Future-proofing agribusiness: how Senwes upgraded their Delphi-application for a cloud-oriented future

For an organization that has been the backbone of the South African agricultural sector for over a century, technological stagnation is not an option. Senwes faced a significant challenge: their core system for grain procurement was running on Delphi 5. In collaboration with GDK Software, Senwes transformed this legacy environment into a stable, modern platform ready for a cloud-oriented future..

The Driving Force Behind Grain Trading

Senwes operates across the entire agricultural value chain, from providing production inputs and financial services to grain procurement, storage, and marketing. At the heart of this operation lies EOCS, a bespoke, in-house system designed to manage commodity contracts.

“EOCS plays a critical role in facilitating core trading and operational processes within the business,” says Jaco Roux, Lead Developer at Senwes. “It is used by Grainlink to manage the end-to-end processes involved in grain procurement. By providing a single source of truth, the application enables more efficient operations, better decision-making, and improved control over contractual obligations.”

The Necessity of Modernization

While the system had served the company well for years, the mounting technical debt became a serious risk. The application was built on Delphi 5, a version that by 2025 was long out of support.

Roux explains: “The legacy version was increasingly difficult to maintain, enhance, and secure. Relying on an unsupported legacy platform for a core business application is not sustainable in the long term. It introduced significant audit and operational risk.”

The decision to modernize rather than fully rebuild was a strategic one. A full rebuild would have involved significantly higher costs, complexity, and a much longer delivery timeline. By modernizing, Senwes could preserve critical business functionality while immediately eliminating technical risks.

A Partnership Defined by Ownership

For this complex transition, Senwes sought a partner with industry-leading Delphi expertise. They chose GDK Software. “GDK has a proven track record of successfully delivering modernization projects,” Roux notes. “This gave us confidence in their ability to manage the technical complexity of the upgrade while minimizing risk to a critical business application.”

Roux describes the collaboration as highly effective and hands-on. “GDK’s strong work ethic and clear sense of ownership stood out in particular. They took full responsibility for the quality and success of the modernization effort, treating the application as if it were their own and consistently delivering with professionalism and commitment.”