From legacy to innovation: AI applied to API and application modernization

A conversation about modernizing legacies through AI at APIX Experience Talks

More than updating technologies, modernizing legacies is about preserving the value built over the years while enabling the future.

This was the subject Alcebíades Araújo, AI Specialist, Rômulo Cioffi, Chief AI and Innovation Officer, and Haroldo Santos, Delivery Director, discussed at APIX Experience Talks, held during APIX 2025. In this article, we will gather the main insights from this episode.

Partnership that accelerates transformation

The conversation began by highlighting the partnership between Squadra and Sensedia, which has been expanding the impact of API management integration solutions.

We started seeing that Sensedia was with the same clients, on the other side of the wall, always delivering with excellence. We realized there was a lot of value in joining forces. - Rômulo Cioffi

Today, over 100 Squadra professionals are certified in Sensedia's technologies, working in sectors such as education, logistics, and insurance.

With the right positioning, we saw the business potential that Sensedia brought to many of our clients. - Haroldo Santos

The challenge of legacy systems

With decades of experience in digital transformation, Rômulo Cioffi provided an overview of the impacts that legacy systems still impose on organizations:

Legacies are part of companies' history, but they often compromise business evolution. Obsolete technologies, lack of documentation, and maintenance difficulties make modernization essential.

According to him, about 70% of the systems currently in operation are legacy, consuming resources that could be invested in innovation.

The concept of legacy is much broader. There's a lot of talk about the age of the software, but often, a system becomes a legacy faster than one might imagine, simply by no longer adapting to a new business scenario. - Rômulo Cioffi.

APIs as a bridge between the old and the new

At SQUADRA, one of the approaches adopted to modernize legacies is the strangler pattern technique, which allows for gradual migration through APIs.

The API connects the new system to the legacy, allowing them to coexist. This maintains the customer experience, and the transformation happens without disruptions. - Haroldo Santos

This strategy avoids direct coupling between systems and makes it possible to transform large architectures without immediate impact on operations.

AI as an accelerator for legacy modernization

Artificial intelligence is already a concrete ally in modernizing legacies, especially with the arrival of the Genius platform, developed by SQUADRA.

Genius is like a co-pilot. It applies intelligent agents to make modernization faster, safer, and more economical. - Rômulo Cioffi

In a case with a major national railway company, SQUADRA used Genius to document, redesign, and rebuild a system over 20 years old, achieving significant productivity gains.

The idea with this client was not to create something new, but to ensure that nothing was lost in the migration. We were able to do this much more efficiently with the support of AI and without needing to involve or occupy much of the business areas' time. - Haroldo Santos

Moving towards the future with AI and value

Concluding the episode, Rômulo Cioffi reinforced that SQUADRA's focus is on delivering business value, not just applying technology for its own sake.

We are not AI first. We are Value first, powered by AI. In other words, value comes first, and AI is the means to deliver that value. - Rômulo Cioffi.

SQUADRA's vision for the future of legacy modernization is collaborative, open, and committed to real client impact. With solid partnerships, like the one we maintain with Sensedia, and platforms like Genius, SQUADRA positions itself as a reference in the use of artificial intelligence to generate real value and in the modernization of complex legacy systems with applied AI.