Legacy software support and maintenance
Solve With Software supports and maintains legacy business systems that the original developer or supplier no longer looks after: VB6, Microsoft Access, .NET Framework, SQL Server, old PHP, and recent stacks whose agency has stopped replying. We take the system over, make it safe to change, and keep it running. Modernisation comes in stages, when you want it and not before.
Free · 1 hour · no obligation
Who it's for
Your software still works. What it doesn't have is anyone behind it. The developer retired. The supplier stopped supporting the version you run, or stopped trading. The one person who understood it has moved on. So it does its job every day, and nobody touches it.
Support means someone to call, and a system that has been made safe to change: for the Windows update, the server restart, the new starter who needs an account, the report a customer asks for that it can't produce.
What supporting a legacy system involves
Stabilise first. Then maintain. Modernise only when you choose to.
- Stabilise. Get the source code under version control, or recover it if it's missing. Make sure there's a backup and that it restores. Write down how the system is built and deployed, so that knowledge no longer sits with one person. Fix anything that's failing now.
- Maintain. Fixes, small changes, new users, reports, the occasional integration. Keep it on supported infrastructure, or plan the move before the infrastructure it runs on reaches end of life.
- Modernise, in stages, when you want to. Once the system is stable and understood, modernising it stops being a leap. New screens over the same data, an API, AI features where they pay back. Each stage priced before you commit to it. Or leave it as it is, supported, for as long as it serves you.
What we can support
Most of what UK businesses run on.
- The old guard: Visual Basic 6, Microsoft Access, Delphi, FoxPro, Classic ASP, WinForms, .NET Framework and Web Forms, SQL Server from 2000 onwards, Crystal Reports, Sage integrations, and the spreadsheet that runs everything.
- The new legacy: React, Angular, Node, PHP and Laravel, .NET Core, Bubble, Power Apps, and apps left half-finished in Lovable, Replit or Cursor.
If yours isn't on the list, ask. The consultation is free and takes an hour.
You don't have to replace it
Support can be the whole engagement. Plenty of systems are sound and neglected, which is a different thing from broken. If the assessment says the sensible course is to keep it running, we'll say so and quote for that. Modernisation is an option the report puts a price on, not a condition of being supported.
What it costs
Support is priced by the assessment, so the price fits the system. It starts with a free consultation and a legacy system assessment from £395 + VAT. That's where the system gets understood, and where the stabilisation work is scoped and given a fixed price.
Once a first stage of work is done, the care plan applies: 18% of that stage's cost a year, covering support, hosting, small changes and priority access. Monthly by direct debit, 30 days' notice to cancel. Work outside the agreed scope is quoted before you commit to it, at £850 a day. The full terms are on the pricing page.
How it starts
A free consultation, then the assessment, then a stabilisation stage. On the consultation we go through what the system does, what's failing and what you need from support. The assessment produces a written report with the risks and a fixed price for making the system safe to change. That first stage is where support begins: source control, backups, documentation, and whatever is broken now.
The risks of running unsupported software
Two kinds. Dates in the calendar, and knowledge that lives in one place.
Windows Server 2016 support ends in January 2027. SQL Server 2016 security updates ended in July 2026 for most licence holders. The analogue phone lines some systems still dial, fax or alert over are switched off in January 2027. A system can run for years without incident and become a problem on one of those dates.
The other risk is concentration. If one person holds the knowledge, the passwords or the only copy of the code, the first job of support is to change that: the code in version control, the build written down, the passwords in a vault the business controls.
How we approach it
One accountable lead, open technology, and nothing changed until it's understood. The person you speak to on the consultation leads the work. Anything we build or change runs on open, widely used technology, in your own accounts, with full source code and ownership transferring to you on final payment. The old system stays available as a fallback until you say otherwise.
What a support arrangement includes
The care plan is a published product, not a bespoke retainer, so its terms are the same for every client:
- Support for the system as documented in the assessment report and the first stage of work.
- Hosting, where we host it, on supported infrastructure.
- Small changes: a new report, a new field, a new user role, agreed as part of the plan.
- Priority access to the lead developer who did the work.
- Price: 18% of the first stage's cost a year, monthly by direct debit, 30 days' notice to cancel.
- Outside the plan: quoted before you commit, at £850 a day.
Before any of that, the assessment produces a written report with the system's risks and a fixed price for the stabilisation stage.
Questions
What people ask before they book.
Can you support a system you didn't build?
Yes. That's most of what we do. The assessment is how we get to know it: a few days inside the system with the people who use it, reading the code and whatever documentation exists, then a written report and a fixed price for stabilising it.
Our software company has stopped supporting the system. Can you take it on?
Usually, yes. It depends on what you have: the source code, a database you can access, or only a running installation. Each is workable, and the assessment tells you which situation you're in and what it means for the options.
We don't have the source code. Is that a problem?
It's a constraint, not a dead end. Sometimes the code can be recovered from the installed system or an old backup. Sometimes the right answer is to keep the running system supported while a replacement is built alongside it, sharing the same data. The assessment establishes which.
It runs on an old server. Do we have to move it?
Not immediately, and not blindly. The first job is to make sure the server is backed up and can be rebuilt. Then the assessment sets out the options: keep it where it is with the risks stated, move it to supported infrastructure, or modernise the application so the server stops mattering.
How quickly do you respond?
The care plan includes priority access to the lead developer, and response times are agreed in the plan rather than promised on a web page. Outside a plan, work is quoted and scheduled like any other.
Can we modernise later, once it's stable?
Yes, and that's the usual order. Once the system is stable and understood, modernising it in stages is a series of priced decisions rather than a leap. The report sets out the options. You take them when you're ready, or not at all.
Start with a free consultation
An hour on your system, online or by phone. From there we size the assessment, from £395 + VAT, and give you an exact price before you commit.
Want the numbers first? See how pricing works.
Written by Marc Allington, founder. .