Top 5 Reasons to Rewrite Your Application

1. Tons of integrations are available!

Companies are moving to cloud services at a record rate. Many companies now have several different cloud solutions.

For example:

• SalesForce.com as a CRM
• Quickbooks Online as an accounting package
• Dynamics 365 as an ERP package
• Monday.com for project management

Most custom applications need to integrate with these cloud solutions. For example, if your application uses the customer list, that list should load from the CRM package and not a separate table of customers. There should be one source of truth for all company data so it is imperative that custom applications can access cloud technologies. Older technologies are just not built to work with cloud APIs in a secure and efficient manner.

2. Cyber Security is Important!

If you are using a custom web application that is more than 5 years old, there is a good chance it is not secure from cyberattacks. New methods to hack into websites are constantly developed and the web applications need to be able to keep up with the threats that compromise your data.

3. Your application can be deployed to the cloud!

As companies migrate their technologies to the cloud, the number of servers hosted in-house starts to dwindle. It won’t be long before a single in-house server is dedicated for the purpose of running the one custom application.

The cloud provides the ability to host an application without the headaches and maintenance of an in-house server. Once hardware, labor and maintenance are considered, hosting your application in the cloud is a much less expensive and labor-intensive approach.

Applications written using current programming technologies can be deployed directly to the cloud as an application service. Unfortunately, older technologies cannot be deployed to the cloud without setting up an entire virtual server—which is much more expensive than using an application service.

4. Your application can be used anywhere on any device!

Many custom applications are written as Windows applications which means they need to be installed on each PC. Until recently, web applications did not provide the features that a Windows application could provide. As a result, Windows applications were a better choice for managing applications that worked with lots of data. New web technologies have emerged that allow programmers to build robust web applications that were not possible several years ago.

Why is this important? Windows applications are a hassle to set up for remote users. They either require the user to use their work computer and VPN into the office or run the application through their remote desktop. Both solutions can result in significant performance issues which cost time and money.

Web applications are lightweight and can be used from any device that has a web browser and an Internet connection. This includes desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

5. Single Sign-on!

As more and more cloud technologies are used, each employee is required to manage several usernames and passwords for the CRM, ERP and other solutions. Your custom application may also fall into that list.  Many older applications use a login table to keep track of users, their passwords and their rights within the application.

New technologies have the ability to automatically authenticate users by either using their Windows credentials or the credentials from another solution, thus eliminating the requirement to keep track of another set of passwords. In addition, many modern applications can use Active Directory to manage security within the application. That means that if a user needs access to an application, the IT department just needs to add the user to an AD group and the user is in. This is a very simple approach with centralized authorization handled in Active Directory where it belongs.

There are several good arguments for rewriting applications. If you think you or your business could benefit an Application Assessment from SCS is a great place to start. Learn more here. Feel free to contact us with any questions you might have!