Overview

Legacy enterprise applications often become a bottleneck as the business expands and grows. If they are built on outdated architectures or tightly coupled technologies, they struggle to support modern scalability, integration, and performance requirements.

Around 70% of the IT budgets go towards maintaining legacy systems; however, this ongoing maintenance rarely delivers new business value. That’s why, 87% of business leaders believe that application modernization is essential to grow and succeed.

One of our clients, a leading investment management organization, had an extensive call center desktop application which had to be upgraded. That’s why the client collaborated with the DivIniSoft team for the system conversion service. Let’s see how we helped the client modernize the application and saved their expenses.

Challenges

The client’s call center operations played a critical role in handling investor inquiries, account management, and time-sensitive financial interactions. And since the existing call center desktop application had been in use for over 20 years and was deeply embedded into daily operations, it was used by several users across different locations. So, it was difficult to modify, scale, or replace without disrupting business operations.

However, with time, the legacy call center application started to introduce operational risks and increase the maintenance costs. For example:

  • The application’s outdated software was more susceptible to cyber-attacks because it didn’t have up-to-date security measures to protect against new-age attacks.
  • It was extremely inefficient or slow when compared to the growing call volumes and expanding investor services. If there are no upgrades, the software slows down over time.
  • Incompatibility was another issue, because older systems and newer systems don’t integrate very well together.

Besides, it was difficult to find specialists with expertise in outdated software technology on which the software was based on, so the senior manager in charge thought of modernizing the application. It was the only solution that would be comprehensive, easily customizable, and less expensive to maintain long-term.

Our Strategy

Our team of IT experts and consultants analyzed the existing application, and we presented the client with a clear, strategic modernization plan:

  • A detailed roadmap for transitioning to a Java based web application
  • Proposed an optimal team structure to improve efficiency
  • Project cost estimates for immediate and long-term goals

Our Implementation

The entire plan consisted of three phases and based on our analysis and knowledge of the client’s current state, we presented our plan. Here’s how we executed the legacy application modernization:

Phase 1: Architecture Setup and Legacy Decoupling

Based on the approved modernization roadmap, the team worked on the target platform architecture and set up the core application framework. We analyzed the legacy components at code level to find tightly coupled modules, dependencies, and integration points. Then, we introduced interfaces to decouple legacy logic, enabling parallel development without disrupting the current operations.

Phase 2: Incremental Migration and Feature Modernization

The team started working on modernizing the applications in iterations using Agile Scrum methodology with 2-week sprints. High-impact modules such as call handling, investor data access, and transaction workflows were re-engineered and migrated to the new platform. APIs were introduced to enable seamless data exchange with newer enterprise systems to improve interoperability and reduce the reliance on legacy applications. At the end of each sprint, our team did a sprint demo for the client, gathering valuable feedback and incorporating any feedback or adjustments in an iterative manner.

Phase 3: System Integration, Performance Optimization, and Rollout

In the final phase, the modernized components were fully integrated with downstream systems, including CRM, data, and security platforms. Our testing team conducted functional testing, regression testing of backend API’s using RestClient with Cucumber (BDD), regression testing of Web UI using Selenium with Cucumber (BDD), performance testing, and security testing to ensure the new application meets the industry standards. The upgraded call center application was then rolled out to production.

Business Outcomes

Reduced operational risks by eliminating old technologies.

Reduced security and compliance risks through modern security practices

Slashed average call handling time by 40% due to faster workflows and fewer system delays.

Improved system stability, resulting in fewer outages and disruptions.

The faster application response time improved agent productivity and streamlined call handling.

Annual maintenance costs were lowered by 50%

Tech Stack

Java, Spring Boot, RESTful APIs, SQL Server, RestClient, Selenium (using BDD)

Conclusion

By modernizing the legacy call center application with a structured, agile based approach, DivIniSoft helped the client reduce operational risk, improve system performance, and prepare their platform for long-term scalability. The entire plan was implemented as per the timeline in an Agile manner. Our deep experience in system conversion and enterprise-grade application modernization using Agile approach ensured a smooth transition without disrupting critical call center operations.