Further development and modernization of a PHP system – how to go about it the smart way?

PHP systems have been the backbone of many businesses for years, but technology is constantly evolving. Every system’s lifecycle comes to an end at some point, and at some stage, you have to consider how to continue developing it. Modernization does not always mean a major overhaul – sometimes the most sensible solution is a gradual update that minimizes risks and costs.

A complete system overhaul is not always the only option – often, the existing system can be developed and modernized in stages. On the other hand, sometimes a comprehensive overhaul may be the best way to ensure that a business-critical system remains efficient and scalable in the future. At Hurja, we have helped many companies to further develop and modernize their PHP-based systems in a planned, controlled and cost-effective manner – without business operations suffering from lengthy downtime or maintenance costs spiraling out of control.

In this blog post, we’ll look at how you can get more out of your current system and how modernization can be carried out in a controlled manner.

Why do PHP systems need to be developed further?

Although the current version of the system is working at present, its future development may present challenges that could hinder business growth. Technological progress never stops, and without continuous development, the system may become slow, difficult to maintain and, ultimately, even a security risk. Here are the most common problems we have encountered with our clients.

It’s hard to find skilled workers

PHP remains one of the world’s most popular programming languages. PHP has been among the top 10 languages for years. At the time of writing, PHP is ranked 13th on the TIOBE Index. In 2024, it was still in 7th place, suggesting that its popularity is, however, on the wane. The TIOBE Index measures the popularity of programming languages worldwide.

The PHP ecosystem comprises several frameworks and versions that differ significantly from one another. Difficulties can arise, particularly with older, unupdated frameworks. Older frameworks, such as CakePHP and CodeIgniter, are less common these days, so it can be difficult to find developers who understand their structure and are able to develop them further effectively.

Technical debt is holding back progress

Technical debt is not just a problem visible at the code level; it can also significantly hamper business operations. The more technical debt accumulates in a system, the more difficult and expensive its maintenance and further development become. At its worst, the system can reach a point where it no longer supports business needs, and a overhaul must be carried out urgently – which can lead to service interruptions and additional costs.

Technical debt can be seen, for example, in changes to tax legislation where the software contains dozens of hard-coded VAT calculation rules. When regulations change, finding and updating all these points is time-consuming and prone to errors. This is one sign that the system’s maintainability has deteriorated and that technical debt is slowing down application development.

The impact of a lack of documentation on development work

In legacy systems, software development has often taken place over many years without proper documentation. When work begins on modernizing a system, the first challenge is to work out how it actually works – this requires time-consuming research.

We often come across systems where documentation is completely lacking, and understanding the code requires a significant amount of investigative work. Technological solutions can streamline documentation: documentation can be generated with the aid of AI, which speeds up the process considerably. Furthermore, auto-generation, good programming practices, code encapsulation and a clear separation of responsibilities improve the quality and clarity of documentation. However, even more important than documentation is code that is well-structured, created in accordance with best practice, and easy to read.

If the system’s code has grown uncontrollably without a clear structure, the only way to improve maintainability is through refactoring. When old code is reorganized and clarified, development work speeds up and the application remains easier to maintain.

Once the documentation has been brought up to date and the messy code has been refactored, system maintenance becomes easier and further development is significantly accelerated. However, the best documentation is always clear, well-structured code.

Developing and maintaining the system can be expensive

Maintaining legacy systems can be expensive, as they do not support modern solutions. If security updates cannot be applied to the system, or if adding new features always requires extensive customization, development costs can rise rapidly.

How should the system be modernized?

Modernizing a system can mean many things:

• Further development and analysis of performance bottlenecks to ensure the system remains operational.
• Combining the old with the new, with new features built using modern technologies.
• A complete overhaul, if the system no longer meets business needs or support has ended and it has reached the end of its life cycle.

The system can be optimized and more modern solutions introduced in a controlled manner through a three-stage approach, which helps to get more out of the current system and to transition towards more modern solutions in a controlled way.

Further development and performance optimization

The first step is to analyze the current state of the system and identify its main bottlenecks. Often, even minor changes – such as optimizing database queries – can significantly improve performance.

We have also encountered situations where a developer has to write dozens of lines of SQL code to process each relation, even though a modern ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) would handle the same task with a single method call. Not only does this slow down development work, but it also exposes the system to SQL injection attacks – that is, security vulnerabilities and performance issues – while making further development more difficult.

The development of new features using modern technologies

There is no need to separate the old from the new – often the best way forward is to develop new functionalities using more modern technologies, while keeping the old system in use. This makes it possible to modernize the system gradually without any downtime.

We have implemented solutions for our clients in which the core of the system remains unchanged, while new services are built using a more modern architecture. This allows new technologies to be introduced without having to rebuild the entire system from scratch.

A modular transition to the new system

Sometimes it becomes apparent that the best solution in the long term is to switch to a completely new technology. In this situation, there is no need to abandon the old system all at once; instead, it can be broken down in a controlled manner and migrated in stages to the new environment. This minimises risks and ensures business continuity during the transition phase.

How do you choose the right career path?

The further development and modernization of a PHP system can take place in many different ways, and the most important thing is to find the solution that best suits the business.

We at Hurja have helped many companies:

• To further develop and optimize its current system, so that it operates more quickly and efficiently.
• To update the PHP framework currently in use to a newer version, thereby ensuring that the system remains secure, high-performing and compatible with the latest versions of PHP.
• To build new features using modern technologies, without having to completely overhaul the old system all at once.
• To plan and implement the transition to the new system, in a phased and controlled manner.

If your system requires further development or modernization, please get in touch. Let’s work together to see how we can get more out of your system and develop it into a sustainable solution for the future.