Modernizing Flagship Platform for a Market Research Firm

DBB Software inherited a legacy Magento setup with no version control, no staging environment, and an outdated PHP 7.4 runtime. We rebuilt the engineering foundation and modernized the PHP runtime in production via Docker, eliminating the recurring 502 errors while upgrading to the current Magento version.

Industry

Technology

Service

Infrastructure Services

Team

1 Project Manager, 1 Full-Stack Developer

Project State

October 2025 - Ongoing

Country

Bulgaria

About the Client

Williams & Marshall Strategy is a Sofia-based market research and consulting firm founded in 2014. The company maintains a catalog of 400,000+ syndicated market research reports and delivers custom research solutions to clients across industries worldwide. WMStrategy operates from headquarters in Bulgaria with an additional office in Bangkok, Thailand, serving enterprise buyers and strategy teams that depend on accurate market data.

wm-strategy.com

The Challenge

WMStrategy engaged DBB Software to modernize a legacy Magento e-commerce platform that had been carrying the business with no version control, no staging environment, and an outdated PHP 7.4 runtime.

Version Control & Deployment Discipline

Introduce Git workflows and a separate staging environment so changes could be reviewed and tested before reaching the live store.

Magento Upgrade and Optimization

Upgrade Magento to the current version and optimize platform performance, with a modern PHP runtime as the foundation that the upgrade requires.

Platform Stability

Eliminate recurring 502 errors and optimize backend performance to keep the report catalog available to buyers.

Email-Driven Inquiry Pipeline

Build a clean architecture for product request emails so that custom research inquiries route reliably and the pattern can be extended to future workflows.

Solutions We Delivered

DBB Software approached the engagement as a phased modernization, establishing engineering discipline first, then unblocking the platform's upgrade path while keeping the live store running.

Magento Platform Upgrade

Moved into the active Magento upgrade phase, migrating off the older platform version, retiring deprecated code, and clearing the way for ongoing feature work on the current Magento version.

Engineering Foundations

Set up Git for version control and built a separate staging environment on the existing server, establishing a development flow that lets engineers review changes and test them in isolation before shipping to the live store.

Containerized PHP Runtime

Containerized PHP-FPM with Docker, which let the team run a modern PHP version on top of the older host OS without a disruptive server replacement. The container approach also isolates the runtime from the host system, simplifying future upgrades.

PHP 7.4 to 8.1 Migration via Docker

We migrated the platform from PHP 7.4 to 8.1. The runtime modernization is complete and leaves the platform on a flexible foundation that supports further upgrades, including the upcoming move to PHP 8.4.

Stability and Inquiry Pipeline

Diagnosed and fixed the recurring 502 errors that had been interrupting report sales. On the product side, the team designed and built an email pipeline for custom research inquiries with an architecture that supports further extension as the business adds new request workflows.

Results Achieved

Zero 502 Errors

The recurring 502 outages that had been interrupting report sales are gone. Buyers can browse and purchase reports without the platform timing out.

Production-Grade Development Flow

A staging environment, along with Git-based change management, replaces the previous ad-hoc edits, giving the team a safe place to test changes before they hit live customers.

Magento Upgrade in Progress

The team is actively upgrading from the legacy Magento release to the current version, removing the platform's dependency on outdated core code and opening the door for new feature work.

Inquiry Pipeline Ready for Growth

The new email-based product request architecture handles current custom research inquiries and gives the business a reusable pattern for adding new request workflows.

Modernize Your Legacy E-Commerce Stack Without a Rebuild

DBB Software stabilizes legacy platforms and clears the path to modern runtimes.

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