In my 30 years as a systems analyst, I have seen dozens of plants in Blumenau and the region fall into the same trap: believing that, to innovate, you must “blow up” the current system and start from scratch with a new ERP. The result? Projects that last for years, blow budgets and often deliver less fit to the factory process than the old system, already tuned by decades of use.
The “Outdated System” Fallacy
A system written in COBOL, VB6 or C is not necessarily “old”; it is stable. What makes it a problem is not the language, but its isolation. The strategic error is not in the legacy code, but in that code’s inability to “talk” to the outside world — mobile, BI and modern APIs.
The “Modern Shell” Strategy (Layered Modernization)
Instead of the prohibitive cost of a radical migration, the approach I defend at 42dev focuses on three technical pillars:
- Encapsulation: create API layers that extract intelligence from the legacy database without compromising the integrity of the original transaction.
- Interface extensibility: keep the “engine” (business rules) where it is, but move the “cockpit” to the web and to the manager’s smartphone.
- Knowledge sustainability: map and document business rules that today live only “inside” the code, securing the company’s technological succession.
For mid-sized industry, systemic efficiency does not come from a million-dollar software license invoice, but from an intelligent architecture that respects the company’s history and solves today’s bottlenecks. Innovation is, above all, software engineering applied to the business — not technology fashion.
I always say that technology must serve the business, not the other way around. If you face this dilemma in your operation and want to exchange ideas on how to apply this layered modernization view to your structure, I am available for a technical coffee.
I believe that strengthening the dialogue between software engineering and industrial management is what moves our ecosystem here in the Valley.
