Reflecting Forward: A 2025 Retrospective
As 2025 comes to an end, I am reflecting on one of the most pivotal years in Thinkwise’s history. The rapid rise of AI, the growing urgency around legacy modernization, and the global debate on the future of enterprise software have profoundly reshaped our industry. And in many ways, these developments have confirmed what we at Thinkwise have always believed:
Modernization is not a technical exercise — it is a strategic evolution.
It protects the business logic organizations have built over decades while eliminating the technical debt that holds them back.
This year, that belief became a reality for more organizations than ever before.
A Breakthrough Year: Introducing the AI Upcycler for RPG
In 2025, we launched a milestone innovation for IBM i organizations: the AI Upcycler for RPG.
More than a code converter, the Upcycler interprets, preserves, and elevates decades of business logic into a modern, model-driven Thinkwise application — giving RPG developers new possibilities to optimize and evolve their applications, while allowing organizations to continue leveraging their trusted IBM hardware.
It enables organizations to:
- Retain the competitive intelligence hidden in thousands of RPG programs
- Eliminate technical debt instead of recreating it
- Avoid risky multi-year rewrites
- Modernize step-by-step with minimal disruption
The first customer projects are showing promising progress and are beginning to validate what we have long advocated:
AI-supported, model-driven modernization is the safest, fastest, and most sustainable path forward.
2025 Market Reality: The Industry Codes Faster — We Modernize Smarter
Across the industry, major hyperscalers invested heavily in AI-assisted coding and automated refactoring — impressive technologies, but still anchored in the traditional coding paradigm:
- The outcome is still code
- Technical debt remains — only reshaped
- AI-generated logic requires extensive review
- Systems begin to age the moment they go live
It is modernization at the speed of coding, not at the speed of business.
Even new approaches such as Vibe Coding, while more intuitive, ultimately produce the same opaque, complex code that must be governed and maintained.
Enterprise transformation requires more than generating better code.
It requires structure, determinism, and a platform that never becomes legacy again.
And this is exactly where Thinkwise stands apart.
Our Philosophy: Transform – Optimize – Accelerate
This year, our guiding philosophy resonated more strongly than ever, reflected in the overwhelmingly positive feedback at the Thinkwise Summit 2025.
Transform - We elevate organizations into a model-driven future while preserving their unique business logic.
Optimize - We streamline and unify processes, so applications evolve coherently and efficiently.
Accelerate - We empower continuous innovation on a platform designed to stay evergreen — ensuring systems never become legacy again.
This is more than a methodology.
It is the mindset behind everything we build.
Celebrating Our Culture: A Great Place to Work™
A proud moment of 2025 was earning our official Great Place to Work™ certification.
For us, this recognition goes beyond workplace satisfaction — it validates the culture that fuels our innovation.
Trust, openness, and real collaboration define Thinkwise. A team that feels valued creates better solutions, builds deeper partnerships, and drives meaningful transformation.
Our culture is not just visible in our products — it is embedded in how we work together every day.
Looking Ahead: A New Era of Modernization
As we move into 2026, the future of enterprise modernization will no longer be about refactoring code or rebuilding the past. Instead, we are entering a new era shaped by the convergence of model-driven architecture and AI-accelerated development.
Organizations increasingly recognize that sustainable evolution is achieved not by rewriting logic into a new codebase, but by elevating their business model onto a platform that adapts intelligently over time.
AI will accelerate this shift — not by generating more code, but by:
- Interpreting legacy structures
- Supporting developers
- Guiding design decisions
- Speeding up delivery
With the introduction of the Universal UI, the Software Factory becomes a fully web-based, device-agnostic environment — including macOS and Linux.
And with PostgreSQL arriving in early 2026, we are embracing open, community-driven technology that aligns perfectly with our philosophy of transparency and independence.
In parallel, we are continuing to lower the barrier to entry for modern application development. With Thinkwise Cloud, we are extending our Technology as a Service strategy by making the Thinkwise Platform easier to adopt, operate, and scale. By taking responsibility for platform operation and lifecycle management, we allow organizations to move faster from idea to a running application – while preserving full freedom of choice in how and where Thinkwise is deployed. Thinkwise Cloud complements existing deployment models and reflects our commitment to letting customers focus entirely on what matters most: building and continuously evolving their business applications.
Together, these developments are shaping a world where application landscapes are evergreen, modular, and resilient — where modernization becomes a continuous capability rather than a disruptive project.
For Thinkwise, this future is already taking shape.
Closing Reflections
2025 reminded us of a simple truth:
Organizations don’t modernize because technology changes — they modernize because their business must continue to evolve.
Evolution requires more than tools. It requires a platform, a philosophy, and a partner committed to long-term success.
To our customers, partners, and colleagues:
Thank you for your trust, your vision, and your collaboration. The energy we felt this year is helping to shape the path ahead.
Here’s to a transformative 2025 — and to an even more ambitious 2026.
Victor Klaren
Chief Visionary Officer, Thinkwise