Application Management Services
Our application management services keep the software your business depends on running and improving. Senior engineers fix issues, apply updates, and add features, whether we built the application or inherited it from another team.
Senior support team
Fixes, updates, new features
MONITORING
- Custom apps
- Integrations
- Legacy systems
APPLICATIONS IN PRODUCTION
What Is Application Support and Maintenance?
Application support and maintenance is the ongoing work that keeps software running after launch. Support handles what breaks, such as errors, outages, and access problems. Maintenance prevents the next break with updates, security patches, performance tuning, and small changes as the business shifts.
Without that work, bugs pile up, platforms age out of support, and the people who understood the code move on, until a small change turns into a risky project. Companies buy it under several names, such as managed application services or application managed services, but the work is the same.
What's the difference between support and maintenance?
Support responds to problems users report, such as errors, outages, and access issues. Maintenance is planned work that keeps problems from happening, such as updates, patches, and tuning. Most applications need both, from one team that knows the code.
WHEN YOU NEED IT
Signs Your Applications Need Ongoing Support
Most teams look for outside support when keeping old software running starts to crowd out new work. These are the common signs.
The person who built it has left
One developer or a former vendor held the knowledge, and nobody left on the team can change the code safely.
Simple fixes take weeks
Small issues wait in a queue for a week or more while users work around the problem.
Your team is buried in upkeep
Engineers spend their days on patches, bug reports, and user questions instead of the projects the business is asking for.
The platform is out of support
The language, framework, or database version no longer gets security updates, and every month adds risk.
Small changes break other things
There are no automated tests, so every release is a gamble and fixes create new bugs.
Your current support is slow or costly
An outside support team responds slowly, misreads requirements, or costs more than the fixes are worth.
OUR APPROACH
How We Support the Applications You Rely On
Support works best when the people who answer the call understand the code and the business rules inside it. Senior US-based engineers lead our builds, with nearshore support available for ongoing work.
Ticket-queue support
- Tickets bounce between tiers
- Fixes without root causes
- Knowledge lost at every handoff
- Old code nobody will touch
Senior-led support
Engineers who know the system
The team that supports your application learns its architecture, workflows, and business rules. For a bulk liquids storage and logistics provider, the team that modernized a terminal application stayed on to support it.
Root cause first
We trace each issue to its cause, whether that's a firewall rule, a server out of capacity, a slow query, or a bug, and fix it so it stays fixed.
Old and new, supported together
We support legacy applications while we modernize them, so the business keeps running through the change.
Improvement as well as upkeep
Support includes minor enhancements, so the application keeps up with the business instead of falling behind it.
TYPES OF MAINTENANCE
The Four Types of Software Maintenance
Software maintenance services usually cover four types of work. Fixing what breaks is only one of them.
| TYPE | WHAT IT COVERS | EXAMPLE |
|---|---|---|
| Corrective | Fixing defects users or monitoring find | A report shows the wrong totals after month end |
| Adaptive | Keeping the application working as its platform and partners change | A payment provider retires an API version |
| Perfective | Improving features and performance as needs change | Adding a field the sales team keeps asking for |
| Preventive | Reducing future failures before they happen | Adding tests and upgrading an end-of-life framework |
Why we plan for all four
Corrective work keeps users productive today. Adaptive and preventive work, such as upgrades and test coverage, keeps next year's fixes small. We plan support time across all four, so the application gets easier to change over time.
WHAT WE SUPPORT
Applications We Support
Our application support services cover the custom software, integrations, and older systems companies rely on every day.
Custom web and mobile applications
Customer portals, internal tools, and web and mobile applications, kept running, patched, and updated as browsers, devices, and operating systems change.
Integrations and data pipelines
APIs, scheduled jobs, and pipelines that move data between your systems, with failures traced and fixed at the source. Our systems integration work covers new connections too.
Legacy applications
Older applications built on ColdFusion, Access, classic ASP, Visual Basic, or Lotus Notes, kept running while we plan what comes next. When it's time, legacy application modernization replaces them in stages.
Databases and reporting
Database maintenance, performance tuning, and the reports built on top, so the numbers stay right as data grows. Larger reporting needs can move to a data warehouse.
Cloud environments
Hosting, monitoring, and spend on AWS or Azure, with the environment tuned as usage changes. See cloud cost optimization.
AI-assisted issue investigation
AI agents that check logs, systems, and recent changes when an issue arrives, then propose a likely cause for an engineer to confirm. See AI agent development.
HOW IT WORKS
How Application Support Starts and Runs
Support starts with learning the application, then settles into a steady cycle of fixes, updates, and improvements.
STEP 1
Assessment
We review the code, infrastructure, and open issues to see what we're taking on.
STEP 2
Knowledge capture
We document how the application works, where it runs, and the business rules inside it.
STEP 3
Stabilize
We fix the issues that put users or data at risk first.
STEP 4
Ongoing support
We resolve issues, apply updates, and keep the application healthy.
STEP 5
Improve
We add enhancements as the business changes, in small, tested releases.
Service levels
Support terms are set in each client's agreement. For a national veterinary management group, JBS Dev supports two business-critical applications under service-level agreements for issue response and resolution, with troubleshooting, continuous maintenance, and minor enhancements included.
Testing and releases
Fixes ship in small, tested releases through CI/CD wherever the application allows it. When an inherited application has no tests, we add them around the code we change. Our QA and software testing practice handles larger regression and performance testing.
RESULTS
Application Support Results
For a national construction and investor real estate lender, JBS Dev took over a codebase another vendor had delivered in a non-functional state, rewrote it, and started shipping every two weeks. More than four years later, JBS Dev is still the lender's development team, with part-time QA running roughly 50 to 60 integration tests.
10+ yrs
As the franchisor's development partner
Education
Franchise Management System for The Goddard School
Challenge: Each of 525 schools ran separate off-the-shelf software with no rollup reporting.
Result: A .NET system on Azure gives real-time visibility into every school and automates pro-rated billing. JBS Dev has been the franchisor's development partner for more than 10 years.
Read the Goddard School case study75M
Requests a month, with no downtime
Entertainment
Custom CMS and Search for Backstage
Challenge: Backstage's outdated content management system was expensive, hard to extend, and slow.
Result: A Django, React, and Elasticsearch platform serves 75 million requests a month with no downtime, and the team deploys several times a week.
Read the Backstage case study"JBS feels more like an extension of our internal team than a traditional vendor relationship."
Senior IT Leader, AmeriVet Partners
AI-ASSISTED SUPPORT
Faster Issue Investigation With AI Agents
Most of the time on a support ticket goes to gathering context, logging in to one system and then another to see what changed. AI agents can do that part. For a national luxury florist, an agent built on Claude and MCP reads each ticket, checks the ticketing, inventory, order, and fulfillment systems, and resolves 70 to 80% of tickets on its own. It escalates complex issues to a person with full diagnostic context.
Agents propose and engineers decide. See AI agent development for how we build them.
GATHER CONTEXT
Support ticket
AI agent
Logs, code, and systems
RESOLVE
Likely cause
Evidence attached
Senior engineer
Confirms and ships the fix
COST
What Drives Application Support Cost
Application support cost depends mostly on how many applications we take on, what condition they're in, and how fast you need answers. Six factors drive most estimates:
- 01Number and size of applications
- 02Age and condition of the code
- 03Response time requirements
- 04Hours of coverage
- 05Volume of enhancement work
- 06Documentation and tests in place today
How cost is set
We don't quote support before we've looked at the applications. A short assessment of the code, infrastructure, and open issues turns the factors above into an estimate, whether you need occasional help or a standing team.
How the start date is set
Taking over support takes longest when the original developers are gone and nothing is written down. The assessment sets the timeline, and knowledge capture comes first. Whatever we document, you own.
ENGAGEMENT MODELS
Ways to Work With Us
Each model stands alone or leads into the next. Compare all the ways to work with us.
Assessment & Strategy
For companies that need clarity before committing to a build.
Start here if you're not sure what to change first. We review the system component by component, weigh difficulty against business impact, and recommend a path for each part, including what to leave alone. You get a roadmap you can act on with us or on your own.
- Technical assessment
- Architecture review
- AI opportunity mapping
- Modernization roadmap
- Prioritized recommendations
Best when: You need to understand the opportunity, risk, architecture, or roadmap before investing in a larger build.
Projects
For companies ready to build or modernize a defined system.
For a defined scope, senior engineers lead delivery from architecture through release. We work in stages, write tests for core components, and ship through CI/CD. You own everything we build, plus knowledge transfer and documentation tailored to your team.
- Modernization projects
- Custom applications
- Cloud platforms
- Data systems
- Integrations
- AI agents
Best when: You have a clear business problem, workflow, or platform that needs to be built, modernized, or connected.
Teaming / Managed Delivery
For companies that need experienced delivery capacity.
When you need more than a single project, services we can provide include architectural guidance for your existing team, hands-on development, QA, and ongoing support. Senior US-based engineers lead our builds, and nearshore support is an option for ongoing work.
- Senior-led teams
- Embedded engineering
- Ongoing development
- Knowledge transfer
- Flexible support
Best when: You need reliable engineering capacity, technical leadership, or ongoing delivery support without adding unnecessary management overhead.
Project stalled with another vendor? Software Project Rescue
WHY JBS DEV
How to Choose an Application Support Partner
A support partner should make your applications more stable over time, not only close tickets. Ask these four questions before you sign.
- Who will work on our applications?
- Senior engineers. Senior US-based engineers lead our builds, with nearshore support available for ongoing work. The engineers who learn your system are the ones who fix it, so you aren't explaining the application to someone new on every ticket.
- Do they fix root causes or just close tickets?
- Ask how they handle an issue that keeps coming back. We trace problems to the cause, whether that's a database index, a server out of capacity, or a bug, and fix it so it stays fixed.
- What happens to what they learn?
- It should stay with you. You own everything we build, including the documentation we write while supporting your system, such as runbooks and architecture notes. If you bring support in-house later, knowledge transfer is a service we can provide.
- Will they improve the application as well as maintain it?
- Yes. Support includes minor enhancements, and larger changes can run as projects with the same team. One lender added bridge loans, a product it didn't offer before, in a matter of weeks.
JBS Dev is a senior-led custom software development company, founded in 1999, that builds, modernizes, and integrates enterprise systems around the technology clients already own.
FAQ
Application Management Services FAQs
What do application management services include?
They cover keeping business applications running and current after launch: issue resolution, bug fixes, updates and security patches, monitoring, performance tuning, and small enhancements. Ours are led by senior engineers and cover custom applications, integrations, databases, and legacy systems, whether JBS Dev built them or another team did.
What's the difference between application support and maintenance?
Support responds to problems as they happen, such as errors, outages, and user issues. Maintenance is planned work that prevents problems, such as updates, patches, refactoring, and test coverage. Application maintenance services that skip the planned work tend to see more emergency fixes later, so we plan time for both.
Can you support an application another vendor built?
Yes. We start with an assessment of the code, infrastructure, and open issues, document what we find, and stabilize the riskiest parts first. When Petco's mobile app was less than 25% complete after a year, a JBS Dev team of five finished it in four months.
Do you offer service-level agreements?
Yes, where the work calls for them. Response and resolution targets depend on the application and the hours of coverage, and each client's agreement sets them.
How much does application support cost?
It depends on the number and size of applications, the condition of the code, response time needs, hours of coverage, and how much enhancement work you expect. We don't quote before a short assessment, which turns those factors into an estimate you can compare with what support costs you today.
Can you support legacy applications while we modernize them?
Yes. We keep older applications on ColdFusion, Access, classic ASP, Visual Basic, and similar platforms running while new components replace them in stages. Supporting the old system through the change keeps the business running, and each new piece can be tested against it. See legacy application modernization.
Do you use AI in application support?
Yes, with people in the loop. AI agents can read tickets, check logs and connected systems, and propose a likely cause. A person reviews what the agent finds and decides what happens next.
Who does the support work?
Senior US-based engineers lead our builds, with nearshore support available for ongoing work. The same engineers who learn your application handle its issues and updates, so knowledge builds up over time instead of resetting with every ticket. You will know who is working on your system.
