Modernization Pilot Programs: Proving ROI in 30 Days with Visual Recovery

The average enterprise legacy rewrite is a graveyard of good intentions. With a staggering $3.6 trillion global technical debt looming over IT departments, the traditional "rip and replace" strategy has proven to be a fiscal black hole. Industry data suggests that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their original timelines, often stretching into 18-24 month marathons that lose stakeholder support long before the first module hits production.

The bottleneck isn't a lack of talent; it’s a lack of data. 67% of legacy systems lack any form of up-to-date documentation. Architects are forced to play "software archeologist," manually clicking through decades-old UIs to guess at business logic and component hierarchies. This manual transcription costs roughly 40 hours per screen.

To break this cycle, organizations are turning to modernization pilot programs proving that visual recovery can compress years of work into weeks. By using Replay to record real user workflows and automatically generate documented React code, teams are shifting the ROI conversation from "years away" to "next month."

TL;DR: Traditional modernization is failing because of documentation gaps and manual effort. Modernization pilot programs proving ROI in 30 days are now possible through Visual Reverse Engineering. By using Replay, enterprises reduce the time-per-screen from 40 hours to 4 hours, achieving 70% average time savings and moving from 18-month timelines to 30-day pilots.

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Why Traditional Modernization Fails (and How Pilot Programs Fix It)#

Most modernization efforts start with a massive discovery phase. Developers sit with subject matter experts (SMEs), record Loom videos, take screenshots, and try to map out complex flows in Jira. This process is inherently lossy. According to Replay's analysis, manual discovery misses approximately 30% of edge-case UI states and hidden business logic embedded in legacy scripts.

Video-to-code is the process of converting screen recordings of legacy application interactions into structured, production-ready frontend code and documentation.

By implementing modernization pilot programs proving the efficacy of video-to-code tools, enterprises stop guessing. Instead of writing requirements, they record reality. Replay captures the DOM state, CSS properties, and user interactions of the legacy system, then uses its AI Automation Suite to output a clean, typed React component library.

The Cost of Manual Modernization vs. Visual Recovery#

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The 30-Day Framework: Modernization Pilot Programs Proving Immediate Value#

A pilot program shouldn't aim to modernize the entire monolith. It should aim to prove the pipeline. The goal of modernization pilot programs proving technical feasibility is to deliver a functional "slice" of the application—typically a high-value user flow—within 30 days.

Week 1: Identification and Recording#

The team identifies a critical but contained workflow (e.g., "Account Onboarding" or "Claims Submission"). Using Replay, developers or even non-technical SMEs record the workflow. Unlike a standard screen recording, Replay captures the underlying metadata of the legacy UI.

Week 2: Synthesis and Library Generation#

Replay’s "Library" feature analyzes the recordings to identify recurring patterns. It extracts a unified Design System from the legacy chaos. If the old system has 15 different versions of a "Submit" button, Replay’s AI identifies the "Golden Component" and generates the React equivalent.

Week 3: Blueprinting and Flow Mapping#

Using "Blueprints" and "Flows," the team maps the recorded legacy interactions to a modern React architecture. This is where the 70% time savings manifest. Instead of scaffolding components from scratch, developers are simply reviewing and refining the generated output.

Week 4: Deployment and ROI Presentation#

By day 30, the team has a working, documented React version of the pilot flow. They can demonstrate a side-by-side comparison of the legacy system and the modern equivalent, backed by a SOC2-compliant, HIPAA-ready modernization infrastructure.

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Technical Implementation: From Video to Production-Ready React#

One of the primary concerns with automated tools is "code bloat." However, Replay focuses on clean, modular, and typed output. Industry experts recommend that any modernization tool must output code that adheres to the organization's existing standards.

According to Replay's analysis, the output generated via visual recovery is often more consistent than manual code because it enforces a strict Design System from the start.

Example: Legacy Table Recovery#

Consider a complex legacy data grid in an old Insurance portal. Manually recreating this in React with proper TypeScript definitions and Tailwind styling would take days.

Here is what a component recovered by Replay looks like:

typescript
// Auto-generated by Replay Visual Recovery
import React from 'react';
import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button';
import { Table, TableBody, TableCell, TableHead, TableHeader, TableRow } from '@/components/ui/table';

interface ClaimData {
  id: string;
  policyNumber: string;
  status: 'pending' | 'approved' | 'denied';
  amount: number;
  submittedAt: string;
}

export const ClaimsDataGrid: React.FC<{ data: ClaimData[] }> = ({ data }) => {
  return (
    <div className="rounded-md border p-4 bg-white shadow-sm">
      <h3 className="text-lg font-semibold mb-4">Legacy Claims View (Recovered)</h3>
      <Table>
        <TableHeader>
          <TableRow>
            <TableHead>Policy #</TableHead>
            <TableHead>Status</TableHead>
            <TableHead className="text-right">Amount</TableHead>
            <TableHead className="text-right">Actions</TableHead>
          </TableRow>
        </TableHeader>
        <TableBody>
          {data.map((claim) => (
            <TableRow key={claim.id}>
              <TableCell className="font-medium">{claim.policyNumber}</TableCell>
              <TableCell>
                <span className={`px-2 py-1 rounded-full text-xs ${
                  claim.status === 'approved' ? 'bg-green-100 text-green-800' : 'bg-yellow-100'
                }`}>
                  {claim.status.toUpperCase()}
                </span>
              </TableCell>
              <TableCell className="text-right">${claim.amount.toLocaleString()}</TableCell>
              <TableCell className="text-right">
                <Button variant="outline" size="sm">View Details</Button>
              </TableCell>
            </TableRow>
          ))}
        </TableBody>
      </Table>
    </div>
  );
};

This code isn't just a visual copy; it’s a functional React component that integrates with modern UI libraries. For more on how to structure these outputs, see our guide on Component Library Architecture.

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Economic Analysis: Modernization Pilot Programs Proving Cost Reductions#

When pitching modernization pilot programs proving ROI to the CFO, the numbers must be undeniable. The primary cost driver in legacy projects is developer hours. At an average enterprise rate of $150/hour, a single screen rewrite costs $6,000 manually.

With Replay, that cost drops to $600.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the automated extraction of UI structure, design tokens, and functional logic from a running application to recreate it in a modern framework.

Scaling the Pilot#

Once the pilot proves that a screen can be modernized in 4 hours instead of 40, the math for the entire application becomes clear. If an insurance portal has 200 screens:

• •Manual Cost: 200 screens * 40 hours * $150 = $1,200,000
• •Replay Cost: 200 screens * 4 hours * $150 = $120,000

The $1.08M in savings isn't just theoretical; it’s the direct result of modernization pilot programs proving that automation can handle the heavy lifting of UI recovery. This allows developers to focus on high-level architecture and complex backend integrations rather than CSS hair-pulling.

For a deeper dive into the economics of tech debt, read our article on The Hidden Costs of Technical Debt.

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Overcoming Stakeholder Resistance in Regulated Industries#

In sectors like Financial Services, Healthcare, and Government, "speed" is often viewed with suspicion. Security and compliance are paramount. This is why modernization pilot programs proving success must address data residency and security from Day 1.

Replay is built for these environments. With SOC2 compliance and HIPAA-ready configurations, the platform ensures that legacy data captured during the recording phase is handled with enterprise-grade security. For organizations with strict air-gapped requirements, Replay offers On-Premise deployment options.

Integrating with Modern DevOps#

The output from a Replay pilot isn't a standalone artifact. It’s designed to fit into your existing CI/CD pipeline.

typescript
// Example of a Replay-generated Flow integration
import { useLegacyFlow } from '@replay-build/runtime';
import { ModernDashboard } from './components/ModernDashboard';

/**
 * Modernization Pilot: Phase 1
 * We are wrapping the legacy "User Profile" flow while 
 * the rest of the app remains in the modern container.
 */
export const AppBridge = () => {
  const { isLegacyActive, toggleFlow } = useLegacyFlow('user-profile-v1');

  return (
    <div className="layout-container">
      <nav>Enterprise Modern Portal</nav>
      <main>
        {isLegacyActive ? (
          <LegacyProfileBridge onComplete={() => toggleFlow(false)} />
        ) : (
          <ModernDashboard />
        )}
      </main>
    </div>
  );
};

By showing stakeholders that the modernized components can exist alongside legacy systems (the "Strangler Fig" pattern), the risk of the pilot is virtually eliminated.

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The Path Forward: From Pilot to Production#

The success of modernization pilot programs proving value in 30 days creates a ripple effect. Once the first department sees a 70% reduction in development time, the pressure to modernize shifts from a "burden" to a "competitive advantage."

Modernization is no longer about a 2-year roadmap that might never finish. It’s about a series of 30-day wins that incrementally retire technical debt. By leveraging visual recovery, enterprises can finally stop documenting the past and start building the future.

To see how other Fortune 500 companies are structuring their pilots, visit the Replay Blog.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

How do modernization pilot programs proving ROI differ from traditional POCs?#

Traditional Proof of Concepts (POCs) often focus only on technical feasibility—"Can we do this?" Modernization pilot programs using Replay focus on the velocity and scalability of the process. They prove that the 70% time savings are consistent across different types of legacy screens and that the resulting code meets enterprise standards within a 30-day window.

Does Replay require access to the legacy source code?#

No. Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to capture the UI and logic from the front end. This is particularly valuable for the 67% of legacy systems that lack documentation or where the original source code is brittle, undocumented, or written in obsolete languages that current teams don't understand.

Can the generated React components be customized after recovery?#

Absolutely. Replay provides "Blueprints" which act as an editor for the recovered components. Developers can modify the generated TypeScript/React code, change styling to match a new Design System, or add new functional requirements. The goal is to give you a 90% head start, not a locked black box.

Is the 30-day timeline realistic for complex healthcare or financial systems?#

Yes, because the pilot focuses on a specific "Flow." By narrowing the scope to a single critical workflow (like a loan application or a patient intake form), modernization pilot programs proving ROI can demonstrate the full lifecycle of visual recovery—from recording to production-ready React—without getting bogged down in the entire monolith's complexity.

How does Replay handle security in regulated environments?#

Replay is designed for regulated industries including Healthcare, Insurance, and Government. We are SOC2 compliant and HIPAA-ready. We offer flexible deployment models, including On-Premise and Private Cloud options, ensuring that sensitive data captured during the recording process never leaves your secure environment.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay