The “Dirty Secret” of Assessments
Many vendors use assessments as a Trojan Horse.
They will offer a “Free Assessment” or a “Low-Cost Audit.” Why? Because the assessment report always concludes the same thing: “You need to hire us for a $5M rewrite project.”
If the vendor doing the assessment is also the vendor pitching the rewrite, you have a conflict of interest.
Our Advice: Decouple the Audit from the Execution
Hire an independent firm to do the assessment. Pay them full price for it. Own the data. Then bid out the execution work to multiple vendors using that data. You will save millions.
What You Are Buying: “The Truth”
You are buying a Forensic Audit of your technology estate.
- Technical Truth: What is the code actually doing? (Not what the docs say).
- Security Truth: Where are the open doors?
- Financial Truth: How much is this legacy code costing you in maintenance and lost opportunity?
Insider Tips for SOWs
When writing the Statement of Work for an assessment, demand these clauses:
- “No Black Box Tools”: If they use a proprietary scanner, you must get the raw data export, not just their PDF summary. You want the CSV of every file and dependency.
- “Code-Level Granularity”: Don’t accept high-level “Red/Yellow/Green” charts. You want to know which classes are causing the technical debt.
- “Business Value Mapping”: A technical audit is useless without business context. The SOW must include interviews with business users to determine value, not just code quality.
Common Pitfalls
1. The “Tool-Only” Audit
The Trap: The vendor runs a tool like SonarQube, exports the PDF, and charges you $50k. The Reality: Tools find syntax errors, not architectural flaws. They can’t tell you that your “Order Processing” logic is hardcoded in a stored procedure. The Fix: Ensure the team includes a Senior Architect who reads code, not just a junior running a script.
2. Analysis Paralysis
The Trap: Spending 6 months documenting every single line of code. The Reality: By the time you finish, the business has changed. The Fix: Time-box the assessment (4-6 weeks max). Focus on the “Vital Few” apps that drive revenue.
3. The “Rewrite Everything” Bias
The Trap: Developers love greenfield projects. They will always recommend a rewrite. The Reality: Rewrites are high-risk and take years. The Fix: Look for a partner who recommends Refactoring or Replatforming (The “Strangler Fig” pattern) over a Big Bang rewrite.
Top Legacy Application Assessment Services Companies
We analyzed 40+ firms specializing in software archaeology and legacy code analysis. Here are 6 vendors with proven track records:
How to Choose a Legacy Assessment Partner
If you have 100+ applications: CAST Software or Software Improvement Group (automated scanning at scale) If you have mainframe/COBOL: Micro Focus or ThoughtWorks (deep legacy platform expertise) If you’re doing M&A due diligence: Software Improvement Group (ISO 25010 certified quality benchmarking) If you have Java monoliths: vFunction (specialized in Java microservices decomposition analysis)
Red flags:
- Vendors who offer “free assessments” then recommend $5M rewrites (conflict of interest)
- Firms that only use tools without human code review (miss architectural problems)
- Vendors who refuse to give you raw data exports (you should own the assessment data)
How We Select Implementation Partners
We analyzed 50+ assessment firms based on:
- Case studies with metrics: Portfolio rationalization savings, risk identification
- Technical specializations: Code complexity analysis, EOL risk assessment
- Pricing transparency: Firms who publish ranges vs. “Contact Us” opacity
Our Commercial Model: We earn matchmaking fees when you hire a partner through Modernization Intel. But we list ALL qualified firms—not just those who pay us. Our incentive is getting you the RIGHT match (repeat business), not ANY match (one-time fee).
Vetting Process:
- Analyze partner case studies for technical depth
- Verify client references (when publicly available)
- Map specializations to buyer use cases
- Exclude firms with red flags (Big Bang rewrites, no pricing, vaporware claims)
What happens when you request a shortlist?
- We review your needs: A technical expert reviews your project details.
- We match you: We select 1-3 partners from our vetted network who fit your stack and budget.
- Introductions: We make warm introductions. You take it from there.
When to Hire Legacy Application Assessment Services
You need external assessment when:
- Planning Cloud Migration: Don’t know which apps are cloud-ready vs should stay on-prem
- Post-M&A Integration: Just acquired a company, need third-party audit of what you bought
- Preparing for Rewrite: Need data to justify $5M+ modernization budget to Board
- New CTO: Inherited a portfolio with no documentation, need landscape overview fast
- Compliance Audit Panic: Auditors asking for EOL software inventory you don’t have
Don’t hire external help if:
- You have <5 applications (do it manually with internal team)
- You already decided to rewrite everything (just start execution)
- You have no budget to act on findings (don’t pay for bad news you can’t fix)
We look for firms that specialize in Software Archaeology.
- Do they have tools for legacy languages (COBOL, VB6, Delphi)?
- Do they have a methodology for reading code, not just writing it?
- Are they willing to do the assessment without a guarantee of the follow-on work?
Ready to uncover the truth? Use the form to get a shortlist of independent assessment experts.