Future-Proofing SigmaNEST: From Legacy Constraint to Competitive Advantage

Client: SigmaNEST (a Sandvik company) | Industry: CAD/CAM Manufacturing Software | Project: "Connect" Web Platform Modernization

How we helped a global software leader swap their essential business data warehouse without slowing down day to day operations.

The Task: 

SigmaNEST provides critical software to manufacturers worldwide, but their systems  were stuck in the past. Employees and customers were separated by a black box: support fragmented across email chains and static knowledge bases, and the data behind those relationships locked inside Netsuite, a legacy ERP framework  the client described as "unwieldy, challenging, and slow."

Three things made this engagement harder than a typical modernization:

• The Merger: SigmaNEST operates under parent company Sandvik after a complex merger. Three internal divisions were competing for space on the same platform roadmap.
• The Technical Debt: Netsuite's API was still in beta and unreliable, which made real-time data integration nearly impossible.
• The Curveball: Late in the engagement, SigmaNEST decided to abandon Netsuite for Salesforce entirely: a fundamental change to the source of truth for all business data, and one that put the whole architecture at risk.

The Solution: A Translation Layer, Not a Dependency

When SigmaNEST made the Salesforce decision, we had to rethink the architecture. Hard-coding connections to a single ERP was a liability either way, so we rebuilt "Connect" around a layer that translates between what the platform's users need to do and wherever the underlying data actually lives, whether that's Netsuite, Salesforce, or whatever system comes next.

1. Architectural Decoupling. We re-engineered the backend to build an abstraction layer that separated the business logic (what the user needs to do) from the data source (where the information lives). That turned Connect into a transition hub: SigmaNEST could swap its underlying data engine from Netsuite to Salesforce incrementally, migrating workflows without disrupting the people using the platform every day.

2. Modernizing in Place. We met SigmaNEST where they were. We took their existing .NET Framework application and brought it up to modern enterprise standards: adding Azure 

Functions to sync data between the two ERPs, migrating the codebase to .NET 8, and caching Netsuite data for faster page loads. That gave SigmaNEST a foundation that could keep pace as they modernized further, instead of one that would need to be rebuilt for the next system change.

The Impact: From Portal to Core Business Asset

Decoupling the architecture turned what could have been a project-killing scope change into one of the engagement's clearest wins. "Connect" is no longer just a website; it's the central system of SigmaNEST's customer operations.

Agility in Action. A major backend migration doesn't have to freeze a business. Connect let SigmaNEST change its core ERP system while keeping the front-end experience stable, something the previous architecture couldn't have supported.

A Platform for What's Next (AI Co-Pilot). Freeing the platform from a single ERP also freed the team to build on top of it. Connect now hosts the SigmaNEST Co-Pilot, an AI-powered chatbot that handles routine customer questions without a support ticket.

Transforming Relationships. We replaced the email-chain support model with one connected platform:

• Cross-App Authentication. Customers used to juggle separate logins for the private knowledge base, the feature request service, and the rest of Connect. Now it's one login for everything, a change that makes a real difference for user experience.
• Total Transparency. Customers and partners manage support cases and view business data in real time, instead of waiting on email replies for basic status updates.

The Bottom Line

Through the ERP transition, SigmaNEST kept shipping new Connect features on schedule instead of freezing the roadmap until the migration was done. SigmaNEST ended up with more than a modernized website. They got a platform that can keep evolving no matter what system sits behind it.