The Opportunity
Gladstone’s Window & Door Store is a family-owned retailer and installer of windows and doors, serving the Twin Cities area since 1961. Since 2006, their day-to-day operations depended on a custom-built Windows desktop application used to generate detailed proposals for customers. From price quotes to labor estimates, this app played a critical role in every job sold. But after more than 15 years in service, the system was showing its age. It had become unreliable, slow, and difficult to maintain. With no internal developers and no formal support structure, Gladstone found themselves stuck with a legacy tool that was crashing frequently, creating daily disruptions for the sales team.
Because the application was only installed on a small number of computers in Gladstone’s Maplewood, MN office, it couldn’t support remote work or on-site access—two capabilities that had become increasingly important to the business. Important files were saved in a custom serialized format that took up significant disk space and were backed up manually each week to an external hard drive. Navigating the system’s outdated interface was cumbersome and time-consuming, especially when employees had to dig through folders to find the right proposal files. Critical business data was at risk, and employee productivity was suffering.
When it became clear that incremental fixes wouldn’t be enough to restore trust in the system, Gladstone began searching for a true modernization partner. They needed a full app rebuild designed for scalability, security, and long-term success in the cloud.
The Solution
Emergent Software was engaged to lead the modernization effort, bringing deep experience in custom application development and a proven track record with Microsoft Azure. As a Microsoft partner with an advanced specialization in Modernization of Web Applications to Azure, Emergent was well-equipped to guide the project from discovery through deployment.
The engagement began with a structured discovery phase. Emergent worked closely with Gladstone to document the functionality of the legacy tool, review the original source code, and identify pain points across the business. These collaborative sessions helped the Emergent team map out a feature backlog that combined the core logic of the original app with new enhancements Gladstone had long desired.
Over the next six months, Emergent rebuilt the system from the ground up. The result was a modern, cloud-native web application using Blazor WebAssembly (WASM) and hosted on Microsoft Azure. The app is accessible from any browser and includes seamless authentication via Microsoft Entra ID, allowing employees to log in with their existing Microsoft 365 credentials. Gladstone staff can now securely use the system from anywhere: at the office, at home, or on-site with customers.
The new proposal generator also dramatically improved usability. Instead of digging through thousands of local files, employees now search a structured, centralized project database. Proposal templates are configurable and intuitive, making it easier to generate accurate quotes and customize them for unique client needs. Image uploads, critical for including photos of doors and windows, are now stored securely in Azure Blob Storage and linked directly to each project.
Under the hood, the application architecture is both robust and maintainable. It leverages Azure App Services, SQL Database, Key Vault, and fully managed backup processes. QuestPDF was implemented to automate proposal generation as well as related documentation like work orders and purchase orders. These documents are now generated from within the app using clean templates and real-time data, saving hours of manual effort.
Emergent also introduced a DevOps pipeline with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD), enabling streamlined updates across development, staging, and production environments. Gladstone’s team can now review changes in advance and approve new features with confidence, knowing they’ll deploy with zero downtime.
The Impact
With the new application in place, Gladstone’s business operations have transformed. What was once a fragile, desktop-only system is now a modern cloud platform built for flexibility, resilience, and scale.
The sales team now works faster and more efficiently. Proposal generation takes a fraction of the time it used to, and documents are more accurate and professional-looking. Instead of navigating folders or relying on physical backups, employees access their work through a centralized web interface that’s searchable, responsive, and always available.
The manual backup process, which once involved external drives and weekly tasks, is fully automated and cloud-based. With their data securely stored in Azure SQL and Blob Storage, Gladstone no longer worries about file loss, hardware failures, or missed backups.
Administrative overhead has also been reduced significantly. The automated document generation tools now produce proposals, purchase orders, and work orders in seconds, with no formatting or copy-pasting required. This not only saves time but also ensures consistency across customer-facing materials.
From a technical perspective, the move to Azure has improved performance, increased security, and made ongoing maintenance dramatically easier. With Emergent managing deployments through CI/CD pipelines, updates are tested, staged, and rolled out without interrupting daily operations. Gladstone is now positioned to grow confidently, knowing their platform can evolve alongside their business.
What began as a project to replace a failing desktop app turned into a full-scale digital transformation. Gladstone now has a modern, resilient, and user-friendly system that supports their team, enhances the customer experience, and gives leadership the peace of mind that comes from knowing their core operations are backed by solid, scalable technology.
Emergent continues to support Gladstone as an ongoing partner, helping refine the app and explore new feature enhancements. It’s a relationship built on transparency, shared goals, and a commitment to helping the business thrive.
Technologies Used
