Test automation for legacy apps: Better strategies for long-term reliability

Legacy applications remain the backbone of critical systems in industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. But for QA managers, team leads, and testers, these aging systems can be a source of friction – difficult to maintain, fragile to test, and incompatible with modern tools. Many teams are stuck relying on manual testing or inefficient processes, held back by outdated technologies, missing documentation, and strict security or compliance demands.

As businesses look to modernize, testing these legacy applications becomes more essential –and more challenging. Rewriting isn't always an option, but continuing without automation puts quality, speed, and reliability at risk. The good news: automation is possible, even for your most complex, thick-client desktop or sensitive systems.

This eBook offers a strategic guide for testing legacy apps with modern tools. It explores the pain points QA teams face and provides actionable best practices for improving visibility, maintaining reliability, enhancing security, and scaling intelligently. It also highlights how SmartBear TestComplete empowers every skill level – from manual testers to seasoned engineers – to automate even the most stubborn legacy environments using AI, OCR, and self-healing capabilities.

At the end of the day - legacy doesn’t have to mean outdated. With the right approach, you can future-proof your QA strategy and keep legacy systems running strong without sacrificing speed, security, or quality.