Building a Digital Marketplace on Legacy Systems

Need: overlay AI technology on legacy systems to create a secure, futures-based marketplace.

The Challenge

One of the largest wholesale perishable distribution and cold-chain logistics companies in the United States had a vision to transform how buyers and sellers of perishable products transact. The goal was a secure digital marketplace that connects suppliers, integrates ERP systems, and enables a futures-based buying and selling environment from one platform.

The vision was clear, but the legacy infrastructure was not built to support a modern marketplace. Traditional development would have required significant investment, lengthy timelines, and ongoing dependence on outside development resources. The company needed a faster, smarter path forward.

About FlAigship.ai with the WOPR Framework

FlAigship is a rapid AI development service focused on resolving IT-backlog projects, technical debt, and operational behavior-training change. It is Barnet Associates' AI leadership framework focused on EBITDA. WOPR is the accompanying AI-assisted project-management methodology.

Together, the framework and process design, develop, implement, train, deploy, host, and maintain solutions for operational EBITDA results. The approach helps organizations increase revenue, lower expenses, reduce IT backlog, and address technical debt through practical enterprise execution.

The Solution

Using FlAigship, Barnet Associates designed, delivered, and maintains a secure, enterprise-grade marketplace that brings buyers and sellers together through a centralized platform built for the customer's business.

The solution integrates supplier ERP systems, provides enterprise-level hosting and security, and gives internal administrators control of marketplace operations through an intuitive web interface. A 48-hour service-level agreement for infrastructure, maintenance, troubleshooting, and feature requests allows the business to evolve at the speed of the market.

Business Impact

A new model for perishable-product trade.

The futures-based digital marketplace changes how perishable products are bought and sold. Buyers can transact on both existing and future pipelines, reducing risk in future purchases while giving sellers greater visibility into future demand.

The Results

Approximately 10× faster bid-and-ask transactions between buyers and sellers.
Supplier ERP systems integrated into a centralized futures marketplace.
Enterprise-grade hosting, security, and platform management.
New functionality delivered in days rather than months.
Simplified administration through an easy-to-use browser-based interface.
A platform positioning the company as an innovation leader in wholesale floral and cold-chain logistics.

The marketplace creates an entirely new digital business model that will continue generating value long after the initial implementation.

Executive Perspective

“For decades, companies have accepted that enterprise software projects have to be slow, expensive, and difficult. We don't believe that's true anymore. By combining AI with experienced solution architects, we're helping organizations build strategic platforms in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional development. For this client, the expected impact is an estimated 3% improvement in EBITDA and an estimated return on investment approaching 2,500%. That's not simply a technology win—it's a business transformation.”Evan Barnet, CEO, Barnet Associates

Ready to build your next competitive advantage?

Whether you're modernizing legacy infrastructure, creating a digital marketplace, or eliminating IT backlog and reducing operating expenses, Barnet Associates can help you move from concept to production faster.

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