WHEN LEGACY BECOMES SYSTEMS

Many professional services firms don’t run their businesses on bad software. They run them on stretched software. Not the payroll app, not the accounting package, not the CRM – those have well-supported off-the-shelf options and replacing them is rarely the real issue. The real risk tends to sit elsewhere. It lives in the overgrown spreadsheet. The ageing Access database. The decades-old FileMaker file holding your operations together with duct tape and hope. These aren’t applications. They’re workarounds that can quietly introduce issues around time, accuracy, security, and scalability.

WHERE BUSINESS-CRITICAL WORKFLOWS REALLY BREAK DOWN

We see it every day inside firms whose reputations depend on precision, confidentiality, and efficiency.

The Spreadsheet That Becomes a System:
What started as a simple table can evolve into the operational center of a team or function.

Over time:
* Cells get overwritten
* Formulas break without anyone knowing
* There’s no access control – everyone can see everything
* Only one person can use it at a time
* The file becomes painfully slow
* Network shares lock the file, corrupt the file, or lose it entirely

It works until one day it doesn’t.
When it fails, teams can be stalled because a critical process lives inside a tool designed for individual use rather than shared operations.

The Legacy Database That Can’t Keep Up
Many firms still run parts of their business on old Access or FileMaker databases that were built years ago by someone who no longer works there.

We see patterns like:
* Database size limits constantly exceeded
* Regular crashes leading to data corruption
* Maintaining outdated and unsupported Operating Systems required just to keep the software alive
* No multi-use capability
* Zero audit trails or logs
* Backup strategies that are optimistic at best

WHY THIS REALLY MATTERS FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

For industries built on accuracy, compliance, and trust, the risks compound quickly:
* Poor data integrity leads to reporting errors
* Security gaps expose sensitive information
* Inefficient manual workflows slow down revenue-generating work
* Operational fragility creates business continuity risks
* Lack of integration means double-handling and human error
When a spreadsheet or legacy database becomes mission-critical, the business has usually outgrown it.

THIS IS WHERE CUSTOM APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT MAKES SENSE

Custom development isn’t about replacing your major platforms – your accounting system, CRM, or payroll. Those have excellent off-the-shelf options. The need for custom solutions usually appears in the spaces between systems:
* The niche workflows unique to your business
* The operational processes too complex for spreadsheets
* The parts of your work that rely on accuracy, security, and repeatability
* The areas where automation could save hours every single week
* The manual tasks staff keep “just doing because there’s no system for this”
This is where a tailored solution creates real competitive advantage.
Sometimes that’s full application. Other times it’s middleware – a smart, secure layer that connects your systems, moves data automatically, enforces controls, and improves reporting. Either way, you’re eliminating the fragility of makeshift tools and replacing them with something built for your business, designed to grow with you.

HOW ISGQ HELPS

At ISGQ, the focus is on understanding:
* How teams work day to day
* Where processes slow down or break
* Where data is duplicated or inconsistently handled
* Which workflows rely on spreadsheets or legacy databases
* How information moves between systems
From this, it becomes clearer what needs modernising, what can remain as-is, and where more structure may be helpful – whether that’s a lightweight application, a replacement for a legacy database, or improved integration between systems.

In many cases, organisations are already relying on tools that function like software, just without the safeguards and structure typically expected of one.