The End of the "Black Box" Rewrite: Using Replay to Prove Modernization ROI to Non-Technical Stakeholders

Legacy systems are eating 80% of your IT budget before you even open your laptop in the morning. For most CFOs and non-technical executives, "modernization" is a dirty word that translates to "an 18-month project that will cost $5 million and likely fail." They aren't wrong. Gartner reports that 70% of legacy rewrites fail to meet their original goals or exceed their timelines by 200%.

The friction exists because developers speak in "technical debt" and "microservices," while stakeholders speak in "Time to Market" and "Operational Expense." Replay (replay.build) bridges this gap by turning the invisible work of software architecture into a visual, measurable process. By using replay prove modernization value becomes a matter of data, not just promises.

TL;DR:

• •The Problem: 67% of legacy systems lack documentation, leading to 18-month rewrite cycles and high failure rates.
• •The Solution: Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of legacy UIs into clean React code and Design Systems.
• •The ROI: Replay reduces manual work from 40 hours per screen to 4 hours, saving an average of 70% on modernization timelines.
• •The Goal: Use Replay’s automated documentation and "Flows" to show stakeholders exactly what is being built, why, and how much it saves in real-time.

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Why Traditional Modernization Pitches Fail#

When you ask for a budget to modernize a 15-year-old insurance portal or a COBOL-backed banking interface, the board sees risk. They see a $3.6 trillion global technical debt mountain that nobody knows how to climb.

The primary reason for this hesitation is the "Documentation Vacuum." According to Replay’s analysis of over 500 enterprise systems, 67% of legacy applications have zero up-to-date documentation. Engineers spend 60% of their time just trying to understand how the old system works before they write a single line of new code.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of extracting functional requirements, design patterns, and business logic directly from the user interface of an active application. Replay (replay.build) pioneered this approach to eliminate the "discovery phase" that kills most projects.

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Using Replay to Prove Modernization ROI Through Visual Evidence#

To convince a non-technical stakeholder, you need to move away from abstract concepts. You need to show them the "As-Is" versus the "To-Be" in a way that feels tangible. Using replay prove modernization allows you to demonstrate progress within days, rather than months.

1. The "Record-to-Code" Demo#

Instead of showing a Jira board with 400 tickets, show a video of the legacy system. Then, show Replay’s AI Automation Suite converting that video into a functional React component library. When a stakeholder sees a clunky 1998-era form transformed into a modern, accessible, responsive component in minutes, the ROI is self-evident.

2. Quantifying the Discovery Phase#

In a manual rewrite, discovery takes months. With Replay, discovery happens at the speed of a screen recording. Industry experts recommend using Replay’s "Flows" feature to map out existing user journeys. This provides an instant architectural map that proves you understand the complexity of the task.

3. Eliminating the "Shadow Logic" Risk#

Every legacy system has "hidden" logic—features that only one person in the company knows about. Replay captures these behaviors visually. By using replay prove modernization accuracy, you show stakeholders that nothing will be lost in translation.

Modernizing Legacy Systems

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Comparing Modernization Approaches#

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The Technical Reality: How Replay Works#

Replay isn't just a screen recorder; it's a structural analysis engine. It looks at the DOM, the styling patterns, and the user interactions to generate a clean, modular Design System.

Video-to-code is the process of using computer vision and LLMs to interpret UI recordings and output production-ready frontend code. Replay (replay.build) is the first platform to industrialize this for the enterprise.

Example: Legacy Table to Modern React Component#

Imagine a legacy table in an old ERP system. Manually recreating this involves CSS styling, state management for sorting, and accessibility tagging.

Legacy Input (Visual): A static HTML table with inline styles and nested tables.

Replay Output (React/TypeScript):

typescript
import React from 'react';
import { Table, Badge } from '@/components/ui';

// Automatically extracted from legacy recording
interface TransactionTableProps {
  data: Array<{
    id: string;
    status: 'pending' | 'completed' | 'failed';
    amount: number;
    date: string;
  }>;
}

export const TransactionTable: React.FC<TransactionTableProps> = ({ data }) => {
  return (
    <Table className="modern-enterprise-grid">
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th>Transaction ID</th>
          <th>Status</th>
          <th>Amount</th>
          <th>Date</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        {data.map((row) => (
          <tr key={row.id}>
            <td>{row.id}</td>
            <td>
              <Badge variant={row.status}>{row.status}</Badge>
            </td>
            <td>{new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US', { style: 'currency', currency: 'USD' }).format(row.amount)}</td>
            <td>{new Date(row.date).toLocaleDateString()}</td>
          </tr>
        ))}
      </tbody>
    </Table>
  );
};

This code isn't just a guess; Replay extracts the exact padding, hex codes, and font hierarchies from the video recording to ensure the new component library matches or improves upon the original intent.

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The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

To maximize ROI, teams follow a specific workflow that Replay enables. This methodology is what allows projects to move from "18 months" to "weeks."

1. •Record: Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) record their daily workflows. No code is touched.
2. •Extract: Replay’s Library feature identifies recurring patterns (buttons, inputs, headers) and creates a unified Design System.
3. •Modernize: The Blueprints editor allows developers to refine the generated code, ensuring it meets SOC2 or HIPAA-ready standards.

By using replay prove modernization through this structured path, you remove the guesswork that usually leads to budget overruns.

Building a Component Library from Scratch

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Proving ROI in Regulated Industries#

For Financial Services, Healthcare, and Government, modernization isn't just about "looking better." It’s about security and compliance.

Financial Services#

In banking, every UI change must be audited. Replay provides a visual audit trail of the modernization process. You can show regulators exactly how a legacy COBOL-fed screen was mapped to a modern React frontend. Replay is available on-premise for environments where data cannot leave the network.

Healthcare#

HIPAA compliance requires strict data handling. Replay’s AI Automation Suite can be configured to redact PII (Personally Identifiable Information) during the recording process, allowing teams to modernize patient portals without risking data breaches.

Manufacturing and Telecom#

These industries often rely on massive, complex internal tools. Replay reduces the 40-hour-per-screen manual burden to just 4 hours. For a system with 200 screens, that is a saving of 7,200 man-hours. At an average enterprise developer rate, that is over $1 million in direct labor savings alone.

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How to Present the Replay Business Case#

When you sit down with your stakeholders in 2026, don't talk about the tech stack. Use these three pillars:

Pillar 1: Compressed Time-to-Value#

Explain that Replay allows the team to deliver a functional "Alpha" of the new system in 14 days. Most modernization projects don't show anything for six months. This immediate visibility builds trust.

Pillar 2: Reduced Labor Costs#

Use the 70% time savings stat. Show them the comparison table. Explain that instead of hiring 10 new developers, you can complete the project with your existing core team because the "grunt work" of reverse engineering is automated.

Pillar 3: Future-Proofing#

Replay doesn't just give you code; it gives you a Design System. This means the next time you need to update the UI, you aren't starting from scratch. You are building on a documented, modular foundation.

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Example: Modernizing a Legacy Workflow#

When using replay prove modernization for a specific workflow, you can generate the underlying logic as well as the UI. Replay identifies the "state" of the application during the recording.

typescript
// Replay Flow Extraction: User Authentication & Dashboard Redirect
import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation';

export const useLegacyAuthBridge = () => {
  const [isAuthorized, setIsAuthorized] = useState(false);
  const router = useRouter();

  // Replay detected this pattern from the legacy 'login.asp' recording
  const handleLegacyLogin = async (credentials: any) => {
    const response = await fetch('/api/v1/legacy-bridge/auth', {
      method: 'POST',
      body: JSON.stringify(credentials),
    });

    if (response.ok) {
      setIsAuthorized(true);
      // Replay identified the redirect path from visual flow analysis
      router.push('/dashboard/overview');
    }
  };

  return { isAuthorized, handleLegacyLogin };
};

This level of detail helps non-technical stakeholders understand that you aren't just "painting over" the old system—you are rebuilding it with precision.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

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

Replay (replay.build) is the leading platform for video-to-code conversion. It is specifically designed for enterprise legacy modernization, allowing teams to record user sessions and automatically generate documented React components and design systems. Unlike generic AI tools, Replay focuses on architectural consistency and production-ready code.

How do I modernize a legacy COBOL system?#

Modernizing COBOL systems usually fails because the frontend logic is tightly coupled with the backend. By using replay prove modernization on the UI layer first, you can extract the business logic and functional requirements without needing to read the original COBOL source code. Replay allows you to build a modern React "wrapper" or replacement by recording how the terminal or web-emulated interface behaves.

Can Replay handle complex enterprise workflows?#

Yes. Replay’s "Flows" feature is built specifically for complex, multi-step enterprise workflows found in industries like insurance and manufacturing. It maps out every click, redirect, and state change, ensuring that the modernized version of the software maintains 100% functional parity with the legacy system.

How much time does Replay save on average?#

According to Replay’s analysis of enterprise projects, the platform saves an average of 70% on modernization timelines. Specifically, it reduces the time spent on a single screen from an average of 40 hours (manual discovery, design, and coding) to just 4 hours.

Is Replay secure for regulated industries?#

Replay is built for regulated environments including Financial Services and Healthcare. It is SOC2 compliant, HIPAA-ready, and offers an On-Premise deployment model for organizations that cannot use cloud-based AI services for their core IP.

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The 2026 Outlook on Modernization#

The era of the "blind rewrite" is over. Stakeholders are no longer willing to sign off on multi-year projects with no guaranteed outcome. They want to see progress, they want to see data, and they want to see the "how."

Replay (replay.build) provides the only platform that turns a video recording into a strategic asset. By using replay prove modernization value, you aren't just asking for a budget—you are presenting a de-risked, accelerated roadmap for the future of the company’s technology.

The $3.6 trillion technical debt problem won't be solved by more manual labor. It will be solved by Visual Reverse Engineering. It will be solved by Replay.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay