reach Your Modernization Goals https://aligned.net/blog/identify-and-use-kpis-to-reach-application-modernization-goals/ — 2022-05-02 ## Overview For some companies, the business motivation for modernizing may already be clear, from the need to cut infrastructure costs to performance woes affecting user experience and profits. Others may be aware of the benefits of modernizing, but are unsure what to prioritize or where to start. Before embarking on any application modernization project, it is important to establish baseline performance metrics and KPIs. This will give you a clear understanding of how the applications are currently performing and what improvements need to be made to grow the business. It will also allow you to track the progress of your modernization efforts and ensure that they are delivering the desired results. ## Start application modernization with an application inventory The first critical step is understanding the current state of your application environment. Not only the technical aspects, but also the importance of those applications to the growth and operations of the business. Application inventory is a catalog of all applications in the organization. It includes relevant information such as supported business capabilities, business and technical owners, workload categories (e.g., business-critical, internal etc.), technology stack, dependencies, incident response and performance metrics, etc.. If you don't have an inventory of your apps, create one by mining your configuration management databases, IT and software architecture spreadsheets and knowledge base, and catalog the full set of applications, assets and code repositories in one central location. For automated app discovery, you can use application migration assessment (AppDynamics, Carbonite, CloudM) and application performance monitoring tools (Splunk, NewRelic, DataDog). ## Measure app and business performance to track progress Performance monitoring is the process of collecting, analyzing, and using information to track applications and infrastructure metrics in order to guide business decisions. It gives you insight into your systems and your business so that you can quickly find and fix problems. Monitoring also helps you communicate information about your systems to people in other areas of the software development and delivery pipeline, and to other parts of the business. This continuous data gathering and review allows teams to learn and improve, whether in reaction to a production issue, a deployment error, or modifications in customer usage patterns. You can then share these learnings across your organization to help employees develop and systems improve. Effective performance monitoring requires both: 1. data collection from key areas throughout the value chain, including application performance and infrastructure, as well as business metrics, and 1. continuous review of the data to learn and make business decisions. In the context of application modernization, application and business performance monitoring should be used to capture baseline metrics and KPIs at the start of the modernization iteration, and track progress throughout and at the end of iteration. ## Focus on KPIs that matter for your organization Each company's modernization journey will likely be unique. Each organization (and each application) has unique challenges and goals at any one time. It is important to focus the modernization effort on improving metrics and KPIs that align with the organizations current goals. Even so, there are a few categories of metrics that are commonly tracked and improved during application modernization efforts: * **IT costs** – hardware, software, and maintenance costs. * **Business agility** – eliminating technical issues to open up new opportunities. * **Scalability & elasticity** - optimal utilization of resources without compromising performance under high load. * **Data analytics** - improved data availability, integration, reporting, and analytics. * **System and data security** - elimination of vulnerabilities that could put your customers' sensitive information at risk, resulting in reputation and financial losses for your company. * **Customer experience** - Real-time data processing enables real-time services, enhancing customer experience. * **Time to market** – new cloud-native infrastructure and devops practices can reduce application delivery time. * **Operational efficiency** - how quickly can changes be deployed, and mistakes be rectified. * **Performance** – improved application response times, throughput, and resource usage. ## Conclusion It's easy to lose focus during application modernization efforts and optimize areas that don't have a meaningful impact on your organization's bottom-line. By carefully selecting metrics and KPIs aligned to your business goals, establishing a performance baseline at the start, and continuously assessing progress against it, you can ensure that your modernization project is achieving the desired outcomes. ## Modernizing with Aligned Application modernization is an essential part of any digital transformation strategy. It helps businesses improve efficiency, reduce costs, and stay ahead of the competition. Application modernization is a structured data-driven iterative process that improves the performance of your application portfolio and helps drive a culture of engineering excellence in your organization. We are deliberate in our process. We help you uncover what matters and how to measure it. Our experienced architects and engineers make the process of modernizing your legacy apps faster and more cost-efficient. We minimize or avoid service interruptions, and help upskill your employees. Let's talk through your app modernization goals and create and execute your modernization roadmap. Contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve your business goals. ### How to Create an Application Modernization Roadmap https://aligned.net/blog/create-application-modernization-roadmap/ — 2022-04-19 Want help mapping out your modernization journey? Contact us and we will walk you through it. ## Overview Application modernization is a hot topic in the business world today. If you're like most organizations, you have a mix of applications critical to your day-to-day operations alongside applications that are rarely or no longer used or needed. As your business grows and evolves, it's important to take a step back and assess which applications need to be modernized to keep up with the competition. Businesses need to adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs quickly to stay competitive. By modernizing their applications, companies can boost efficiency, reduce time to market, and enhance customer experiences. ## What is application modernization Application modernization is the process of updating application software to make use of newer infrastructure, programming languages, frameworks, or database technology. The main goal of application modernization is to improve performance, scalability, resilience, and security while also reducing costs. ## Approaches to application modernization Most times, application modernization involves rewriting legacy code to work with newer technologies. However, it can also consist of simply updating dependencies or moving an application to a cloud-based platform. Some applications can be modernized by merely adding new functionality to take advantage of technical innovations, without any modifications to existing code. ## Benefits of modernizing legacy applications Regardless of the approach, application modernization can help organizations ensure their applications continue to be responsive to changing business needs and enhance the customer and employee experiences. Outdated applications can cause several problems, including reduced performance, high operating costs, and security vulnerabilities. Application modernization can help businesses reduce the resources required to run an application, increase the frequency and reliability of updates, improve uptime and resiliency, and reduce exposure to cyberattacks. Last but not least, since most companies have significant investments in their existing application portfolio, from both a financial and operational standpoint, it is often more efficient to modernize rather than retire these systems and start over. One way to create an application modernization roadmap is first to identify the most critical business capabilities. These are the areas that will have the biggest impact on the company's bottom line. ## Common challenges The first challenge in any modernization effort is the selection of an optimal initial set of applications to modernize. Some organizations do not actively maintain an up-to-date application inventory, resulting in newer applications and cloud services not being accounted for. Even if the application inventory is current, organizations may be missing a formal decision model to help inform the best approach for any given application. This makes it hard to measure ROI and TCO to both categorize applications and measure the impact of the modernization, once completed. Sheer complexity and sprawl of an organization's application portfolio can limit visibility, making it hard to see where duplication is happening, or where applications are only running because the retirement plans were never completed. Lack of skilled personnel familiar with modern infrastructure and application development techniques is another barrier. This can limit the field of view on what's possible, slow down the modernization effort, and lead to suboptimal modernization outcomes. In addition, application modernization can require significant investment in new hardware, software, and training. This can be mitigated by taking an incremental approach to modernization, focusing on low-effort high-value applications first, to reduce risk, minimize the time to realize value, and skill up your team fast. ## Creating an application modernization roadmap We recommend approaching application modernization as a structured, iterative process comprised of the steps described below. #### 1. Discover Create or update application inventory, and gather application data in a normalized format. Extract the data from your configuration management databases, IT or software architecture spreadsheets and knowledge base. You can also employ automated application discovery tools specific to your workloads. Gather development, operations and performance metrics from your ticket tracking system, CI/CD tools, and APM systems, such as Splunk or NewRelic. Your data storage systems can also be a good source of performance data. #### 2. Categorize and Prioritize With an up-to-date application portfolio and good metrics, you can categorize applications based on business value and effort to modernize. Assign higher business value to applications that support critical business capabilities. Work with business stakeholders to identify and prioritize business capabilities in alignment with business strategy. This ensures the modernization effort is focused on creating more immediate business value. Quantify the effort to modernize by accounting for and balancing such factors as application complexity, size, team skills, risk of disruption, data migration effort, etc.. 6R Analysis (rehost, replatform, refactor, repurchase, retire, retain) is a widely used application portfolio rationalization technique that helps to evaluate the relative effort of modernizing each application, in increasing order of required effort: * **Retire** applications that you don't require anymore and can be turned off * **Retain** applications that are not good candidates for modernization because they have been recently installed or upgraded, or they're just not that important to the business * **Rehost** applications with little or no modifications to newer or cheaper infrastructure * **Repurchase** new or upgraded products or services to incorporate into your modern portfolio * **Replatform** applications by updating them to leverage third party services, such as managed cloud database instances, without changing the core architecture * **Refactor** is effectively the 'application modernization', with significant changes to application architecture and code to take advantage of modern cloud-native services. Create four application cohorts to modernize in order: * **Cohort 1** high-value/low-effort applications, allowing you to realize quick ROI and hone your modernization process * **Cohort 2** high-value/high-effort applications, leveraging the experience and knowledge from modernizing the first cohort * **Cohort 3** low-value/low-effort applications, low-hanging fruit once all high-value applications have been modernized * **Cohort 4** low-value/high-effort applications #### 3. Plan Understand the current state of each application in the current cohort and map out the modernization journey. Extract and hone blueprints for each on the migration and modernization strategy (6R) to be reused for later cohorts. Typically, modernization happens in multiple stages as applications need to continually service customers and employees. #### 4. Execute Carefully execute on the modernization plan. Adjust mid-flight if needed to ensure optimal outcomes with minimal disruptions. Balance speed of execution with assimilation of new knowledge. Document recipes for application transformation and automate new delivery processes. Establish consistent application telemetry and monitoring for the newly modernized applications. #### 5. Assess Evaluate the ROI of the modernization effort and compare with the projected ROI. Reflect back on the process and the outcomes and address any shortcomings in the next iteration/cohort. ## How do we help Aligned helps you get the most out of your application modernization effort, supporting you all along the process by: * Validating the prioritized application map by leveraging our experience in estimating modernization effort & cost * Identifying areas of commonality in the applications, and focusing on them to maximize the ROI of modernization * Minimizing disruptions to business operations by breaking down the modernization effort in small manageable steps that also show immediate benefit * Identifying and containing the impact of hard-to-modernize applications or application components. ## Conclusion Application modernization is an essential part of any digital transformation strategy. It helps businesses improve efficiency, reduce costs, and stay ahead of the competition. Application modernization is a structured data-driven iterative process that improves the performance of your application portfolio and helps drive a culture of engineering excellence in your organization. Our experienced architects and engineers make the process of modernizing your legacy apps faster and cost-efficient. We minimize or avoid service interruptions, and help upskill your employees. Let's talk through your app modernization goals and create and execute your modernization roadmap. Contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve your business goals. ### Azure Services for Application Integration & Business Process Automation https://aligned.net/blog/choose-azure-services-for-application-integration-and-business-process-automation/ — 2021-09-30 ## Overview Most businesses, from independent professionals and mom-and-pop stores to large multi-national corporations, run multiple applications and services. It's rare that the functionality of these software suites fit perfectly into the business processes of an organization, and even rarer that they provide out-of-the-box integrations with one another. Yet this is exactly what every company needs: a well-oiled end-to-end business engine that runs with minimal human intervention, and efficiently distributes the right data to the right task at the right time, empowering workers to perform optimally. This is a common problem, and it's not surprising that there are many application integration and business process automation tools to choose from. One company that has been innovating in this space effectively since the beginning of the digital era is Microsoft. More recently it has taken all its expertise and applied it to building a powerful and diverse suite of services powered by its cloud platform, Microsoft Azure. Azure offers four services that make it possible for organizations of all sizes to integrate their applications and automate their processes without taking on infrastructure maintenance or heavy upfront costs: * Microsoft Power Automate * Logic Apps * Azure Functions * WebJobs All four technologies allow creation of workflows, as the business processes modelled in software are often called, that can be started based on a schedule or triggered by an external event. They all accept inputs, can run actions, employ conditions to build complex control flows, and produce outputs. These constructs can be combined in trees and chains of actions that orchestrate interactions between applications and people to reduce unproductive manual work and expedite desired business outcomes. The obvious question now is why four services that effectively do the same thing, why not just one? The answer is that each targets a different audience, and they differ by how workflows are authored, the necessary technical expertise, and how and where they can be executed, among others. ## Design-first technologies Microsoft Power Automate and Logic Apps include interfaces that can be used to draw out the workflow, just as business stakeholders would design a business process by drawing a flow diagram on a whiteboard. ### Microsoft Power Automate Microsoft Power Automate is a service targeted towards organizations or departments with no software development expertise. It supports definition of workflows that are triggered by an event (a tweet or an email), started manually with the press of a button, or scheduled to run at defined intervals or on specific dates. In addition, it supports modelling a business process with approval steps and notifications to stakeholders, with approvals and times recorded. It is built on top of Logic Apps, so it supports the same wide selection of integration points (called connectors) and actions, as described in the next section. ### Logic Apps Logic Apps is the developer-centric design-first solution for authoring workflows. Its biggest strength is the very rich set of triggers and actions, defined as connectors to a multitude of applications and platforms: Office 365, Azure DevOps, on-premises or cloud-hosted SQL Server, Salesforce, Twitter, and many more. Defining connectors to your own services is straightforward, when needed. Microsoft has recently re-engineered the Logic Apps execution engine for portability and performance, implementing it as an extension to Azure Functions. As we'll describe in a later section, this enables deployment to various hosting environments such as Azure, on-premises or any-cloud container orchestrators. Equally important, the new Azure Functions-based runtime unlocks an excellent developer experience, by making it possible to design workflows in development tools such as Visual Studio and VS Code, to complement the authoring tools available in the Azure Portal. If needed or preferred, it is also possible to edit the underlying JSON workflow definition files. ### Which design-first technology is best for you? If you're looking for self-serve workflow creation experience for your office workers and business analysts, Microsoft Power Automate is the best choice. Workflows can be designed either in the browser or on the mobile app, and the included testing and production environments enable a simple workflow development lifecycle that is sufficient for most use-cases. On the other hand, if you have developers and IT professionals on staff, and you need to support advanced integration scenarios, reach for Logic Apps. The developer tools are powerful, the Logic Apps source code can be included in source code management systems, and built and deployed with any release management tool, such as Azure DevOps. ## Code-first technologies When you need more control over the end-to-end reliability and scalability of your workflows, or you have highly complex integration scenarios, the developers on your team would be able to better manage the complexity and be more productive by using code-first services: Azure Functions and WebJobs. ### Azure Functions Azure Functions is an event-driven serverless compute platform that also excels at solving complex orchestration problems via its Durable Functions extension. It is a simple way to run code in the cloud, in response to HTTP calls, based on a schedule, or when documents are updated in a database, or files added to Azure Storage. The Durable Functions and Durable Entities extensions facilitate the development of complex stateful long-running workflows that can run for days if needed, reacting to, and acting upon external events from other applications or because of human-input. Developers use common programming constructs, such as _if-then-else_, _switch_, and _try-catch_ statements, and the runtime ensures each action is reliably executed or, if necessary, replayed with no side effects, if necessary. By employing Azure Storage or SQL Server as backing stores for orchestration state, developers have the ability to transparently inspect workflow execution progress, for a better debugging and incident response process. The Azure Functions runtime can be run almost anywhere: on Windows, Linux, and macOS machines, on-premises or in-the-cloud containers on Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. Developers can build workflows using the full power of the development tools and practices that they are already familiar with, including tracing and debugging, unit & integration testing, code reviews, etc. ### WebJobs Azure App Service is one of Azure's hosting services for web applications and HTTP-based APIs. WebJobs are part of Azure App Service and can be used to run background jobs either continuously or triggered, manually or on a schedule. Aside from the job-triggering mechanism, there are no built-in facilities for developing long-running workflows. ### Which code-first technology is best for you? Azure WebJobs have very limited workflow-building capabilities. Choose them if you need to implement a simple flow, you already have an App Service application, and you'd like to manage the workflow code as part of that same application. You're almost always better to develop workflows in Azure (Durable) Functions. You get built-in stateful orchestration support, the power and versatility of programming in a first-class programming language such as C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python. In addition, by hosting Functions in Azure you can take advantage of automatic scaling and pay-per-use pricing. ## Design-first or code-first? The choice may seem daunting. But you don't have to choose one or the other. If you've been paying attention, you may remember that Microsoft Power Automate is built on top of Logic Apps, and Logic Apps are built on top of Azure Functions. Workflows developed with one technology can call actions or workflows developed with the others. Logic Apps and Azure Functions can even share the same Azure execution environment, so communication between the two is optimized. Start wherever you feel most comfortable. As workflows grow and become more complex, re-asses your choice of technology. Split workflows into smaller, more manageable ones, and potentially move them to a more appropriate technology. If you need assistance with selecting the most appropriate application integration and business process automation service, or with building integration and automation workflows, our Microsoft-certified Azure solution architects and engineers are just one phone call or email away. Learn more about our Azure consulting services. ### Logistics Management Software Modernization - The Key to Future Success https://aligned.net/blog/logistics-management-software-modernization-key-to-future-success/ — 2021-05-30 Many logistics companies struggle to adapt and keep up with the dynamic, post-pandemic, business environment. A big reason for this is being locked in to antiquated processes and tools by the legacy software systems that have served them well-enough pre-pandemic. Businesses that have adopted modern agile software systems have been able to save costs, increase performance and efficiency, and take great advantage of the emerging post-covid economic boom. 2021 has already seen the successful implementation of national and global supply chains for the manufacture, transport, and distribution of personal protective equipment and vaccines. Most retails have also sped up the implementation of their online shopping capabilities, to keep up with the extraordinary demand. This would not have been possible to achieve on such a large scale and in such a short time without modernizing the software infrastructure of every organization in the supply chain. It is thus critical to leave the legacy applications behind, and either modernize or replace them. ## Logistics Management Systems Modernization - Main Benefits Most legacy systems are **sluggish, expensive to maintain, inflexible, incompatible with just about anything useful, and insecure.** But how exacly would modernization of legacy systems, or replacement with a modern system, help? 1. Say **goodbye to paperwork, welcome to automation**. Human errors are all but eliminated and your organization will have saved the expense of a lot of man-hours previously required for processing paper documents. 2. **Real-time operational dashboards**. Know where your assets are, how fast and in which direction they are moving. No more guesstimates or time-consuming phone calls. 3. **Enhanced planning and execution**. In addition to giving you an accurate, real-time, overview of current operations, the same data also enables key optimizations and evaluations, such as historical route & delivery time analysys, driver performance metrics, fuel consumption analysys, and better route planning. 4. Better, **more efficient Inventory & asset management**. Get ready to monitor your inventory and assets in real-time, with near-instant status updates and accurate forecasts. 5. **Seamless integration with multiple third-party systems**. No one single software system can satisfy all the needs of your organization. The ability to easily integrate multiple systems together is critical to being able to extract the most value from each system alone, and the entire toolset as a whole. 6. **Enhanced customer experience**. As your modernized systems start tracking orders and shipment and human errors are replaced with real-time analysis and prompt decision-making, the accuracy and timeliness of your organization’s customer facing status updates will increase. Your customer success team can also use this information to pro-actively address issues and look for alternative solutions. 7. **Happier and productive workforce**. Employees supported and empowered by correct and timely information and the right tools perform better and feel better about their work. Freed from rote tasks, they can focus on problem solving when issues do arrise. Ultimately, the benefits outline above combine to result in **improved cash flow** and a **better bottom line** for your organization. ## Path To Logistics Management Systems Modernization Many companies nowadays are struggling to compete, caught in a vicious circle. They have already made significant investments in their existing software systems, only to end up with a slow and clunky tool, that hinders rather than helps. They've tried filling the gaps by building additional capabilities on top of the legacy system, only to find that these are also limited by its shortcomings. Transitioning to a new, modern system looks daunting, costly in terms of setup, migration, training, and disruptions to daily operations. The cold, hard truth is there is no miracle solution. Each organization is unique, and requires a complex solution that employs multiple off-the-shelf and custom built systems, working seemlessly together. The key is in making sure each component works well with the rest, or can be easily replaced as it becomes obsolete. This is where we come in. At Aligned, we leverage our expertise to analyze your current systems, work together to spell out the existing vs the ideal business processes, and identify off the shelf and/or custom solutions. We then put together a plan that balances long-term, foundational improvements and short-term high-impact quick wins. Finally, we assist in the execution of the plan, as a long-term partner fully invested in your success. ### Why Canada Is the Cheaper IT Outsourcing Alternative to Asia and Eastern Europe https://aligned.net/blog/canada-as-it-outsourcing-alternative-to-asia/ — 2021-03-23 International outsourcing is a relevant and oftentimes crucial economic endeavor, generating more and more attention from all organizations, from businesses to governments and national and international decision-makers. The matter is of importance and current, given the changes brought by the pandemic. The decision to contract a specific team for hire in a different area is usually an opportunity for business enterprises wishing to improve competitive factors, seeking the optimal combination of costs and productive inputs to maximize the overall utility of their activity. However, contrary to the popular belief that low wages in developing countries such as India are a critical advantage for the selection of international outsourcing location, the optimal solution may often be different and closer to home than you might think. Wages, education, language, and legal risk should all be among the most important factors in choosing the optimal outsourcing partner for your business. While telecommunications and the specific IT infrastructure are also very significant, what 2020 has taught us all is that geographic proximity and social stability are even more relevant to the success of any business. In addition, a company can never neglect the potential political risk. The political risk reflects the risk of deploying and/or exposing the company’s IT and telecommunications infrastructure in politically risky environments, where unexpected fiscal policy and regulatory changes, economic changes and development policies can lead to a number of surprising and often insurmountable disruptions. Moreover, the assessment of risk and strategic trading costs should always take into consideration the higher wages involved in assignments to high-risk areas. Let’s look at some of the costs involved in hiring a potential team from SE Asia: * Flights: expect at least $1000/round trip/person with any reputable airline, provided you book well in advance and there is no pandemic looming; * Wages: a skilled worker will only cost you around $25/hour/person, but that is the absolute best-case scenario, when nothing ever has to be redone. Every single mistake due to misunderstanding or failures in communication will potentially double or triple the costs; * Long-term hotel and car rentals: it’s far and it’s costly, so someone will most likely have to stay there for a while for all of the teething pains. Throw in another $1000/month; ## Making a Difference: Teams for Hire in Canada In comparison, flying to Toronto will usually be no more than $300 – and that is if you live in California. IT workers will cost you over $60/hour, but they are highly skilled, know the North American way of life and way to do business very well, and they speak the same the language, leaving little room for misunderstandings. You will also never need to spend any amount of time there, because why would you? The infrastructure is already set up for near-shoring, with big names such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle already well established in the Canadian landscape, and videoconferencing is faster and easier. Canada already has a legal framework for outsourcing so contracts and agreements are largely standardized. Under NAFTA, both countries are part of a free trade market. The federal corporate income tax rate is only 15% in Canada. All of this is transparent and easily accessible and researchable. No unpleasant surprises here. Also relevant, Canada has implemented ample programs (such as the Global Skills Strategy) to bring in people from all over the world, including SE Asia. Which guarantees that the best-skilled workers from countries like India, Malaysia, or Vietnam might already be closer than you think. Of course, Canada is not the only country with highly-skilled software engineering teams for hire. However, it is the closest one, both geographically and culturally. It is not as inexpensive as – say – Vietnam, but it is easier to access, manage, and safer to work with. It's just the right balance between cost and everything costs something, the best investment for you might be the right balance between cost, time, effort and output quality. In need of assembling a team? Try us now at hello@aligned.net or 604 259 7676. ### IT Outsourcing to Canada - 10 Reasons Why https://aligned.net/blog/it-outsourcing-to-canada-10-reasons-why/ — 2021-03-08 If you have never outsourced before, you may wonder why and how Canada would be a better idea than other parts of the world – say Asia or Eastern Europe, or anywhere else really. Read below about the benefits when choosing Canada for outsourcing. While some benefits are quite obvious – such as the proximity and shared language – some may only become so once you analyze other, more nuanced aspects, such as education, and company culture. ## Teams For Hire in Canada - 10 Reasons Why Here are 10 reasons why Canada is a strong contender for your outsourcing needs. 1. Time zones. It is both detrimental to health, as well as inconvenient, to work through the night or arranging meetings and dealing with your team well past their bedtime. This also leads to lost productivity since answers to critical questions are delayed until the entire team is online. This is not the case with Canada, which shares similar time zones with the US. 1. Language. No need for extra staff to translate, adapt and interpret whatever was said in yesterday’s meeting. This leaves no room for misunderstanding either, as English is one of the two official languages in Canada. 1. Similar educational and professional culture. Cultures around the globe are different and it is a challenge more often than not to adjust and establish solid lines of communication with teams with different perspectives. While understanding diverse points of view helps enrich the team, it can also be an encumbrance when your select team-for-hire has no perspective whatsoever on the specific needs of your business due to a severe cultural clash. This is not the case with Canada, which shares very similar backgrounds in this respect with the US. 4. Proximity. This one probably speaks for itself. But just in case it doesn’t: it is much easier and much cheaper to fly from pretty much anywhere in the US to pretty much anywhere in Canada than, say, South-East Asia or Eastern Europe. 5. A large highly educated tech workforce. Over the last decade, Canada has made sustained efforts to attract the young and talented IT minds of the world. With programs such as the Global Talent Stream, Canada has made it easy for its companies to bring in skilled employees from everywhere. 6. The exchange rate. Yes, Canada also operates in dollars. However, the Canadian dollar is lower (by approximately 20%) than its US counterpart. Your budget will take you further in Canada than in the States. 7. Tax incentives. In line with its other efforts to bring in talent and companies, the Canadian government also offers a number of tax incentives and other benefits to recruit companies and projects. Canadian teams for hire are, of course, no exception, especially in the IT field. 8. Bandwidth quality. Again, a simple matter. Would you rather experience frustration and fear of the unknown with a transoceanic connection or would you prefer a fast and reliable neighbor with everything already in place? 9. Solid, simple legislation. This goes hand in hand with the culture bit, but in short, you need not expect insurmountable hurdles and endless paperwork in Canada. Things will go smoothly based on a standard contract, not unlike what you would expect in the US, since the Canadian law does not specifically regulate this type of transaction. 10. Proper handling of all relevant legal matters, such as confidentiality and security. In a very similar manner to the US, Canadian companies are expected to follow similar guidelines and legal requirements in providing IT services. With vast experience and expertise in bespoke application development, cloud migration, and application modernization, [our Canada-based team would be happy to engage with you](/talk/) to develop a custom-tailored plan for your IT expansion efforts. ### Canada - Teams for Hire and the Outsourcing Landscape https://aligned.net/blog/canada-teams-for-hire-opportunities/ — 2021-02-15 Over the course of the last two decades, the outsourcing of software development has steadily grown, having become a very viable option for business growth. Outsourcing allows your company to continue to focus on its core competencies, and eliminates the upfront investment in hiring and developing a software development unit. If you're reading this, you're probably at least considering the option of outsourcing the development of your next software project. You've come to the right place. ## Canada: Teams For Hire - Advantages Canada’s geographic proximity to the United States, political stability and similarities in laws, language and business culture make it the ideal and obvious candidate for any and all of your outsourcing needs. Culture and timezone differences might not seem all that relevant to software development, however, good communication is key to the success of any business endeavour. Being able to seamlessly embed the outsourcing team within your organization, with the same working hours, and the same water-cooler topics, will ultimately result in better outcomes for your software project. Canadian developers have years of experience in a broad range of business domains that can easily be applied to your project, streamlining the domain knowledge transfers required for building software that efficiently solves business problems and provides immediate value. By outsourcing to Canada, your team will be augmented with world-class talent virtually overnight, and will be able to jumpstart your software development initiatives and maximize efficiency. Contact us now to find out more about all the advantages waiting for you in Canada. ### How Your Business Can Survive and Thrive during the COVID-19 Pandemic https://aligned.net/blog/help-your-business-survive-and-thrive-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/ — 2021-01-22 Last year’s pandemic brought the world to a halt and with it much of the economy, with companies now facing a completely different business environment than even a few months ago. Weeks of confinement forced companies to adopt new forms of communication, a change that will persist well into the future. Mandatory confinement has accelerated the development of the “digital world” by turning face-to-face meetings, grocery shopping and shopping in general, education and training, and even Friday happy-hour into online sessions. As a positive, many employees are now able to devote more time to training in new technologies and automation, and applying what they learned for additional added value to their employers. There is a silver lining to be found in our shared experience of the past twelve months, isn’t it? ## Modernization During The Pandemic At the same time, according to McKinsey, IT modernization helps enterprises increase employee productivity by up to 30%, and motivation by up to 40%, while reducing the time-to-market by up to 60%. According to a Forrester study for IBM, clients optimized infrastructure and reduced license costs, with average savings of more than $500,000 over the first three years of cloud adoption. Meanwhile, cloud services helped said clients achieve a far greater level of operational efficiency, by automating multiple manual tasks. Following suit, one of the several things that would help your company survive and thrive would be legacy app modernization. .NET applications are prime candidates for modernization, given the longevity of the platform, and the significant advances over the past couple of years. Technology helps companies deliver superior results faster. Process management optimization means that companies can ensure a higher quality of service and better deadline compliance, ultimately achieving better outcomes. Nowadays, companies have the option of automating most business processes, minimizing the risk human error in most repetitive tasks and thus limiting opportunities for mistakes. As a direct result, this leads to the minimization of costs. Employees can work on more strategic tasks. The operational performance increases exponentially as a result, as shown by the statistics above. Data analysis results become more accurate and better suited and adjusted to the needs of the respective business, thanks to modernization. Decisions, in turn, will be more fact-based, with a better focus on the company's profitability, improving services and adding more to the bottom line. To survive, companies need to adapt their customer service channels and strengthen their brand on the market. Social networks presence is a must, the same as app availability and accessibility through mobile devices. In addition, companies need modern technology to power their operations and lead to better results. Modernization of legacy applications is one of the investments with best ROI a company can make in these challenging times, allowing for greater fidelity to market fluctuations, while minimizing the operational costs. To survive and thrive during this pandemic, companies need to have an IT sector able to quickly respond to changes in market demand. ### How to Choose the Best IT Modernization Partner https://aligned.net/blog/choose-the-software-modernization-partner/ — 2021-01-22 For most businesses, the modernization of IT systems is often essential to growth, but it often gets overlooked or delayed, amid the challenges of day to day operation. Oftentimes this leads companies relying on multiple systems to store, manage, and retrieve information. These systems grow to tackle ever more complex processes, but are rarely built to play well within the larger ecosystem of applications that power the entire enterprise. This makes it difficult to classify and search digital content, trapping sizeable amounts of critical data in isolated data silos. A legacy application is an outdated system that no longer meets the needs of the company or market requirements. In other words, a system that no longer fulfills its original mission. One of the main challenges with these systems is that they tend to contain important data and content that can only be accessed by a small number of users through complex and aging interfaces. Being aware of this problem is one thing, doing something about it is another. One of the first steps, however, is finding the right partner. You’ll need a dedicated, well-trained team, with the adequate expertise and experience, as well as the right knowledge and optimal outlook to give your business the makeover it needs. In terms of cost reduction, security and performance, you’ll want to use a proof-of-concept approach, making sure that your partner delivers everything as promised. You might want a risk assessment in the beginning, and continuous progress for the duration of the engagement. Communication is key at every step of the process. ## App Modernization: The Right Way Technology changes at a rapid pace and your business will have to keep up in order to maintain its competitive advantage. Modern applications leverage multiple technologies (programming languages, databases, data processing tools), mixing and matching them with use-cases they are optimized for. This means it's best to partner with a multi-disciplinary team of experts that can choose the right tool for each job based on extensive experience with a breadth of IT tools. We would be delighted to help. With multiple members entirely dedicated to application modernization and digital transformation, with combined decades of experience in a large number of modern technologies, Aligned is ready to assist with your application and infrastructure modernization efforts. With a culture of engagement and a result-oriented approach, our ability to address and control the entire chain of the transformation project allows us to commit ourselves to end-to-end solutions, in long-term partnerships with our customers. We strive for excellence by undertaking a duty of proactive counsel that commits us to the success of your project. [Reach out](/talk/) when you're ready! ### How .NET Application Modernization Can Help Your Business Save Money https://aligned.net/blog/dotnet-application-modernization-can-help-your-business/ — 2021-01-16 Modern .NET application can offer a variety of advantages and bring your business processes up to speed. To survive and prosper in times of turbulence, businesses need to find ways to reinvent themselves. Extending the portfolio, cutting costs, restructuring personnel and operations, or finding new avenues to reach their target customers, are all valid - albeit some of them rather unfortunate – options of trying to weather very difficult market circumstances, such as the ones brought by 2020. But rather than downsizing and cutting costs or firing staff, there are other, more efficient ways of helping the business stay afloat and, hopefully, thrive. One of them is modernizing the old, legacy applications that are still in operation and require highly specialized - hence expensive – staff for maintenance. Instead of arcane applications in operation since the beginning of the internet, modern .NET application can offer a variety of advantages. ## .NET App Modernization: Go To The Next Level With .NET In The Public Cloud Latest releases of the .NET Platform are built with the public cloud in mind. .NET is a first class citizen in all major public cloud platforms (Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform). Modernizing your .NET application opens the door to moving your entire operation to the cloud, with all its benefits. **Lower development cost** The modern .NET application development ecosystem is better than ever. Between great variety of excellent tooling and libraries, the large talent pool of .NET developers, and the .NET support in every major public cloud platform, the efficiency gains in the development process result in drastically lower development costs. **Faster delivery cycles** Modern .NET applications are built as a system of micro-services: self-contained application modules that do one thing well. This results in decreased complexity of the overall solution, enabling faster iteration and experimentation. **Increased security** In the cloud, security is the shared responsibility of the cloud service provider and your IT department. The cloud provider is responsible with securing the infrastructure, while your employees are responsible with securing the applications. This allows your IT department to focus on value-producing tasks specific to your business. **High availability** Given the massive scale and global presence of the cloud, your modern .NET applications can be deployed in several availability zones around the world, closer to your customers. **Lower operational costs** Modern applications are faster and easier to maintain, with tools widely available at lower costs or oftentimes even as open source. In contrast to legacy software and applications, the modernized .NET solutions will cost your business less in terms of operating personnel. The elasticity of the public cloud makes it possible for your operational costs to closely track demand: scale down at night or over the weekend, scale up during working hours. We have a team with combined decades of experience in creating and modernizing .NET applications, and we will be more than happy to share this knowledge with your team. Together, we can work to help your business grow, become more efficient and meet the ever-changing customer demands faster. ### What Is .NET and Why You Should Be Using It to Grow Your Business? https://aligned.net/blog/what-is-dotnet-grow-your-business/ — 2021-01-09 While legacy applications can still be relevant for a business, they often lack the updated performance.In the actual context app modernization becomes a must - do. [.NET](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/learn/dotnet/what-is-dotnet) is a free, cross-platform, and open-source software development platform for building a wide range of applications. You can use multiple languages, editors, libraries, etc. for a rather wide range of applications – from games to IoT – on mobile or desktop alike, while running on Windows, Mac OS X, as well as Linux. It is simple, modern, secure, and robust, making it a cost-effective, ubiquitous choice for modernizing legacy applications. While legacy applications are providing value for a business, they often have sub-optimal performance and employee experience, have security gaps, and are hard to operate and maintain. By modernizing your legacy software through incremental changes, your business can achieve optimal performance and efficiency, without disruptions to operations. Small and medium-sized companies are often the most affected by the depreciation of value provided by their legacy apps, mostly due to lack of on-staff development resources to keep applications and infrastructure current. When an application loses the ability to ensure the continuous delivery of positive experiences to the end user, it also starts hindering the business, rather than supporting it. Conversely, when an application is modernized to fit again with its intended purpose, the development costs are recovered in a short timeframe through the increase in efficiency and productivity, and the reduction of operating costs. Different applications require different strategies, so it is very important to evaluate two fundamental aspects - the relevance of the application for the business and its technical condition. To get the most of the modernization investment, it's recommended to create a strategy and roadmap to improve the app portfolio, reducing overlaps of functionality, eliminating technical limitations, and reducing maintenance costs. ## .NET App Modernization: What Are the Advantages? .NET application modernization empowers companies to get the maximum value from their software development investment, by retaining the core value built into the original, now legacy, application, while simultaneously taking advantage of modern development practices and hosting infrastructure. Nowadays, it is the consumer’s behavior that guides technological investment. This requires fast and safe digital channels to meet a growing online demand. Fast-paced, constant technological changes are the new reality in this digital world. Legacy applications and antiquated technology make it hard and costly to adapt and innovate in this new world. Optimizing and modernizing applications is a fast and effective strategy to open a new world of possibilities for your organization, at the same time reducing operational costs. Aligned is always here to [help you](/talk/) develop and execute your modernization strategy. ### Microsoft .NET App Modernization Updates and Latest News https://aligned.net/blog/dotnet-modernization-updates-and-latest-news/ — 2020-12-11 Over the last few years there has been a sustained effort to improve the cross-platform reach of the .NET Framework, with the release of .NET Core. However, this has resulted in non-uniform support for each platform, making the .NET Framework cumbersome to use. Will the latest release solve the problems and make .NET App Modernization easier? Read about it here! The rapid development of the cross-platform successor to .NET Framework, .NET Core, has enabled organizations to build and deploy .NET applications on Linux and macOS, often in public cloud scenarios. The numerous features added over the last few years to both .NET Core and .NET Standard, resulted in inconsistencies in APIs, languages and tools, depending on whether you are building mobile, cloud, desktop, or IoT applications. ### .Net: Present and Future To address this, last year Microsoft embarked on a journey of unifying the .NET stack and ecosystem. .NET 5 is actually the next version of .NET Core, removing "Core" from the name and skipping version 4.0 to go directly to 5.0. Namely, technologies that were previously only available in traditional .NET Framework and the cross-platform .NET Core will now be living together under one roof, .NET 5 and higher. For Microsoft, this version 5 is a transition step between 4.x and the plans they have for 6.0, building a unified experience for the developers, eliminating the need to download individual components but keeping the availability of block options as needed. The main idea was to improve .NET by obtaining: a single unified NET platform and a single NET runtime that works the same in all systems and offers the same possibilities in all development environments, enabling creation of applications of all types: desktop, mobile, cloud, or IoT, and also expanding .NET Core’s capability to include the best of traditional .NET, Xamarin and even Mono.  The availability for Windows on the ARM64 architecture is one of the novelties of version 5.0, and has much to do with the importance that Microsoft attaches to the launch of Windows 10X. Other new features are the inclusion of version 9 of C# and version 5 of F#, as well as performance improvements in the libraries, especially in the ARM architecture and in areas such as the use of regular expressions, Json serialization and HTTP connections, as well as the inclusion of support for the distribution of software content in a single executable. According to [Microsoft](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-net-5-0/), .NET 5.0 is also already battle-tested, with lower P95 latency, better tools, and better support. This version is also backward compatible with older programs that require an older version of .NET. ## Accelerated App Modernization with .NET 5.0 Microsoft announced last year that they had [stopped adding new features to .NET Framework](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/net-core-is-the-future-of-net/) and [finished adding .NET Framework APIs to .NET Core](https://github.com/dotnet/announcements/issues/130). That means that now is a great time to consider moving .NET Framework apps to .NET Core. For .NET Framework client developers, Windows Forms and WPF are supported with .NET 5.0. and porting from .NET Framework is straightforward. For .NET Framework server applications, adoption of ASP.NET Core is required in order to use .NET 5.0. For Web Forms developers, [Blazor](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/aspnet/asp-net-core-updates-in-net-5-preview-7/) provides a similar developer experience with an efficient and much more modern implementation. WCF server and Workflow users can look to [community projects that are supporting those frameworks](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/supporting-the-community-with-wf-and-wcf-oss-projects/). The [porting from .NET Framework to .NET Core](https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/porting/) doc is a good place to start. It is now easier than ever to modernize your .NET Application in order to take advantage of the increased developer productivity and massive cost reductions that can be achieved by deploying applications on Linux, in the public cloud. **[Contact us](/talk/)** if you have questions about .NET or need help porting your application to .NET 5.0 in your company. We will be happy to give you a helping hand to accelerate progress. ### The COVID-19 Pandemic and .NET Application Modernization https://aligned.net/blog/the-covid-pandemic-and-app-modernization/ — 2020-11-22 The COVID-19 pandemic affected businesses in ways we didn't see before, but opened new opportunities, and App Modernization is one of them. Read all about it here! The global lockdown has encouraged and accelerated experimentation with any number of new organizational practices. The impact of the current has been quite strong, in terms of collective and individual commitment, adaptation, health, the very rapid adoption of new working methods and re-defining management. Companies have been challenged to adjust very quickly to deal with the emergency. ## The Pandemic and App Modernization: A new reality - in IT, too Usually, before modernizing, a company would need to be prepared. From evaluating applications and their dependencies to migrating legacy applications to the cloud as they are, or with minimal changes to the application's code or configuration, from breaking monoliths and re-defining needs, all these usually take space, time, and money. 2020 has all but eliminated the time factor, greatly impacted the money aspect – with many small and medium-sized businesses being left to struggle – and rendered space almost entirely irrelevant as a concern. The challenges came in many shapes and sizes – remote access, fast access, cutting costs, re-evaluating the personnel needs and expectations, adjusting building requirements to the new post-COVID-19 reality. One of the main issues was local dedicated servers that needed to be supervised and maintained in their respective location. With the entire staff under lockdown, more and more companies have been forced to realize that the future lies with managed services in the public cloud. The data in the cloud no longer needs constant monitoring and care, and what maintenance is needed can be delivered from anywhere in the world. This also leads to cost savings. ### .NET App Modernization: Opportunities With the recent release of .NET 5.0, even more applications can be quickly modernized to take advantage of increased developer productivity and significant cost savings enabled by a modern codebase hosted in the public cloud, be it Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, or Google Cloud Platform. The ubiquity of .NET also makes it an attractive development platform to replace legacy software. With many businesses being on the verge of extinction, prohibitive costs for hiring highly specialized staff that is often also irreplaceable is mainly a strategic weakness. Here, at Aligned, we want to help you overcome the challenges posed by the current public health and economic crisis in the most productive and efficient way for your business. 2020 has shown us all that the best kind of risk management will still not be able to predict and cover all the risks. However, you can get your organization in a better position to respond to volatile market conditions by modernizing your applications to easily align development and operational costs with current demand.