A system overhaul is a major project that can cause many sleepless nights. Should the system be built in-house or based on ready-made solutions? How can you ensure that both the budget and schedule stay on track – and that day-to-day business continues as usual during the transition?
Sooner or later, nearly all large enterprises face the need for a system overhaul. This is because technology evolves rapidly, and old solutions often no longer provide sufficient performance or integration capabilities – and come with increased security risks. Additionally, those working with aging technologies are aging too. Thus, the labor market may no longer offer enough deep expertise.
Initiating the overhaul, selecting the right partner, and choosing the implementation method carry significant responsibility. Horror stories of prolonged or abandoned system projects understandably haunt decision-makers – as do the potential impacts of foundational updates, from employee onboarding to disruptions in sales.
At Taiste, we have carried out a full ERP overhaul for the international fast food chain Hesburger, growing their revenue and staying on schedule. What's more, all this was done by a small but efficient team. In this blog post, we’ll share our perspectives on the key prerequisites for success when choosing to build a custom solution from scratch.
Having your own tech team during a system overhaul is especially beneficial in terms of scalability, collaboration, and focus.
By scalability, we mean designing the system to be easily extendable from the ground up. This allows us to focus on delivering the most important features for the client in order of priority, releasing them one by one. We cannot stress this enough: a cost-effective system overhaul cannot be built by working on all parts simultaneously.
Instead, the new system should be rolled out module by module, with the old system running alongside it as before. This keeps the release cycle fast and provides continuous feedback from the field. This is important because no test environment can fully simulate real-world use cases.
Surprises can’t always be avoided – the key is being ready to react quickly, understanding that every second can be costly.
The principle of collaboration means genuinely involving all user groups in the design process. This includes continuous co-design workshops and pilots where development ideas flow between the implementers and company representatives. Ultimately, the users know their work environment best—their insights are absolutely essential for success.
Focus means avoiding noise in all situations. A jointly created, regularly updated (and agile if needed) roadmap helps developers stay focused on what truly matters. The overall vision must be shared across the entire team, and it’s just as much about deciding what to build as it is about deciding what not to.
Large-scale technology projects often result in a situation where the buyer is effectively locked into working with a single vendor. That’s why we favour open-source code – it allows the client to switch partners if the results aren’t satisfactory. For the same reason, we also only use well-established technologies that have long-term support and a strong talent pool.
When building systems, there’s rarely a need to have the entire team working all at once. A phased roadmap means we can flexibly allocate the right experts for each specific stage of development.
Smooth business operations must remain reliable even after the system modules are actively in use. Surprises can’t always be avoided – the key is being ready to react quickly, understanding that every second can be costly.
Ongoing monitoring can be handled effectively even with a small team, using powerful tools and on-call shifts. In the case of Hesburger, we built a custom maintenance portal that sends automatic alerts whenever a system component needs special attention. It also manages devices and updates across the entire organization. A dedicated Sentry system collects error reports in one place, significantly speeding up the investigation process.
When executed properly, a custom system overhaul offers an efficient and adaptive way to build even large-scale systems with a small team of experts. Every component of the system is designed to precisely meet the needs of the client organization, reducing bloat and enabling smart, phased development.
With the right conditions in place, a system overhaul doesn’t have to be a multi-year blood-pressure-raising ordeal – it can be an inspiring journey, with results visible in both revenue and employee satisfaction from the very first module release.
Is your company looking for a partner for a system overhaul? Get in touch – we’d love to hear about your needs!
