Because of strict confidentiality agreements, we cannot disclose our partner's name to the public. Certain aspects of the project may also be obscured.
Revamping a Legacy Codebase of a High-performance Marketing Email SaaS
Context
Our partner, a well-established Japanese SaaS company with over two decades in the business, regularly dispatches billions of emails to customers across Asia. However, their existing PHP-based email management system faced scalability, maintainability, and efficiency issues. Adding stable code to the expansive, complex codebase had become more cumbersome and costly than starting from scratch. So, we initiated a fresh start.
Objective
To undertake an ambitious rewrite of the legacy monolith PHP application using modern technologies that aligned with the existing tech stack, such as Laravel and VueJS. Our goal was to retain its original functionality while enhancing its scalability and extensibility.
Process
1.)Our partner entrusted us with their codebase, which had evolved over two decades of development.
2.)Our expert team conducted a thorough analysis of the codebase and formulated a comprehensive plan to guide the revamp process.
3.)We retained well-structured code sections and identified areas that required a complete rewrite.
4.)Our strategy involved a phased approach to re-implement features, integrating existing business logic with modern technologies.
5.)We engaged our partner's testers in a meticulous evaluation of the application, ensuring its faithful reproduction.
6.)Months of iterative bug-fixing and fine-tuning of minor features culminated in a release-ready application.
Scope
Web Backend Development
Web Frontend Development
Tech Stack
Typescript
NuxtJS
Vue
Vuex
MySQL
PHP
Laravel
AWS
Challenges
The daunting task of refactoring a massive, monolithic application into a modular and composable structure.
Successfully replicating the complex business logic of the original system during the rewrite.
Swiftly navigating through unfamiliar legacy PHP code and acquiring the necessary expertise for efficient development.
Result
After a year of collaborative effort, our teams realized the envisioned outcome. Our partner now has a functionally identical email management system that can manage millions of emails daily with efficiency. The revamped application offers extensibility, modularity, and a clean, optimized codebase for optimal lightweight performance.
We successfully transferred the application to their in-house development team, equipping them to maintain and expand the system in the future. The new system not only addresses existing issues but also forms a robust foundation for future growth and scalability.
To guarantee a smooth transition, we carefully preserved well-crafted code segments from the original codebase. Through thoughtful technical decisions, like adopting Laravel for the backend and Vue for the frontend, we created a modern, finely-tuned application capable of integrating seamlessly with the existing PHP infrastructure. This strategy allowed us to maintain the functional components of the original project, saving our partner from unnecessary costs and extended development time. Moreover, this approach empowered their skilled PHP developer team to manage the application going forward.
100%
increased independence
Our partner can now operate independently, not needing to rely on external developers, thanks to a strategy that stayed true to their original tech stack.
~70%
recurring cost savings
The rewritten application has enabled our partner to maintain the app with only 30% of the previous developer capacity, significantly reducing costs.
∞
knowledge transfer
As per our partner's feedback, the insights gained from our team have proven to be invaluable.