Enterprise Application Modernisation & ERP Consulting

Making a legacy ERP agent-ready is primarily an integration problem, not a replacement problem. AI agents need to be able to query and write to your ERP in real time — which requires either a well-documented API layer or a purpose-built integration service. Most legacy ERPs (SAP, older Dynamics versions, Tally) don't expose clean APIs by default; some require middleware (MuleSoft, Azure Integration Services, custom API gateways) to make their data accessible to external systems. The practical steps: (1) audit what your ERP exposes today — which entities, which operations, with what latency; (2) build an API layer that translates your ERP's data model into a clean, versioned interface your agents can call; (3) add event streaming for real-time data (Kafka, Azure Event Hub, or AWS EventBridge) so agents can react to ERP state changes rather than polling. We scope this integration architecture during the discovery sprint and implement it as a defined, testable layer — so your AI investment isn't blocked by data access.

Each has a different fit depending on company size, industry, and existing technology footprint. SAP Business One or SAP S/4HANA Cloud is the right call when you need deep manufacturing or supply chain modules, are planning international expansion requiring multi-currency/multi-entity consolidation, or are in an industry where SAP is the de facto standard (automotive, chemicals, pharma). Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the right call when your team already lives in Microsoft 365, you want a low-friction integration with Azure and Power Platform, or you're a services or D2C business without complex manufacturing requirements. Oracle NetSuite is the right call for growing mid-market businesses with multi-entity, multi-currency requirements — particularly strong for professional services, distribution, and software companies that need consolidated financial reporting across subsidiaries. Oracle ERP Cloud suits larger enterprises with complex procurement, finance, and project management needs. We scope platform selection during the discovery sprint and give you a direct recommendation based on your specific workload, not vendor partnerships.

Modernisation can mean different things depending on the current state. For a monolith being broken into microservices: the process is domain decomposition (identifying bounded contexts), strangler-fig migration (wrapping existing functionality progressively, not big-bang rewrite), API gateway introduction, and data store separation. For a legacy Java EE or .NET Framework application being moved to modern runtimes: containerisation, framework upgrade, dependency audit, and cloud deployment. For a data model that wasn't designed for AI: schema normalisation, CDC (change data capture) pipeline introduction, and API layer over the cleaned data. The right approach depends on why the system needs to be modernised — cost, scalability, AI readiness, or integration complexity. We define the target state and migration path during the discovery sprint, with a risk register that tells you what could break and how we'd handle it.

This is highly dependent on the size and complexity of the existing system, and what 'done' means. A focused API-enablement project (adding a clean REST API over a legacy system without changing the core) takes 6–10 weeks. A full monolith-to-microservices decomposition for a mid-size system takes 6–12 months depending on team size and the number of bounded contexts. A framework migration (Python 2 to 3, .NET Framework to .NET 8, Java EE to Spring Boot) without business logic changes typically takes 4–8 weeks for a medium-sized codebase. The discovery sprint (2 weeks, fixed price) produces a precise estimate for your specific system — including a risk register for the migration and a recommendation on migration path (rewrite vs. refactor vs. wrap).

An ERP implementation takes an existing platform (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle) and configures it to fit your business processes — defining workflows, setting up master data, integrating with other systems, and training your team. The software already exists; the work is configuration, integration, and change management. Custom enterprise application development builds something that doesn't exist: a bespoke application for a specific business process where no off-the-shelf product fits well enough. Custom development is justified when: your process is genuinely unique and a standard ERP would require so much customisation that it becomes unmaintainable; you need a purpose-built tool that connects multiple systems in a way no packaged product supports; or you're building a competitive differentiator (a proprietary logistics platform, a custom risk engine) that you don't want to run on a vendor's infrastructure. For most operational workflows, a well-implemented ERP is faster and cheaper than custom software. We give you a direct recommendation in the discovery sprint.

Pricing follows the engagement model. Discovery sprints are fixed-price for a fixed timebox. Build engagements are scoped after discovery — fixed-scope, time-and-materials, or outcome-linked. Managed services are billed monthly with defined SLAs. Total cost depends on scope, integration complexity, QA depth, and post-launch support — we publish a transparent breakdown for buyers evaluating their options.

Every engagement starts with a fixed-scope, fixed-price discovery sprint — typically 2 weeks. You leave with a written roadmap, risk register, cost estimate, and timeline before committing to a build. We then offer four engagement models: fixed-scope builds, time-and-materials, outcome-linked retainers, and managed services post-launch. If discovery doesn't justify proceeding, you can stop there — no obligation.