From Legacy Risk to Strategic Asset: How Sisense Secured 20 Year of Innovation
The Analytics Empire
When you’ve been building business intelligence solutions since 2004, you accumulate both wisdom and technical debt. Sisense, the global leader behind the Fusion Platform, serves thousands of customers across healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and technology—embedding intelligence directly into the tools people use every day.
Founded in 2004, Sisense has grown into a global company with approximately 500 employees, establishing itself as a leading business intelligence and analytics provider. Their core product, the Sisense Fusion Platform, represents an advanced analytics solution that empowers businesses to embed intelligence directly into their products and workflows.
“Our core product is the Sisense Fusion Platform—an advanced analytics solution that empowers businesses to embed intelligence directly into their products and workflows. We focus on delivering powerful, scalable, and secure analytics experiences that can be deeply embedded into our customers’ customer experience workflows.” — Sisense
The Discovery Phase: 20 Years of Innovation Meets Modern Reality
The Legacy Assessment
As a company with two decades of innovation, Sisense discovered that parts of its platform were still running on AngularJS 1.9. These components remained critical to customer operations but posed growing compliance risks in regulated industries like healthcare and finance. The platform had evolved organically over twenty years, with each generation of technology building upon the last.
The Compliance Reality Check
The unsupported framework created serious concerns around HIPAA, SOC 2, and other compliance standards that were non-negotiable for their enterprise customers. With customers heavily relying on these legacy components, the team needed to ensure continued stability and security without disrupting the product roadmap that kept them competitive.
Strategic Decision Point
Rather than rush into a disruptive rewrite, Sisense needed a reliable, long-term solution to keep these technologies secure and compliant while maintaining its commitment to customers and preserving engineering focus on innovation.
“As a company with a 20-year history, parts of our platform were still running on legacy technologies — most notably AngularJS 1.9. While these components remained critical to our customers, they posed growing risks around security and compliance, particularly with HIPAA, SOC 2, and other compliance standards.” — Sisense
The Challenge Matrix: Enterprise-Grade Complexity
Sisense faced a multi-dimensional challenge that would be familiar to any enterprise software company serving regulated industries.
HIPAA Compliance Pressure
Healthcare customers required continued regulatory alignment, and any security gaps could jeopardize these critical relationships.
SOC 2 Requirements
Enterprise security standards couldn’t be compromised. Their SOC 2 certification was fundamental to maintaining trust with large corporate clients.
Product Roadmap Preservation
Innovation couldn’t be delayed by legacy maintenance. Sisense’s competitive advantage depended on continuous platform evolution and new feature development.
Customer Commitment Integrity
Some customers relied heavily on these legacy components, requiring Sisense to ensure their continued stability and security without disrupting established workflows.
“We needed a reliable, long-term solution to keep these technologies secure and compliant — without disrupting our product roadmap or customer experience.” — Sisense
The Strategic Solution: Bridge Building, Not Bridge Burning
After careful evaluation, Sisense partnered with HeroDevs to implement their Never-Ending Support program for AngularJS. This wasn’t just a tactical fix—it was a strategic decision that aligned with their long-term technology evolution plans.
The HeroDevs Advantage
HeroDevs provided a critical bridge between legacy stability and future modernization through several key capabilities:
- Security Assurance: Ongoing vulnerability monitoring and patching ensured continued compliance with HIPAA, SOC 2, and other regulatory frameworks.
- Zero Disruption: Support allowed them to maintain legacy components without rewriting them immediately, preserving the stability of customer-facing experiences.
- Strategic Flexibility: With HeroDevs handling the security risk, engineering teams could focus on rebuilding components in modern frameworks on their own timeline.
“HeroDevs provided a critical bridge between legacy stability and future modernization through their Never-Ending Support program. Their solution gave us continued access to security patches, compliance updates, and expert-level maintenance for AngularJS 1.9 — despite it being officially unsupported.” — Sisense
Key Service Elements
The most relevant aspects of HeroDevs’ service for Sisense were:
- Proactive Security Management: Regular vulnerability scanning and immediate patching for newly discovered exploits
- Browser Compatibility Maintenance: Ensuring applications continued working with modern browsers and security standards
- Expert Support Team: Technical professionals who understood both legacy architectures and modern enterprise requirements
“Their approach aligned perfectly with our needs — secure, reliable, and unobtrusive support that let us maintain business continuity while planning our long-term technology evolution.” — Sisense
Implementation: Engineering Excellence in Action
The Three-Phase Execution
- Drop-in replacement. Sisense replaced their existing AngularJS package with the HeroDevs NES version. The upgrade required no code refactoring or architectural changes, thanks to the 1:1 API compatibility.
- Validation and testing. After the swap, they ran their standard regression and security tests to validate that everything worked as expected. The transition was seamless and required no functional changes to their application.
- Ongoing confidence. With NES AngularJS in place, Sisense now receives ongoing security patches and compliance support from HeroDevs, ensuring alignment with HIPAA, SOC 2, and other regulatory requirements.
Technical Implementation Example
The implementation demonstrated the power of simplicity:
// Before: Standard AngularJS 1.9
{
"dependencies": {
"angular": "1.9.0",
"angular-route": "1.9.0",
"angular-resource": "1.9.0"
}
}
// After: HeroDevs NES Angular
{
"dependencies": {
"@herodevs/angular": "1.9.0-nes.1",
"@herodevs/angular-route": "1.9.0-nes.1",
"@herodevs/angular-resource": "1.9.0-nes.1"
}
}
// Zero code refactoring required
// Full API compatibility maintained
// Immediate security coverage
“The implementation of HeroDevs’ solution was simple, efficient, and required minimal disruption to our development workflow. HeroDevs provided us with their Never-Ending Support (NES) version of AngularJS—a drop-in replacement for our existing AngularJS 1.9 framework.” — Sisense
The Transformation Data: Measurable Impact
Resource Allocation Optimization
One of the most compelling aspects of Sisense’s transformation was the measurable shift in how their engineering team allocated time and resources.
Before NES AngularJS:
- Security maintenance: 15%
- Product innovation: 20%
- Front-end optimization: 65%
After NES AngularJS:
- Security maintenance: 5%
- Product innovation: 25%
- Front-end optimization: 70%
This 10% reduction in maintenance overhead translated directly into increased capacity for product innovation and strategic modernization efforts.
“By offloading legacy AngularJS support to HeroDevs, our front-end team reduced maintenance overhead by 10%, being able to allocate this time for product innovation.” — Sisense
Enterprise-Grade Results
The partnership with HeroDevs delivered immediate and measurable benefits:
- 100% Vulnerability Remediation: Complete elimination of all known AngularJS 1.9 vulnerabilities, bringing the platform back to a fully supported state.
- Zero Downtime Implementation: The drop-in nature of the NES AngularJS replacement meant no disruption to customers or internal teams during the transition.
- Full Compliance Alignment: The upgrade ensured continued compliance with key regulatory standards, including HIPAA and SOC 2, without requiring immediate refactoring.
- Accelerated Modernization: With HeroDevs handling long-term legacy support, engineering teams could reallocate time toward modernizing the front end, improving overall velocity.
- Sprint-Speed Implementation: The implementation was completed in under two weeks, including testing and validation—an exceptionally fast turnaround for a solution with long-term strategic impact.
“Partnering with HeroDevs delivered immediate and measurable benefits to Sisense by addressing a critical security and compliance gap in our legacy front-end architecture.” — Sisense
The Analytics Company Advantage: Strategic Intelligence
Compliance as Competitive Edge
Sisense’s experience demonstrates how proactive security management can become a competitive differentiator rather than just a cost center. By maintaining HIPAA, SOC 2, and ISO compliance while modernizing, they reinforced their position as a trusted partner for enterprise and regulated industries.
“In the analytics business, trust is everything,” reflects Sisense. “Our customers are embedding our platform into their most critical business processes. When they know we’re proactive about security and compliance, it strengthens every customer relationship.”
Engineering Velocity Optimization
The 10% reduction in maintenance overhead wasn’t just about numbers—it represented a fundamental shift in how the engineering team could focus their efforts:
- Strategic Resource Allocation: “With HeroDevs handling legacy security, our engineers could focus on what they do best—building innovative analytics capabilities that differentiate us in the market.”
- Quality Over Urgency: The solution allowed for thoughtful modernization rather than rushed rewrites. “We gained the luxury of time to plan our technology evolution properly, which ultimately leads to better architectural decisions.”
- Customer Impact Amplification: The freed-up engineering capacity translated directly into faster feature delivery and better customer experiences.
Risk Management Excellence
The zero-disruption implementation proved that security improvements don’t require operational sacrifices in enterprise environments:
- Business Continuity: No customer experienced any service interruption during the transition.
- Stakeholder Confidence: Leadership gained confidence in the team’s ability to manage technology risk proactively.
- Vendor Partnership Model: The success established a template for future strategic technology partnerships.
“The simplicity of the process, combined with the long-term support HeroDevs provides, gave us immediate security coverage and peace of mind—without pulling resources away from product innovation or customer delivery.” — Sisense
Lessons for Analytics and BI Leaders
The Legacy Advantage Paradigm
Sisense’s story challenges the conventional wisdom that legacy technology is purely a liability. When properly secured and maintained, mature platforms can become competitive advantages:
- Stability as Strength: Twenty years of development created robust, battle-tested components that customers depend on.
- Customer Relationship Preservation: Maintaining existing functionality preserved established customer workflows and relationships.
- Strategic Planning Freedom: Security bridge solutions enabled strategic rather than reactive technology decisions.
The Partnership Multiplier Effect
The collaboration with HeroDevs illustrated how specialized partnerships can amplify internal capabilities:
- Focus Enhancement: By outsourcing specialized security maintenance, internal teams could focus on core competencies.
- Expertise Access: Gained access to AngularJS security expertise without hiring specialized staff.
- Risk Distribution: Shared technology risk with specialists, reducing overall organizational exposure.
Data-Driven Technology Decisions
As an analytics company, Sisense approached their technology challenge with the same data-driven methodology they advocate for their customers:
- Quantified Impact: Measured resource allocation changes to validate the solution’s effectiveness.
- ROI Calculation: Evaluated the business value of engineering time savings against solution costs.
- Continuous Monitoring: Established metrics to track ongoing benefits and optimization opportunities.
“By mitigating security risks without delaying our roadmap, HeroDevs enabled us to protect both our customers and our engineering focus—delivering long-term value with minimal lift.” — Sisense
The Future-Forward Perspective
The Regulated Industry Playbook
For companies serving healthcare, finance, and other regulated industries, Sisense’s approach offers a proven framework:
- Assess compliance gaps thoroughly before making technology decisions.
- Evaluate bridge solutions that address specific risks without requiring complete rebuilds.
- Partner strategically with specialists who understand regulatory requirements.
- Measure and optimize resource allocation to maximize business value.
- Communicate proactively with customers about security and compliance commitments.
Strategic Technology Evolution
The partnership positioned Sisense for long-term success by enabling strategic rather than reactive technology planning:
- Modernization on Their Timeline: Engineering teams could plan Angular-to-modern framework migrations based on business priorities rather than security urgencies.
- Customer-Centric Development: Preserved focus on customer needs rather than internal technical debt.
- Competitive Differentiation: Maintained development velocity while competitors might struggle with legacy security issues.
“By partnering with HeroDevs and implementing their NES AngularJS solution, we not only closed critical security gaps in our legacy codebase, but also reinforced Sisense’s position as a trusted partner for enterprise and regulated industries. With ongoing support for outdated frameworks, we can confidently demonstrate our commitment to compliance and risk management.” — Sisense
For analytics and business intelligence leaders facing similar legacy technology challenges, Sisense’s transformation demonstrates that the right partnership can turn potential liabilities into competitive advantages—all while maintaining the security, compliance, and customer experience standards that enterprise success demands.
Sisense continues to lead the business intelligence and analytics industry, serving thousands of customers worldwide with its Fusion Platform for embedded analytics.