Software with nobody left to look after it

Your bespoke software, taken over and properly looked after.

Software care is our bespoke software support and maintenance service, for business-critical systems that have nobody left to look after them. We take it over, make it safe, and keep it that way, with a named senior engineer accountable for it.

What software care is

Many organisations run on software that was built for them some years ago. It works, people depend on it, and the person or company that built it has moved on. Nobody is applying security updates, nobody is watching for faults, and nobody can say with confidence what would happen if it stopped.

Software care puts that right. We take over the system, close the gaps that have built up, and then look after it every month. You get a named senior engineer who knows your system, a plain-English report on its health, and the confidence that someone is responsible for it.

What our support and maintenance includes every month

  • Monitoring and alerting. We watch the system so that we hear about problems as they start.
  • Fixing faults. We investigate and fix faults, ideally before anyone in your organisation notices them.
  • Security patches and dependency updates. We keep the libraries and components your system relies on up to date.
  • Keeping frameworks and platforms in support. We plan upgrades before versions go out of support, so you aren't left running software that no longer receives security fixes.
  • A monthly health report. A short, plain-English summary of what happened, what we changed and anything you should know about.
  • An agreed response time. How quickly we respond to a critical fault is set out in your contract.
  • Time for small changes. Each month includes an allowance of hours for small improvements and changes.

Getting started

Software care begins with a software health audit of one system. The audit tells you where the system stands and gives you a fixed quote for onboarding and monthly care.

If you go ahead, onboarding gets the system into a state where it can be looked after properly:

  1. Code into source control. Your code goes into a repository that you own and control.
  2. Automated tests. We add tests that describe how the system behaves today, so that any change that breaks something is caught before it reaches you.
  3. A repeatable build and release. Releasing a change becomes a routine, documented process that anyone on the team can follow.
  4. Monitoring. We install monitoring and alerting so we know when something goes wrong.
  5. Documentation. We write down how the system works, how it's hosted and how to release it.

Preparation is the point

Most of the value in software care is created before anything goes wrong. A system with tests, monitoring and a reliable release process is far easier to keep safe, and far quicker to fix when something does fail.

Many systems we take on have no automated tests and little documentation. We work backwards from the running system to write behaviour specifications and automated tests for what it does today. That gives us, and you, a safety net for every change that follows.

We collect diagnostic logs only, with controls designed to keep personal data out of them.

Who is accountable

  • A named senior engineer is accountable for your system, and is the person you talk to.
  • A named backup engineer also knows your system, so holidays and illness don't leave you without cover.
  • Your code and documents stay in your own repository. You're never locked in to us.

Technology we look after

We look after systems built with .NET (C#), including older .NET Framework applications, TypeScript and JavaScript, React and Next.js, hosted on Microsoft Azure and similar cloud platforms.

If the audit shows that a system is outside what we can safely support, we'll say so plainly and explain your options.

Legacy .NET and .NET Framework applications

Many of the systems we take on are .NET Framework applications built ten or more years ago. Some run on versions of .NET, Windows Server or SQL Server that no longer receive security fixes, or soon won't. We add tests first, then upgrade in steps, and where it makes sense we move the application to Azure at the same time.

What software care is not

Software care is not ad hoc support by the hour. It's an ongoing contract, because looking after software properly needs continuity: the same engineers, the same knowledge of your system, and the preparation that stops small problems becoming large ones.

Next steps

Questions

Frequently asked

We don't know much about how our system was built. Is that a problem?

No. That's the usual starting point. The audit finds out how the system is built, hosted and released, and onboarding writes down what we learn so you're never in that position again.

Do we need the previous developer's help?

It helps, but it isn't essential. With access to the code and the hosting, we can take a system over without the previous supplier's involvement.

Can we pay by the hour instead?

Software care is a contract, because looking after software properly needs continuity. The engineer who looks after your system each month is the one who knows it. If you need a one-off piece of work, we're happy to talk about that separately.

What if our system is built with technology you don't support?

We'll tell you at the audit, explain why, and set out your options. We would rather say so early than take on a system we can't look after safely.

Will AI be used on our system?

We use AI agents under strict controls, and a named engineer approves anything that reaches a live system. Your data is never used to train models, and you can exclude any system or data from AI handling.

Get in touch

Find out where your software stands.

A software health audit gives you a plain-English view of the risks in one system, and what it would take to look after it properly. There's no obligation to continue.

Book a software health audit Talk to an engineer