by Cheyenne Sokkappa, on Jan 26, 2025 3:00:00 AM
PowerBuilder has been a trusted tool for decades, enabling businesses to build reliable database applications with speed and efficiency. But as the technology landscape evolves, Powerbuilder applications are now legacy systems that may no longer align with modern business demands.
With growing expectations for cloud readiness, mobile access, and seamless integrations, the question arises: Is your business being held back by outdated applications?
Modernizing PowerBuilder applications isn’t just about upgrading software—it’s about staying competitive. By bringing your systems up to date, you can improve performance, enhance security, and open the door to new opportunities that legacy tools just can’t support. Let’s take a closer look at why now is the right time to make the shift.
The Legacy of PowerBuilder
Let’s rewind it back a little bit (or maybe a lot…) and look at how PowerBuilder came into power itself (no pun intended). In the 1990’s, PowerBuilder was a driving force in Rapid Application Development. They were also known for their DataWindows technology which are powerful components that simplify the retrieval, display, and manipulation of data from databases in a highly customizable format. While this was very innovative for it’s time, the ever changing technology landscape evolved to a point where PowerBuilder could not keep up.
PowerBuilder has been maintained by SAP and now Appeon and for the most part, companies have managed to make do with their PowerBuilder apps but it is getting to the point where the limitations of PowerBuilder are keeping companies from ensuring their applications meet modern standards.
The Risks of Staying with PowerBuilder
As PowerBuilder grows older, the aging population of PowerBuilder developers has led to a sharp decline in the number of software developers that can maintain a PowerBuilder application. For companies who want to be cloud-ready and web-first, PowerBuilder lacks the native support for these modern technologies that are now industry standard.
Not to mention, the proprietary nature of PowerBuilder and lack of ecosystem growth limits the ability for the company and the community of developers to keep up with modern trends.
If you want to know more about this, we wrote a whole blog post about the High Cost of Maintaining a Powerbuilder Application.
Why Modernization Is the Solution
When a technology doesn’t work for you or your business anymore, that’s when you know it’s time to change. Now we know that you can try to push it off as long as you can, and in many cases, this is the most economical thing you can do depending on the nature of the application. However, we know that the longer you push off a modernization, the harder it will be to eventually make that leap.
Here are some major benefits of modernization that we’ve seen with our clients:
Improved Scalability and Performance- Modern applications leverage advanced architectures like microservices and cloud-native technologies, allowing businesses to scale effortlessly as demand grows.
- Optimized performance reduces latency, enhances user experience, and ensures reliability under heavy workloads.
- Modern systems are designed with up-to-date security protocols to combat emerging threats.
- Compliance with regulatory standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA is easier to implement and maintain in a modern framework.
- Modernization enables integration with APIs, cloud platforms, and AI tools, unlocking new possibilities for automation, analytics, and customer engagement.
- Support for DevOps practices streamlines development and deployment, reducing time-to-market for new features.
- Cloud Migration: Businesses are moving to the cloud for cost savings, flexibility, and improved disaster recovery capabilities.
- DevOps Adoption: Modern platforms enable collaborative and automated workflows, ensuring faster and more reliable software delivery.
- Digital Transformation: Upgrading legacy systems is a key step in harnessing technologies like AI, machine learning, and IoT to deliver innovative customer experiences and drive growth.
Here’s an example:
At GAP Migrations, we partnered with a client struggling to maintain a tax-related PowerBuilder application that required frequent updates to keep up with ever-evolving tax regulations. The legacy application lacked the flexibility and deployment speed needed to meet the business’s operational standards. Our team modernized their system by migrating the PowerBuilder application to a web-based platform, consolidating it into a streamlined and maintainable single codebase. This transformation empowered the client to deploy updates instantly, ensuring compliance with tax regulations and significantly improving development efficiency and agility.
Why Now Is the Time to Modernize
The urgency to modernize PowerBuilder applications has never been greater. Cloud adoption is at an all-time high, offering businesses scalability, flexibility, and cost efficiencies that on-premise solutions simply cannot match. The push for digital transformation is reshaping industries, with companies leveraging modern technologies like AI, machine learning, and automation to remain competitive.
Additionally, to put it simply, it's near impossible to find PowerBuilder developers to maintain your applications and keep up with business needs.
Economic factors also play a crucial role—while modernization requires an upfront investment, it significantly reduces long-term costs by eliminating expensive maintenance, streamlining operations, and improving system reliability.
What Are Your Options?
So, what is the right way to modernize your PowerBuilder application? There’s a few possible ways to approach modernization.
- Automated Code Migration: Work with GAP Migrations to modernize your PowerBuilder application efficiently using our automated PowerBuilder Code Migration tool. This solution transforms your application into a web-based platform with a Java backend and an Angular frontend. By converting your code into a like-for-like equivalent in the target language, we ensure your business logic and functionality are preserved while enabling your application to leverage the benefits of modern web technologies.
- Rewrite: This is another option that can be useful for certain applications. A rewrite entails fully rewriting the application in the target language. The issue with a rewrite is that they can take even the most efficient developers more time than using a code migrator tool. Rewrites can take anywhere from 2x-5x longer than an automated migration to get a new application. While this may not be the most efficient solution, it can be the right solution for certain applications.
At GAP Migrations, we have over 30+ years of experience with modernizing legacy applications, we are happy to help you decide and implement your rewrite or automated migration.
What's Next?
Check out some of our Resources
Modernizing legacy PowerBuilder systems is no longer just an option—it’s a necessity for businesses striving to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. By upgrading to modern platforms, you can improve scalability, enhance security, and integrate seamlessly with the latest technologies, positioning your business for long-term success.
Contact us today to learn how GAP Migrations can help you modernize your PowerBuilder applications and unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. Let’s build the future of your business together!
