Customized Software Solutions | Vortex Web Innovate

What the Spreadsheet Is Really Costing You

The true cost of your spreadsheet

We can build it for you, and we can make it maintainable by the next team that needs to change it.

Every operations team has a process that is really just exports, macros, and a shared drive and one person who really knows how it all fits together; it works, until it doesn't, which is usually when the volume gets doubled, that person leaves, or an auditor asks how this or that got there.

Generic software often fails to represent this process because the reason it can't be automated is also the reason that it exists in the first place.

Common Engagements

What We're Typically Called In For

Operations Systems

Dispatch, scheduling, inventory, field service, fulfillment, and other systems that keep the business running.

Internal Platforms

The systems and tools the team uses on a daily basis that demand infrequent but critical upgrades.

Legacy Modernization

Critical business systems that need to be changed, but are challenging or risky to update in place.

Workflow Automation

Approval chains, document routing, regulatory compliance, and other rule-based processes that could use an automating hand.

Integration Platforms

The plumbing that connects the ERPs, CRMs, and other systems into a coherent whole.

Migrations

Getting off of a discontinued or unsupported platform without killing the business in the process.

Legacy Modernization Without the Rewrite

Legacy Modernization

A complete rewrite is one of enterprise software's riskiest and most expensive endeavors. It requires taking a team that typically knows little about the legacy product and making them experts overnight. This approach also puts months or years of undocumented behavior at the mercy of a small group of developers who are trying to replicate what works while adding in what the client thinks they need. We take a radically different approach to legacy modernization.

Understand What's Actually There

We start by reading all of the code, tracing the data, and talking to the users to understand what business behaviors actually need to be preserved. Undocumented behaviors are often critical to the business, not just annoying edge cases.

Establish a Safety Net

Characterization tests help turn “it worked before” into something much more rigorous and measurable for the future.

Create a Seam

An API facade, event bus, or other integration point lets the legacy and next generation systems run side by side.

Move One Capability at a Time

Each capability is moved, tested, and released to production before starting on the next.

Decommission Based on Evidence

The old stack is only shut down when it has been proven to be unnecessary, not because it was the plan.

The result is months of value in production rather than months of waiting for a rewrite to finish, with a decision point after every capability rather than after a single rewrite project, which puts your business at far less risk.

What We Build

We build custom software around the way that your business works.

Web applications and internal platforms

Operations, scheduling, and resource management systems

Workflow and approval engines with full audit trails

Document management systems with retention controls

Reporting and analytics interfaces

Integration layers, event buses, and middleware

Desktop applications and back office systems that require a richer user experience than a browser

Data migration and reconciliation tools

Technology Stack

Technology stack

The technology stack is flexible, but we tend to use common frameworks and platforms so that the resulting systems are simple to operate and maintain.

Backend: .NET

Java

Spring

Node.js

Python

Go

PHP

Laravel
Frontend: React

Next.js

TypeScript

Angular

Vue
Data: SQL Server

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Oracle

MongoDB

Redis
Integration: REST

GraphQL

gRPC

Kafka

RabbitMQ

webhooks

EDI
Cloud: AWS

Azure

GCP

on-premises where regulation requires it
Enterprise Platforms: SAP

Oracle

Dynamics 365

Salesforce

ServiceNow

SharePoint

Power Platform

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Buy when the process is generic and the product is mature. Payroll, accounting, and other financial functions are typically bought, not built. Build when the process is competitive or when integration costs outweigh the cost of the license. If the product demands a change in the way you work that is more expensive than building it yourself, you should definitely build. We'll be totally honest when buying is the right answer. This may mean less work for us, but a good relationship is worth more than a single project.

It usually stays up and running while we migrate around it. Rewrite-and-cutover approaches are rarely necessary.

You do. We provide our tools for free, but expect you to host them wherever you want.

That's the whole point. We'll use common frameworks and document everything to industry standards so that your team can make simple changes on an ongoing basis. We provide handover training and documentation. If you want us to maintain it, we can discuss an ongoing support and operations agreement.

They invariably will. That's why we work in two-week increments. Any changes can be made at the end of each iteration without slowing you down.

Build Around Your Business, Not the Other Way Around

Your software should support the way that your team works, not dictate how they do their job. Whether you need to modernize a legacy platform, migrate data, connect systems, or build an internal platform, we help you build software that grows with your business.

Start with an assessment of what you have

Two weeks. We read the system, map the dependencies, and hand you a written view of what's sound, what's a risk, and what modernization would actually cost.

Book a Technical Discovery Call

The true cost of your spreadsheet