The Stepping Stone Approach: Why Incremental Low-Code Development Delivers Better Results

We live in a world where technology is constantly changing, but the leaps in digital capability over the past decade have been truly incredible. In this environment, many organisations struggle to keep up with new opportunities. 

For those leaders looking to the future, the appeal of completely rewriting core business systems is powerful, promising a fresh start with modern architecture, enhanced capabilities, and a clearer pathway to future innovation based on solid foundations. But is that the right solution?

Many organisations feel trapped; knowing they need to modernise their systems, they’re unable to justify the significant risks and costs associated with complete rebuilds. This creates a dilemma: how can you embrace innovation without disrupting critical business operations or draining valuable resources? 

The reality is that many legacy applications continue to deliver core business value. Their primary shortcoming isn’t functionality—it’s flexibility. They weren’t designed for today’s pace of change or integration needs. But that doesn’t mean they need to be discarded entirely.

Low-code development offers a more practical alternative: incremental transformation. This approach allows you to modernise business-critical processes in stages, starting with what matters most to your organisation, reducing both cost and risk along the way.

In this article, we’re going to consider how to Extend, Refactor, and Rebuild low-code solutions to extend the functionality and lifespan of your legacy systems.

Legacy system modernisation through gradual IT transformation

Low-code development allows updates to legacy systems without the need for expensive and time-consuming rewrites by building applications that interface with them. Through graphical user interfaces, drag-and-drop components, and model-driven logic, you can improve portals and interfaces, update tools and integrate systems that otherwise couldn’t communicate.

Extend: Modern Interfaces for Legacy Strength

When your core system still works but doesn’t meet user expectations, extending it with low-code can improve efficiency and experience without disturbing the backend. We’ve discussed human-centred workspaces before, examining the importance of developing systems that work for people rather than forcing people to work around them.

Use cases:

• Customer Service: A branded self-service portal that pulls live data from your CRM or ticketing systems will make managing enquiries more user-friendly and efficient.

• HR: Mobile access to processes such as onboarding and absence requests, as well as access to legacy systems through user-facing apps.

• Finance: Expense apps can integrate with legacy accounting platforms, providing a better user experience and more flexibility.

  
  

What might this look like in reality? Imagine your finance team is given an extension to their legacy ERP system in the form of a lightweight dashboard for approvals and invoicing. This interface enhances the user experience at the front end while also providing improved functionality by updating communication options and giving stakeholders visibility. All this without requiring any alterations to the ERP itself.

Refactor: Modular Change Without Full Rebuild

Many legacy systems inhibit change but can’t be replaced. These systems remain fundamental to your business, but their technical limitations and rigidity create barriers to development. Low-code enables the extraction and rebuilding of critical components one by one, to allow a shift towards a modular architecture.

Use cases:

• Operations: Systems may benefit from refactoring legacy scheduling logic into reusable microservices.

• Compliance: Extract audit and reporting functions for cloud-based delivery and automation.

• Product/IT: Core workflows can be moved into maintainable, cloud-native components.

How would you see this in your organisation? The operations team might migrate their outdated manual scheduling workflows into a low-code web app connected to legacy systems in the background. This will improve uptime and give users a better interface, modernising your infrastructure one layer at a time.

Rebuild: When the Time is Right

Many legacy apps are outdated, unsupported, and overly customised; rebuilding them with low-code gives organisations the opportunity to reduce long-term maintenance costs and improve agility.

Use cases:

• HR: Build internal portals with low-code to access and maintain benefits, learning, or performance tracking operations.

• Sales: Replace your legacy product catalogue with a mobile-ready quoting tool.

• Facilities: Create low-code systems to provide modern asset tracking and maintenance scheduling tools.

Real-life examples might include the rebuild of your HR system's internal employee portal to integrate learning, development, and performance management. With low-code, the team can deliver this in months, not years, and avoid vendor lock-in.

Why Low-Code Development Fits Enterprise Modernisation

Low-code helps business and IT teams collaborate effectively, enabling the rapid delivery of apps and interfaces, strong integration with legacy and SaaS systems, and agility for iterative change with minimal disruption.

For organisations reliant on old technology, this kind of legacy system modernisation provides ongoing and cumulative benefits without the need to take systems out of action or invest huge resources into development and testing. 

It’s a policy that supports a business-minded, ongoing transformation strategy, not a one-time migration project.

Modernise What Matters, When It Matters

The fact is, not every system needs a rebuild. Low-code enables you to modernise at your pace, on your terms, with:

• Faster results

• Lower cost

• Minimal risk

In our previous article, Essential Steps for Improving Digital Experiences, we explored how to start this process by clarifying your current setup, understanding user needs, and looking ahead to the future. The low-code solution we’ve considered here provides another option to support this modernisation.

As technology continues to develop at this incredible pace, the organisations that thrive won't be those with perfect systems—they'll be those with the agility to adapt. 

Low-code development provides you with both the tools and the methodology for this adaptive approach. By embracing incremental transformation, you're not just solving today's challenges with legacy systems; you're building a solid foundation for sustainable innovation that will support your business into the future.

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About the Author

I'm Terry Chana. I am an innovation strategist that connects customer, employee and brand experiences. My passion lies in building ecosystems to solve business problems by combining creativity and technology.