{"id":8176,"date":"2025-09-03T09:17:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.version1.com\/en-us\/?p=8176"},"modified":"2026-07-23T10:47:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:47:02","slug":"fast-track-visual-basic-vb-modernisation-with-generative-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.version1.com\/en-us\/fast-track-visual-basic-vb-modernisation-with-generative-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast-track Visual Basic (VB) modernisation with Generative AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you followed my previous article on the challenges of killing COBOL<\/a>, you\u2019ll know I\u2019m passionate about modernising legacy technology.<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019m turning my attention to another stalwart of technology; Visual Basic (VB). Like COBOL, VB boasts a remarkable legacy, as evidenced by the fact that across every sector, VB applications are still running critical parts of our customer\u2019s IT estates.<\/p>\n

However, times have changed and it now faces many challenges. Let\u2019s explore these difficulties; why VB modernisation has been so demanding and how Generative AI can help.<\/p>\n

VB challenges<\/h2>\n

End-of-life technology<\/h3>\n

VB6 support ended in 2008 and VB.NET is now inactive*<\/p>\n

A shrinking talent pool<\/h3>\n

Experienced VB developers are retiring<\/p>\n

Mounting operational risk<\/h3>\n

Due to use of unpatched 20-year-old software which has known vulnerabilities that enable exploits such as the Vilsel and ILOVEYOU worms. Referenced in Forbes, 2020**<\/p>\n

System architecture<\/h3>\n

Limiting customer\u2019s ability to move to cloud and retire thick client applications<\/p>\n

For years, many organisations took the same approach: do nothing. Park those VB applications in a corner and hope they continue working.<\/p>\n

*VB6 support ended in 2008<\/a>
\n**Forbes, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

From digital transformation to intelligent transformation<\/h2>\n

Historically, the primary driver for modernisation was purely technology obsolescence, enabling cloud adoption and driving the digital transformation agenda – that\u2019s no longer the case. Today, consumer expectations have shifted (especially since the pandemic \u2013 <a href="https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/capabilities\/growth-marketing-and-sales\/our-insights\/emerging-consumer-trends-in-a-post-covid-19-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emerging consumer trends in a post COVID 19 world, McKinsey & Company<\/a>), and those expectations are bleeding into the enterprise:<\/p>\n

Conversational experiences powered by natural language interfaces<\/p>\n

Adaptive services that evolve seamlessly as business needs change<\/p>\n

Personalised journeys informed by data and context<\/p>\n

Predictive capabilities that identify and address issues before they arise<\/p>\n

Automated workflows that eliminate friction and manual effort<\/p>\n

\n

The next wave of modernisation will be driven by the need for intelligent transformation \u2014 creating systems designed to anticipate and meet the needs of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

John Bolger, Head of Application Modernisation<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why VB modernisation has been so challenging<\/h3>\n

Easy to say but harder to do – the simple truth is that modernising VB estates has historically been slow, expensive, and high risk.<\/p>\n

Differences in system architecture made the modernisation path from VB6 to VB.NET or C# very difficult and large-scale rewrite projects often came with five-year timelines, multi-million-pound budgets, and significant disruption to business operations.<\/p>\n

The complexity of legacy systems (combined with limited in-house knowledge) made these programmes daunting to even the most ambitious IT leaders.<\/p>\n

Generative AI will unleash modernisation at scale<\/h3>\n

Generative AI and its genuinely game changing coding abilities has opened the door to an entirely new approach to legacy modernisation.<\/p>\n

Previously, we would have relied entirely on deterministic rules-based approaches which produced transformed code that was complex, verbose and difficult to understand, thus limiting their value \u2013 a route we would not generally have advised our customers to take.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re seeing emerge now as a standard pattern is the effective combination of these technologies:<\/p>\n