I've spent 35 years keeping business software alive.

I'm Marc Hansche. I build, fix, and modernize the kind of software that quietly runs a business in the background, the systems people depend on every day and only think about when something breaks. Legacy System Modernization is how I help owners get an honest answer about that software, instead of a sales pitch.

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A little background

I got my start in the 1990s at ARTI, a hardware and custom software company building tools for the broadcast and cable industry. I designed the databases and built the applications that ran on their hardware, including two Windows apps for Fox Sports on a tight two-month deadline: a real-time play logger and a highlight editor that fed straight to air. That work taught me how to deliver something solid under pressure, and how much the database underneath really matters.

In 2000 I started ACES 4 Hire, my consulting firm, and I've been at it ever since. Over the years I've delivered custom software and legacy modernization for small and midsize businesses across healthcare, logistics, and retail, usually as the person they call when a system nobody else wants to touch still has to keep running. Some of those clients have been with me for ten and fifteen years and counting.

Why I do this

Somewhere along the way, I noticed a pattern. A business owner would have a system that worked, that their team knew, that their customers relied on, and nearly every consultant who looked at it gave the same answer: rip it out and start over.

There are a few reasons for that, and most of them have nothing to do with you. A rewrite is the most profitable thing a consultant can sell. It's also the easy way out. It takes real experience to understand someone else's code and stand behind it, and it's a lot more comfortable to throw that code away and rebuild something you own than to take responsibility for a system you didn't write. Add in the constant pull toward the newest, shiniest tools, and a ground-up rewrite starts to look like the answer to everything.

But running a business isn't about the coolest developer tool. It's about reliable software, clean data, and getting the right information in front of the people who use it. Most of the time, the system you already have can deliver all three. It just needs someone who understands both the old code and the modern options, and who will give you a straight answer about which path actually makes sense. That's the whole idea behind Legacy System Modernization. No agenda, no default to the biggest project, just an honest read on what you've got and what's worth doing.

How I work

A few things I hold to on every engagement:

  • You get the truth, even when it costs me work. If your system is fine as it is, I'll tell you. If a rewrite really is the right call, I'll tell you that too.
  • You own everything. Every engagement leaves you with documentation and code that's yours. If you ever want another team to take over, they'll have what they need.
  • The data comes first. I've spent a career protecting data integrity, including tracking down bugs that quietly corrupted records for months before anyone noticed. Your data is the part you can't afford to get wrong.
  • I'm in it for the long haul. The work I'm proudest of is the decade-plus relationships, systems I've kept healthy and moving forward year after year.

Let's talk about your system

If you've got software that other people only want to replace, I'd like to hear about it. Start with a free assessment and I'll give you an honest picture of where things stand and what your options are.

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