Modernize legacy applications, spreadsheets, Access databases, and department tools. Axon Active’s legacy application modernization services use AI-assisted analysis, documentation, and migration to rebuild critical software as modern, cloud-native applications.
The problem
Legacy tools nobody has time to rebuild
Across almost every organization, small business-critical applications have accumulated over the years — tools built to solve an immediate need. They keep running. Nobody has time to rebuild them. A conventional rewrite was never economical for any single tool, so they stayed as they were.
15 years of formulas
Excel workbooks with accumulated logic layered in by people no longer with the company. Every quarter, someone prays nothing changes.
Databases nobody touches
Access files holding customers, orders, inventory. Version control? None. Backup? Whatever the last person remembered.
Macros routing work
VBA scripts moving work between teams — undocumented, unowned. Every Windows update becomes a coin flip.
Aged web apps
A homegrown intranet tool from 2012. Runs on a server nobody wants to reboot. IT knows about it; IT doesn’t own it.
They work until they don't. And when they don't, the business stops.
A permanent risk category: too small to modernize, too critical to lose.
AI-powered legacy modernization makes the economics work
Advances in AI-assisted engineering have fundamentally changed the modernization math. What used to be an uneconomical rewrite can now be delivered quickly, reliably, and at a price point that makes modernization commercially viable — even for small, department-level applications.
This is not about theoretical AI capability. It’s about the specific economics of production-grade rebuilds. Our AI-augmented software development team uses AI-assisted engineering across every phase — requirements capture, target architecture, code generation, test scaffolding, and hardening — with a human engineer accountable for every decision.
Dominik Frank Sauter
Branch Director · Axon Active
AI is no longer just a buzzword in our SDLC; it is fundamentally reshaping how we deliver value to our clients. What excites me most isn't just the raw speed — it's the shift in our engineering mindset.
HOW IT WORKS
Three phases, from free discovery to managed operations
Discovery is free. Redevelopment is fixed-price. Managed operations are optional and monthly.
Discovery, effort estimation & proposal
A Sales Lead takes a structured inventory of your existing application: its purpose, data structures, business logic, integrations, usage patterns, and known limitations. A Project Manager with Business Analysis skills then defines the target scope and produces a detailed effort estimate.
The outcome: a fixed-price, fixed-scope proposal for the redevelopment, with an indicative monthly rate for ongoing operations if you’d like us to host and manage the application.
OWNER
Sales Lead + Project Manager / Business Analyst
Commercial model
Free of charge
Timeline
5–10 business days. No fee. No commitment beyond a review conversation.
AI-powered redevelopment & client acceptance
Our AI-augmented software development team re-engineers your application on a modern technical foundation, using AI-assisted development to achieve the speed and cost efficiency that make fixed-price delivery possible.
The team works iteratively with your business owners and closes the phase with formal client acceptance against the agreed scope.
You receive:a cloud-native application, source code, documentation, deployment configuration, and a signed acceptance record. Cloud-hosted on our platform, or delivered to your own infrastructure if you prefer to self-host.
Owner
AI-Augmented Software Development Team
Commercial model
Fixed price per application
Timeline
4–12 weeks depending on scope.
Managed application services in the cloud
After client acceptance, our DevOps & Cloud Services team can take over day-to-day operations of the application in the cloud: hosting, monitoring, patching, backups, and ongoing minor support.
Billed as a fixed monthly fee for as long as you keep the application hosted with us. You can cancel at any time — or skip this phase entirely if you prefer to run the application on your own infrastructure from day one.
Owner
DevOps & Cloud Team
Commercial model
Fixed monthly fee
Commitment
Month-to-month. Cancel any time. Fully optional.
SECURITY & COMPLIANCE
Every engagement runs under our ISO 27701-certified ISMS
NDA, DPA, and SCC templates ready before you sign. 100% of intellectual property assigned to you. Continuous certification by TÜV Rheinland since 2018 — 13 external audits, 100% pass rate.
If a tool is business-critical, used by fewer than 100 people, and never got the engineering attention it deserved — it’s exactly what this service is designed for.
.xlsx → web app
Spreadsheets with embedded logic
Excel workbooks with formulas, macros, and pivot tables that entire teams depend on.
.accdb → cloud DB
Access databases
Desktop databases with hundreds of records, custom forms, and multi-user workarounds.
.vba → web service
Macros & VBA tools
Macros & VBA tools — VBA scripts and Office macros with narrow user bases but critical roles.
.exe / VB6 → web app
Legacy desktop applications
Legacy desktop applications — VB6, .NET Forms, or similar aged desktop codebases.
.php / .cfm → cloud app
Department-level web apps
Homegrown intranet tools and PHP or ColdFusion apps from earlier eras.
workflow → web app
SharePoint or Lotus Notes workflow apps
Approval routing, forms, and document workflows built on older collaboration platforms.
Enterprise scale
Running something bigger?
Mainframe migrations, ERP replacements, and multi-thousand-user platforms need a different engagement model: a long-term team that carries the system over years, not a fixed-price rebuild measured in weeks. That’s what our dedicated software development team is built for.
Deployed on production-grade infrastructure — not a laptop or shared drive.
Modern web interface
Browser-accessible, mobile-responsive, no software to install.
Role-based access control
Authentication, permissions, and an audit log of who did what and when.
Data migration
Every record from the source application, validated against the original.
Backups & disaster recovery
Automated — no more “the file got corrupted” scenarios.
Documentation
Technical and user-facing, current and maintained.
FIXED-PRICE
Why fixed-price application modernization works
Traditional consulting rewrites break down at small scale because the estimating uncertainty exceeds the project value. Two weeks of scoping meetings for a three-month build doesn't work when the whole project is worth tens of thousands of dollars. Our model works differently.
Discovery is free
We do the scoping work at our cost, so you get a real fixed price without paying for the estimation phase.
AI delivery removes the padding
Traditional rewrites carried 40–60% contingency because rework was expensive. AI-assisted engineering makes rework cheap — we price closer to the actual delivery effort.
Shared team spreads capacity risk
Our team works across multiple client applications in parallel — no idle time between engagements, so no idle-time cost passed to you.
Ops is opt-in and monthly
No multi-year hosting contracts. Take operations in-house whenever you’re ready.
Related Services
Explore our other services
AI-First Software Engineering
Engineering that leads with AI. Delivery that keeps humans accountable. Four practice areas — BUILD AI products, EVOLVE existing software, MODERNIZE legacy, TRANSFORM engineering — under one AI-first operating model.
We build AI features that ship to production: LLM integrations, RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, multimodal document intelligence, and enterprise AI automations — governed for regulated industries.
Accelerate delivery with AI-augmented software development from Axon Active — AI tools, experienced engineers, and human oversight for production software.
Since we started our collaboration in mid-2025, the Axon Active team has become a genuine extension of our engineering organization at Bark. What began as an overflow team has grown into the owner of our Acquisition domain and the MarTech stack behind it. Despite the significant time zone gap and our mostly asynchronous way of working, the team has stayed focused on delivery and ensuring our requirements are properly understood. Their growing sense of ownership, technical leadership, and engineering judgment has steadily deepened our trust in them. What stands out most is the quality of the people. We’ve developed a great connection with the team, and every Bark colleague who has visited their office has returned with renewed excitement about the collaboration.
Legacy application modernization is the process of rebuilding older, business-critical software — spreadsheets, Access databases, macros, aged web applications — on modern technical foundations, typically cloud-native.
It was historically too expensive for small applications; AI-engineered delivery has changed the economics.
What kinds of applications do you modernize?
We focus on small, business-critical tools: spreadsheets with embedded business logic, Access databases, VBA macros, department-level web apps, and legacy desktop applications.
Typically used by fewer than 100 people, but critical to daily operations.
For enterprise-scale legacy migration (mainframe, ERP), see our dedicated development team engagement model.
How much does application modernization cost?
Application modernization is priced as a fixed fee per application, defined during the free discovery phase.
The final price depends on scope: data volume, business logic complexity, integrations, and security requirements.
How long does modernization take?
Thanks to AI-assisted delivery, discovery takes days (not weeks), and redevelopment takes weeks (not months), depending on scope. Managed operations is optional and ongoing after delivery — for as long as you choose to keep the application hosted with us.
Do we have to use your cloud hosting?
No. Managed application services (Phase 3) are optional. You can take the modernized application and host it on your own infrastructure. We provide source code, deployment scripts, and documentation either way.
What happens if we want to take operations back in-house later?
You can, at any time. We hand over the running application with full documentation, current backups, and a knowledge-transfer session. No lock-in, no exit fees. Managed operations are month-to-month.
How is this different from a traditional consulting rewrite?
Three differences:
A fixed price defined upfront, not time-and-materials with estimation uncertainty.
AI-engineered delivery makes small-app rewrites economically viable — traditional consulting firms typically decline small projects.
A shared team model keeps delivery costs and lead times low.
Is our data secure during modernization?
Yes. All modernization projects run under our ISO 27701-certified ISMS. NDA, DPA, and EU SCC (2021/914, Module 2) templates are ready before you sign. Data migration runs in secure environments — no client data on developer laptops. See our full Security & Compliance posture.
Do you replace the old application immediately, or run both in parallel?
It depends on the application. For low-risk tools, we typically run old and new in parallel for 2–4 weeks so users can verify the new application against the old, then decommission the legacy tool.
