App Modernization with Cloud Four: ImageQuix’s Blueprint for Success
ImageQuix worked with Cloud Four to design a web-based successor to their popular but aging Java application for independent photographers.
Modernize Your Legacy Application
Upgrade your platform, reduce your time to market, and create a compelling user experience that will delight your customers.
You launched your application some time ago. Your app has flourished, yet it’s constrained by a platform that hasn’t kept pace. Whether it’s tethered to a specific OS, struggling on mobile devices, built in a way that’s now preventing critical user experience enhancements, or simply needs to reach a wider audience, it’s clear: you can’t afford to be held back by past technology choices. It’s time for a change.
Cloud Four helps teams like yours level up legacy experiences using the web platform. We’ll set you up for future success with a strong foundation of cutting-edge experience design and rock-solid implementation, making support and maintenance easy. And if your team is new to web applications, we can train them on the technology and process that helped get you there.
Digital Transformation
There are many ways to go from a legacy application to a modern web application, and we’ve seen them all. The best path depends on the technology involved and the skills of your team. We can show you the way.
- Sometimes it requires converting your existing application into application programming interfaces (APIs) that don’t care what platform uses them.
- Sometimes it may mean rebuilding the functionality on new cloud-based infrastructure.
- Many times, it means picking the most important features and incrementally building up the new application until it can replace the old one.
Responsive Web App Design
A modernization effort without design is a missed opportunity. The web has more flexibility and power than other platforms: Your new application can be so much more than a web version of the old app!
It’s common for engineering-led organizations to overlook those possibilities. Here’s how we help teams make the most of the web:
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Mobile-first app design
We helped pioneer mobile first responsive design techniques and know how powerful they can be for solving complex application design.
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Designing in the browser
Our designers all code. This means that we design in the medium instead of flat mockups. Our designs are interactive prototypes you can try for yourself to judge what works and what doesn’t.
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Design systems
Modern user interfaces are built up from smaller building blocks. Design systems define how these blocks should look and behave. They give your team the tools they need to rapidly create future interfaces.
Cutting-Edge Web Development Expertise
Your customers want fast, reliable, and intuitive applications. Unfortunately, many agencies and product developers are overly reliant on the tools they’re most comfortable with and don’t center the needs of the end user.
We’re different. We don’t see every problem as a nail that our favorite JavaScript framework can hammer away at. We tailor solutions for the product, team, and user experience without sacrificing the speed of the application.
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Web app development
Fast, modern web application development that puts your users and their experience at the forefront.
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Progressive web apps
Native-like experiences including app installation on your customer devices, push notifications, app stores, Apple Pay, sensors, and much more.
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Accessible applications
Reach a wider audience of users and open new opportunities with government and other organizations that require accessibility compliance.
We do all of these while being rigorous about our code quality, documentation and testing so you can be confident that your new application has been built on a solid foundation for the years to come.
Ensuring Your Team’s Success
We want the handoff to your team to be smooth. Sometimes this may mean leveling up your team if we’re using new technology they’re not familiar with. We offer several training and education options:
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Collaborative design and development
We don’t keep secrets. Your team will be able to follow along with all of our work and participate as much as they want to.
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Embed in our team
The best way to learn is to do. Have your team members embed in our team.
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Presentations and workshops on select topics
Sometimes a topic deserves focused time for learning.
Our greatest joy comes from learning that the people we worked with are still using what we taught them years after we stopped working together.
Proven Results
Our app modernization projects have resulted in significant rewards for our customers. One of our favorite success stories is ImageQuix, which was acquired by ASG thanks in part to the application we designed together:
Cloud Four really dug in to understand what our customers needed and how our business worked. The end result was not only an exceptional user experience, but because they designed the interfaces in code, it meant our developers were able to build Blueprint more quickly.
We chose Cloud Four for their web expertise, but what they delivered would be world-class on any platform. I’m so proud of what we accomplished together.
Mark Valente, ImageQuix Founder and CEO
Get a free consultation
Don’t settle for a refactor you’ll have to repeat in a few short years. Get in touch so we can help steer you in the right direction!