legacy and on-premise CRMs
No API? That is not the blocker you have been told it is.
Plenty of recruitment businesses run on an on-premise CRM or an older SQL database that no modern tool will talk to. We work with those directly, without a migration you did not ask for.
The situation
The system works. Everything around it is the problem.
A CRM that has run the business for a decade holds years of irreplaceable data. The advice is usually to replace it, which is expensive, disruptive and risky. Most of the pain can be solved without touching it.
- No API, so nothing integrates and everything is manual
- Reporting means someone exporting and rebuilding a spreadsheet
- Data is trapped where modern tools cannot reach it
- Every vendor's answer is a full migration you cannot justify
What we build
Automation built around legacy and on-premise CRMs.
Direct SQL integration
Where there is no API there is still a database. We read from and write to it safely, on agreed boundaries, without destabilising the system your business runs on.
A reporting layer on top
Live dashboards built over the existing data, giving you modern reporting without changing the system underneath it.
Scheduled data pipelines
Data moved on a schedule between the legacy CRM and the tools your team actually wants to use, keeping both sides current.
A migration path, if you want one
If you do eventually move, the pipelines already map your data, turning a high-risk migration into a gradual, reversible one.
Connected to
What we connect legacy and on-premise CRMs to.
The systems either side of the CRM, so the record stays true without anyone maintaining it by hand.
Telephony & VoIP
- 8x8
- Microsoft Teams
- and other VoIP providers
Calls logged against the candidate record as they happen, rather than written up afterwards from memory, or not at all. Click-to-dial from the record, and recordings attached where you keep them.
- Gmail
- Outlook
Conversations attached to the right candidate and job automatically, without relying on anyone remembering to BCC the CRM. Bounces and invalid addresses get caught rather than quietly rotting in the database.
Job boards & sourcing
- CV-Library
- Reed
- Seek
One job posted to every board you use, with applications flowing back against the right record instead of into an inbox. Candidate profiles enriched from the sources you already pay for.
Portals
- Timesheet portals
- QuickBooks
- WordPress
- Shopify
Hours from your timesheet portals through to invoicing without anyone re-keying them, even when two vendors use different formats and different billing models. Applications from your own site landing against the right job rather than in an inbox. Finance sees the same numbers the desk does.
Running something not listed here? See everything we connect . If it has an API we can work with it, and if it does not, it usually still has a database.
Process
Four stages. No surprises.
You see a working prototype before money changes hands, and a demo at the end of every stage after that.
- 01
Discovery
We map how the work happens today, find the steps that cost you the most time, and agree what success looks like.
- 02
Free Prototype
You get an interactive prototype on your own device before any invoice, so you can judge the real thing, not a slide deck.
- 03
Build & Demo
We design, build and test in stages, demoing at the end of each one and folding your feedback straight back into the work.
- 04
Launch & Support
QA, deployment with minimal disruption, then ongoing support and maintenance as the business changes around it.
FAQ
Questions we get asked about legacy and on-premise CRMs.
Is writing directly to our database safe?
It is when it is done carefully. We work read-only first, agree explicit write boundaries, test against a copy, and never deploy against production data without a rollback path. If it cannot be done safely, we say so.
Do we have to migrate off our current system?
No, and that is the point of this work. Most of the pain comes from what surrounds the CRM, not the CRM itself. Migration stays an option rather than a prerequisite.
Our system is genuinely ancient. Is it too old?
Probably not. If it stores data in something we can reach (SQL Server, MySQL, Access, even structured file exports), there is usually a route. Discovery tells us for certain, and costs you nothing.
Will this slow down the system our business runs on?
Not if it is done properly. Reads are scheduled and throttled, heavy work runs out of hours, and we test against a copy before anything touches production. A system this important is exactly the wrong place to find out the hard way.
The original developer is long gone and there is no documentation. Does that matter?
It is the normal situation rather than the exception. The database schema tells us most of what we need, and discovery maps the rest. What we learn gets written down, which is often worth having on its own.
Who maintains it afterwards?
We do, and the documentation is yours either way. With a legacy system the bigger risk is usually the system itself rather than the integration, so part of the work is making sure a failure is visible rather than silent.
Get in touch
Tell us what is slowing you down.
Big or small, web or mobile, one workflow or a whole platform. Send us the shape of the problem and we will come back with how we would approach it.
- A reply within one business day
- A free interactive prototype before any invoice
- No obligation and no sales sequence