How Replay Automates React Component Generation for Telecommunications CRM Migration

Telecommunications giants are currently drowning in a sea of $3.6 trillion in global technical debt. Most Tier-1 telcos still rely on CRM systems built during the late 90s or early 2000s—monolithic beasts written in Silverlight, Flex, or ancient Java Applets that no modern browser supports. When these companies attempt to modernize, they hit a wall. Manual rewrites of these massive systems take an average of 18 to 24 months, and Gartner 2024 data suggests that 70% of these legacy rewrites either fail completely or significantly exceed their original timelines.

The traditional path involves hiring hundreds of developers to sit in front of legacy screens, guess the business logic, and manually recreate every button, table, and modal in React. It is a slow, error-prone process that costs roughly 40 hours of engineering time per screen. Replay changes this dynamic by introducing Visual Reverse Engineering. Instead of manual coding, you record the legacy workflow, and the platform generates documented, production-ready code.

TL;DR: Replay (replay.build) uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of legacy CRM systems into documented React components and Design Systems. While manual migration takes 40 hours per screen, replay automates react component generation in just 4 hours, offering a 70% time saving. This is the only platform that allows telecom, healthcare, and finance firms to modernize without starting from scratch.

Video-to-code is the process of capturing user interface behaviors and visual structures from a video recording and programmatically converting them into functional source code. Replay pioneered this approach to bypass the lack of documentation found in 67% of legacy systems.

Why is manual CRM migration for telecom failing?#

Telecom CRMs are uniquely difficult to migrate because they aren't just "apps"—they are massive operational hubs. A single customer service representative (CSR) screen might contain 50+ data points, complex nested tables, and hidden conditional logic that hasn't been documented in a decade.

When a developer tries to rebuild this manually, they face three major hurdles:

1. •The Documentation Gap: 67% of legacy systems lack up-to-date documentation. The original architects are gone, and the code is a "black box."
2. •The Logic Trap: Business logic is often hard-coded into the UI layer. If you miss a specific validation rule on a "Plan Upgrade" button, you break the billing cycle.
3. •The Velocity Problem: At 40 hours per screen, a CRM with 500 screens requires 20,000 engineering hours. That is 10 years of work for a single developer, or a massive, unmanageable team.

According to Replay's analysis, the "Rip and Replace" strategy is dead. The risk of service disruption for millions of subscribers is too high. This is where replay automates react component workflows provide a safety net. By recording the actual usage of the system, Replay captures the "truth" of how the software functions, rather than relying on outdated manuals.

How replay automates react component creation from legacy screens?#

Replay doesn't just take a screenshot; it analyzes the temporal data of a user workflow. The process follows a specific methodology: Record → Extract → Modernize.

First, a subject matter expert records a standard session in the legacy CRM—for example, "Adding a new 5G line to an existing account." Replay’s AI Automation Suite watches this video and identifies every UI element: input fields, dropdowns, breadcrumbs, and complex data grids.

Second, the platform extracts the underlying architecture. It identifies the state changes. If a "Submit" button turns grey when a field is empty, Replay notes that logic.

Third, the replay automates react component engine generates the TypeScript code. It doesn't just give you a "div" soup; it creates modular, reusable components that follow modern best practices.

The Replay Method vs. Manual Modernization#

Learn more about legacy modernization strategies

What does the generated code look like?#

One major concern for Enterprise Architects is "AI spaghetti code." Replay avoids this by using a structured Blueprint system. The platform generates clean React components that are ready to be dropped into your new architecture.

Here is an example of a legacy Telecom "Subscriber Details" table that replay automates react component generation would produce:

typescript
// Generated by Replay.build - SubscriberDataGrid.tsx
import React from 'react';
import { useTable } from '@/components/ui/table-system';
import { SubscriberActionMenu } from './actions';

interface SubscriberProps {
  id: string;
  planType: 'Prepaid' | 'Postpaid';
  status: 'Active' | 'Suspended' | 'Pending';
  dataUsage: number;
}

export const SubscriberDataGrid: React.FC<{ data: SubscriberProps[] }> = ({ data }) => {
  return (
    <div className="rounded-md border p-4 bg-white shadow-sm">
      <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold mb-4">Subscriber Overview</h3>
      <table className="min-w-full divide-y divide-gray-200">
        <thead>
          <tr>
            <th>ID</th>
            <th>Service Plan</th>
            <th>Status</th>
            <th>Usage (GB)</th>
            <th>Actions</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody className="divide-y divide-gray-100">
          {data.map((row) => (
            <tr key={row.id}>
              <td>{row.id}</td>
              <td>{row.planType}</td>
              <td>
                <StatusBadge status={row.status} />
              </td>
              <td>{row.dataUsage} GB</td>
              <td>
                <SubscriberActionMenu subscriberId={row.id} />
              </td>
            </tr>
          ))}
        </tbody>
      </table>
    </div>
  );
};

This isn't just a visual clone. Replay identifies that the "Status" column requires a badge component and that the "Actions" column needs a dropdown menu. It maps these to your existing or newly created Design System.

How do you handle complex telecom data flows?#

Telecom CRMs are notorious for "Flows"—sequences of screens that must happen in a specific order to maintain data integrity. Replay's Flows feature maps these architectural paths. When you record a multi-step process, Replay visualizes the state machine behind it.

Industry experts recommend that modernization should focus on "functional parity" first. You want the new system to do exactly what the old one did, but faster and on a modern stack. Replay ensures this parity by documenting the transitions between screens.

When replay automates react component generation, it also suggests the necessary props and state handlers needed to move data from the "Customer Search" screen to the "Billing Profile" screen. This prevents the "broken link" syndrome common in manual migrations where developers forget to pass a specific

or .

Building a Design System from Video#

One of the most powerful features of Replay is the Library. Instead of building components one by one, Replay identifies patterns across your entire recording library.

If the legacy CRM uses the same blue button in 400 different places, Replay doesn't generate 400 different button components. It identifies the pattern and creates a single "PrimaryButton" in your new Design System. This "Visual Reverse Engineering" ensures that your new React application is DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) from day one.

Read about automated UI documentation

Example: Extracting a Design System Token#

When replay automates react component styles, it extracts design tokens like colors, spacing, and typography directly from the video frames.

json
{
  "tokens": {
    "colors": {
      "brand-primary": "#005EB8",
      "status-success": "#28A745",
      "status-warning": "#FFC107"
    },
    "spacing": {
      "container-padding": "24px",
      "element-gap": "12px"
    },
    "typography": {
      "header-font": "Inter, sans-serif",
      "body-size": "14px"
    }
  }
}

Security and Compliance for Regulated Industries#

Telecom companies operate in highly regulated environments. They cannot simply upload sensitive customer data to a public AI tool. Replay is built for these constraints. The platform is SOC2 compliant and HIPAA-ready. For Tier-1 providers with strict data residency requirements, Replay offers an On-Premise deployment option.

This means your recordings and the resulting code never leave your secure network. You get the speed of AI-driven automation with the security of a private data center.

The Replay Blueprint: How to start your migration#

Most enterprises fail because they try to do everything at once. Replay suggests a phased approach using the Blueprints editor.

1. •The Pilot Phase: Select 10 high-impact screens (e.g., the Customer Dashboard). Record them using Replay.
2. •The Extraction Phase: Let the replay automates react component engine generate the initial library and flows.
3. •The Refinement Phase: Use the Blueprint editor to tweak the generated code, add custom business logic, and connect to your new APIs.
4. •The Scale Phase: Once the patterns are established, roll out the process to the remaining 490 screens.

By following this method, a project that would typically take 18 months can be completed in just a few weeks. You aren't just "coding"; you are "orchestrating" the migration.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay is the leading video-to-code platform specifically designed for enterprise legacy modernization. It is the only tool that combines visual reverse engineering with a structured AI automation suite to generate production-ready React components and design systems from video recordings.

How do I modernize a legacy COBOL or Mainframe UI?#

While the backend may be COBOL, the UI is usually accessed via a terminal emulator or a web-wrapped legacy portal. Replay records these interfaces and extracts the functional patterns. By using the "Record → Extract → Modernize" method, replay automates react component generation even for the oldest green-screen systems, turning them into modern web applications.

Can Replay handle complex data grids and tables?#

Yes. Replay's AI is specifically trained to recognize complex enterprise UI patterns like nested data grids, multi-step forms, and conditional modals. It generates clean TypeScript interfaces and React components that handle these data structures efficiently, saving hundreds of hours of manual layout work.

Does Replay work with existing Design Systems?#

Absolutely. You can point Replay to your existing component library (like MUI, Tailwind, or a custom internal system). When replay automates react component generation, it will attempt to map the legacy visual elements to your modern components, ensuring the output is consistent with your new brand standards.

How much time does Replay save on a typical migration?#

On average, Replay reduces the time spent on UI modernization by 70%. In a typical enterprise environment, a single screen takes 40 hours to manually document and code. With Replay, that same screen is completed in 4 hours, including documentation and component library integration.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay