New software, built to be looked after.

Is this for you?

• A spreadsheet has quietly become a critical business system
• Your team re-types the same information into several systems
• Your off-the-shelf software needs so many workarounds it's slowing people down
• You need a mobile app for staff or customers, or a website that does more than display information
• You have an idea for a tool that would give you an edge with customers

What we do

• Bespoke web applications. Secure, maintainable applications for the processes that make your business distinctive, such as quoting, scheduling, customer portals and internal tools.
• Mobile and cross-platform apps. .NET MAUI apps for phones, tablets and desktops from one codebase, and migration of existing Xamarin apps to .NET MAUI.
• Website design and development. Websites built to the same standards as our applications: specified first, tested, and documented.
• Systems integration. Connecting your CRM, accounts, e-commerce and operational systems so information flows automatically and accurately.
• Spreadsheet replacement. Moving critical spreadsheets into something more dependable, whether that's Microsoft Lists, a low-code tool or a small bespoke app. We do it without disrupting the people who rely on them.
• Cloud applications. New applications built for Microsoft Azure from the start. See cloud migration and Azure for moving existing ones.

Built to be looked after

Most bespoke software ends up in the situation our software care service exists for, and a software health audit is the way to find out where an existing system stands: the person who built it has moved on and nobody is accountable for it. We build new software so that never happens to yours.

• Specification first. We agree in writing what the software should do before we build it, and that specification becomes the basis for the tests.
• Automated tests. Checks that run on every change, so the system can be updated safely long after it goes live.
• Independent review. Every change is reviewed by someone or something other than whoever wrote it, and a named engineer signs off anything that reaches a live system.
• A repeatable release. Anyone with access can build and release the system, using your own source control.
• Documentation. Written as we go, and kept in your repository alongside the code.

When it goes live you can look after it yourselves or any other supplier can, or you can bring it under software care with a named senior engineer and a named backup who also knows it.

Examples of our work

• EdCal. A timetabling product for higher education that we designed and built. It is used by tens of thousands of users, including at a world-leading university, and it's very well built, which has kept support light. EdCal continues as a growing business.
• A family office. We consulted on where technology could help with cataloguing and maintenance records for a large number of valuable items, ran a one-month research and proof-of-concept phase, then designed and built a mobile application. It has been in daily use for around three years, with an ongoing support and maintenance contract.

There's more on both in our work.

Our principles

• Configure, integrate, extend, then build. We choose the lightest approach that does the job well.
• Staged delivery. Working software early and often, so you see progress and can steer.
• Mainstream technology. .NET (C#), TypeScript and JavaScript, React and Next.js, on Microsoft Azure and similar cloud platforms.
• You own it. Your code, your data, your choice of who supports it.

How it works

1. Discovery. We map the process, the people involved and what "good" looks like.
2. Options and proposal. A clear recommendation, including lighter alternatives to building.
3. Staged delivery. Short cycles with regular demonstrations and your feedback.
4. Launch and handover. Careful go-live, training and documentation, with software care available if you want it.