Applications built with Progress OpenEdge have proven for decades to be a solid, stable, and reliable platform for supporting critical business processes. Many organizations continue to rely on them because they still fulfill their primary purpose with a high level of performance.

However, the fact that an application is still working does not mean it is prepared to meet the current needs of users, customers, and businesses. Technology evolves, expectations change, and keeping an application unmodernized can become an obstacle to productivity, innovation, and even competitiveness.

How do you know when it’s time to modernize your OpenEdge applications? Here are some of the most common warning signs.

1. The User Interface Looks Outdated

This is not just about whether the application looks old or modern. The user interface has a direct impact on how users interact with the application. If your application still relies on a traditional desktop interface with an unintuitive user experience, users are likely spending more time than necessary completing everyday tasks.

Modern interfaces provide:

• Cleaner, more organized layouts.
• More intuitive forms.
• A better navigation experience.
• Adaptability to different screen sizes.
• Greater productivity for end users.

A modern interface not only improves the company’s image but also shortens the learning curve and makes daily work easier.

2. It Can Only Be Used from an Office Computer

Relying on applications that are restricted to a single computer limits a company’s competitiveness, especially in a world where hybrid work and mobility have become the norm.

If users need to install specific software or can only access the application from a particular computer, this represents a significant limitation.

Modern applications can be accessed through a web browser without requiring local installations, making them available from multiple devices and locations.

3. Every Change Takes Too Long

Does adding a new field require modifying multiple screens? Does a minor enhancement take weeks of development and testing?

When maintenance becomes slow and complex, the application begins to accumulate significant technical debt.

Modernization introduces visual development tools and more agile development processes that significantly reduce the time required to implement new features.

4. Users Constantly Request Improvements That Are Difficult to Implement

Often, the issue is not the business logic but the technology on which the user interface is built.

It’s common to hear requests such as:

• “We need a more intuitive screen.”
• “We want to display more information in a single view.”
• “It would be useful to move and resize windows.”
• “We’d like to incorporate charts or more modern UI components.”

If responding to these requests is overly complex, your user interface architecture probably needs to evolve.

5. The Application Makes Onboarding New Employees Difficult

Applications with unintuitive interfaces often require lengthy training sessions.

When new users need several days or even weeks to become familiar with the system, there is a hidden productivity cost.

A modern user experience shortens the learning process and reduces the need for continuous training.

6. Integrating New Technologies Is Complicated

Businesses increasingly need to integrate:

• Artificial intelligence.
• Web services.
• APIs.
• Cloud platforms.
• New data sources.

If every integration becomes a complex, expensive, or difficult-to-maintain project, modernization can dramatically simplify the process.

7. Your Team Spends More Time Maintaining Than Innovating

One of the clearest signs that an application needs modernization is when the development team spends most of its time:

• Fixing issues.
• Updating outdated screens.
• Resolving compatibility problems.
• Maintaining legacy code.

This reduces the team’s ability to develop new features that create business value.

Modernization does not mean replacing the entire system; it means freeing up time to innovate.

8. There Is Fear of Making Changes

When every modification creates uncertainty because it could affect the rest of the application, technological progress slows down.

Organizations end up postponing improvements out of fear of introducing errors, increasing technical debt, and making future changes even more difficult.

A modern platform enables faster, safer, and more controlled changes.

Modernization Doesn’t Mean Starting from Scratch

One of the biggest myths about OpenEdge application modernization is that it requires rebuilding the entire solution.

Today, there are approaches that allow you to preserve years of business logic while modernizing the user experience and the development environment.

This approach reduces risk, protects your existing investment, and accelerates digital transformation.

Edgevolut: Visual Modernization for OpenEdge Applications

Edgevolut was designed to simplify the modernization of OpenEdge applications without requiring a complete rewrite.

Its visual designer enables developers to build modern web interfaces using a drag-and-drop approach while reusing existing ABL business logic. It also includes new capabilities that improve developer productivity, such as a more flexible designer, a debugger with event and property inspectors, new controls and components, and a much more agile development experience.

The result is a gradual transition to modern applications while preserving the stability of the existing system and reducing the effort required to evolve the solution.

Contact us to start your OpenEdge application modernization journey.

Modernization Is the Key to Unlocking the Full Potential of Your OpenEdge Applications

OpenEdge applications continue to provide a solid foundation for many organizations. However, today’s business needs demand more modern interfaces, greater flexibility, and more efficient development processes.

If your application shows several of the warning signs described in this article, it is probably time to consider a modernization strategy.

The good news is that today you can evolve without starting from scratch, leveraging years of accumulated knowledge and investment while delivering a significantly more modern experience for both users and developers.

The implementation of business intelligence solutions continues to gain ground globally. As a result, ensuring the success of business intelligence projects is becoming increasingly important.

If you are considering starting to use BI in your company or expanding its use to other areas of the organization, here are some valuable recommendations to help you avoid common mistakes.

Defining Dashboards Before Defining Business Needs

Generally, BI solutions offer different options for visualizing data. The idea of starting by selecting charts can therefore be very appealing—but that does not mean it should be the first step.

To follow the right path, it is essential to keep in mind that the core purpose of a BI solution is to improve business decision-making. With this in mind, it is important to ask key questions such as:

• What are the company’s objectives?
• What data do you need to visualize to monitor those objectives?

With these two simple questions, you will have a strong starting point to begin defining or redefining your data strategy based on business needs.

Once this point is clear, building dashboards becomes much more strategic and will start delivering value to users from the very beginning.

Assuming BI Will Solve Data Governance Problems

A data governance strategy should be in place before any use of data, including the use of business intelligence solutions.

Implementing BI without a defined governance strategy only exposes poor data quality, a lack of data availability, or even the absence of data. As a direct consequence, users often return to their previous ways of accessing data, such as spreadsheets.

This directly impacts users’ trust in the tool. They will not say that the data is incorrect at the source—they will say that the BI system does not work. This affects the adoption of the solution, which is a key factor in ensuring the long-term success of any technological implementation.

Another important point is that a lack of clarity makes it difficult to define consistent KPIs. A simple example is when different departments include or exclude VAT in the total calculation of sales. With proper governance, this would not happen, and the organization would work with consistent and standardized data.

Implementing Without Considering Scalability Needs

Implementing BI without anticipating growth is the perfect recipe for a system that cannot scale. From the beginning, organizations should adopt a modern data architecture that ensures speed and service availability as the system grows. This also allows costs to be managed in a more strategic and efficient way.

In practical terms, this means avoiding manual scripts, isolated integrations, and disconnected tools.

Forgetting the Alignment Between IT and the Business

This often happens when only one side is responsible for implementation and overlooks the role of the other. As a result, if IT works in isolation from the business, the implementation may be technically efficient but will have important functional gaps. On the other hand, if the business leads the process without IT involvement, technical limitations may be ignored, and unrealistic expectations may arise.

To improve alignment and achieve the best results, it is important to work with mixed teams, define clear responsibilities, and maintain shared data governance.

Underestimating Cultural Change

Organizational culture is a key factor that is often overlooked when implementing a major change such as BI.

A strong technological implementation without a transformation in organizational culture only goes halfway. This often shows up in situations such as:

• Leaders do not use dashboards and continue making decisions based on intuition.
• Leaders do not request data during team meetings.
• Employees do not use BI because they lack the necessary data analysis training.

To address this, organizations should take actions such as:

• Measuring adoption within the company
• Promoting data-driven leadership practices
• Training users

What Can You Do to Ensure Your Next BI Projects Don’t Fail?

After reviewing these points, it becomes clear that maintaining the right approach from the start is essential. The goal is not simply to create dashboards, but to transform how the organization makes decisions.

For this reason, it is important to complete the strategic groundwork described above before selecting a business intelligence solution, not the other way around.

If you are considering starting to use BI in your company, contact us so we can support you from the beginning and help ensure a successful implementation.

The business calendar doesn’t stop, and the start of 2026 is closer than it seems. In this context, technology has evolved from a support function and has become a strategic pillar of the business. What five years ago represented a competitive advantage is now simply the starting point.

Even so, digital transformation is still perceived in many organizations as a vague or overly ambitious investment. The reality is that, when approached with a clear and pragmatic vision, its impact is reflected directly in operational efficiency and the bottom line. Preparing a company for the future does not require adopting futuristic technologies overnight, but identifying and eliminating the inefficiencies that slow growth on a daily basis.

Below, we propose a diagnostic exercise based on common situations that act as indicators of digital maturity. A starting point to identify where the real opportunities for improvement lie within your organization today.

Digital health indicators: where does your company stand?

1. Systems integration and a single source of truth

In many companies, departments such as sales, logistics, or administration work with applications that are not connected to each other. The result is silos that require data to be manually transferred from one system to another.

The risk: duplicated tasks and human error. When teams spend time copying and pasting information between spreadsheets, ERP systems, or CRMs, productivity suffers. An infrastructure ready for 2026 is based on interoperability: systems that communicate automatically and ensure a single, consistent, and reliable dataset for the entire organization.

2. Mobility and remote operations

A key question: could your critical operations continue at 100% if physical access to the office were interrupted tomorrow? Dependence on on-premise servers, network drives, or paper documentation severely limits an organization’s ability to respond to unforeseen events.

The goal: decouple productivity from location. True digitalization makes it possible to approve budgets, manage inventory, or access records securely from anywhere. If a company needs to be physically present to operate, its model is fragile in the face of unexpected scenarios.

3. User experience as a competitive advantage

Customer expectations—both in B2B and B2C environments—are shaped by leading technology companies. This translates into simple, agile processes with minimal friction. Endless forms, bureaucratic procedures, or unintuitive interfaces are no longer just an annoyance: they are a direct cause of abandonment.

The reality: digital friction is one of the main enemies of conversion. Optimizing user experience is not an aesthetic choice, but a strategic decision that directly impacts profitability, satisfaction, and customer loyalty.

4. Data-driven decision-making

Many leadership teams still manage their business by looking backwards, analyzing monthly reports to understand what happened. While this approach remains useful for historical analysis, it is insufficient in environments that demand fast reactions.

The evolution: today’s technology allows traditional analysis to be complemented with real-time information. Dashboards updated instantly with data on sales, cash flow, or production enable faster, better-informed decisions. Moving from intuition to data-backed certainty is one of the defining traits of companies that lead their industries.

A journey that doesn’t have to be taken alone

Undertaking a digital transformation is not just about implementing technology, but about doing so with sound judgment, business vision, and expert guidance. Having the right partner makes the difference between a one-off investment and sustainable, long-term change.

On this path to 2026, RCM Software and our partner network support companies throughout the diagnosis, definition, and execution of their digital transformation. Through solutions designed to integrate data, optimize processes, and support decision-making, we help organizations build a solid, scalable technological foundation aligned with their strategic objectives.

The future is not improvised: it is designed today. And doing so with the right support is the first step toward leading tomorrow.