Modernizing Legacy Databases: 5 Common Challenges (and How to Overcome Them Faster)

Legacy databases aren’t just aging, they’re actively holding your business back. 

With over $200 billion spent annually on database licenses and more than $2 trillion in tech debt across U.S. enterprises, the cost of not migrating is growing fast. Yet many organizations continue to delay modernization efforts due to the slow, risky, and manual nature of traditional database migrations.

But what if the real blockers weren’t technical, but based on outdated assumptions? This is why we launched Caylent Accelerate™— to rewrite the rules of database modernization.

With an approach that harnesses the power of AWS and AI automation from end to end, Caylent Accelerate™ can help your organization migrate and modernize databases up to 3x faster—while dramatically reducing effort, risk, and cost.

In this post, we break down five common assumptions teams make around legacy database modernization challenges and how new approaches are helping organizations tackle them faster, more efficiently, and with less risk.

Challenge 1: Modernization Takes Too Long

What we hear: “We don’t have the time or resources to commit to a months-long migration.”

What’s changing: Automation is shrinking migration timelines by up to 70%.

The solution: By combining large language models (LLMs) with AWS-native tooling, Caylent Accelerate™ helps automate time-consuming tasks such as stored procedure translation, test case generation, and dependency mapping, speeding up every stage of the process.

The result: Migration timelines are reduced from months to weeks, allowing your team to focus on innovation instead of remediation.

Challenge 2: We Can’t Afford to Move Off Our Existing Licenses

What we hear: “The cost of change seems higher than staying put.”

What’s changing: As licensing and infrastructure costs rise, staying put will be the more expensive choice in the long run.

The solution: Caylent Accelerate™ is purpose-built to help organizations move off expensive, proprietary platforms like Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server and transition to open-source databases like PostgreSQL on AWS.

The result: Migrating to open-source databases such as PostgreSQL on AWS can eliminate licensing fees and reduce infrastructure overhead, unlocking long-term savings and greater flexibility. By consolidating your tech stack and eliminating outdated licensing models, you can reinvest in innovation instead of maintenance.

Challenge 3: Migrations Are Too Risky

What we hear: “We can’t afford disruptions to critical systems.”

What’s changing: You don’t have to choose between speed, cost, and accuracy.

The solution: Caylent Accelerate™ combines AI-powered automation with expert validation to reduce that risk. Built on Amazon Bedrock, the platform automatically translates SQL, maps architecture, and creates test-ready outputs, all while enabling expert teams to review and approve critical steps along the way. This “human-in-the-loop” model ensures speed without sacrificing precision.

The result: Critical systems stay stable throughout the migration, with fewer errors, smoother transitions, and greater confidence at every step.

Challenge 4: Even If We Migrate, We’ll Still Be Stuck with a Clunky Architecture

What we hear: “A lift-and-shift won’t help us innovate.”

What’s changing: Modernization isn’t just about moving, it’s about transforming.

The solution: Caylent Accelerate™ does more than move data. It transforms your infrastructure into something that’s scalable, modern, and built for long-term growth. As an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Premier Tier Services Partner, Caylent provides seamless support for Amazon Aurora, Amazon RDS, and Amazon Redshift. Caylent Accelerate™ helps you move toward a cloud-native, AI-ready platform—one that’s prepared for analytics, machine learning, and future innovation.

The result: A more streamlined and maintainable architecture that reduces operational overhead and supports future initiatives, such as analytics, automation, and AI. 

Challenge 5: We Don’t Know Where to Start

What we hear: “We need a roadmap before we can take action.”

What’s changing: You can get one without committing to a project.

The solution: Caylent offers a free Database Modernization Analysis. It includes a detailed assessment of your SQL environment, securely under NDA, and a directional estimate of:

• AI-powered migration timelines
• Project complexity and effort
• Potential cost savings

No signed statement of work is required to get started. You’ll walk away with a clear modernization path before you ever commit.

The result: You get the data you need to make an informed decision, complete with effort estimates, cost considerations, and a clear modernization roadmap, before investing time or resources.

Modernization Doesn’t Have to Be a Struggle

The database modernization journey doesn’t have to be long, expensive, or disruptive.

With Caylent Accelerate™, you can cut through the complexity, accelerate results, and unlock the infrastructure you need to scale—3x faster.

Get started today with a complimentary database modernization analysis.