Software development, Northampton
When the spreadsheet has become the system.
Most businesses don't set out to build software. They end up needing it because the workarounds have quietly become the process — and the person who understands them is the bottleneck.
When building is the right answer
Four situations where bespoke software pays for itself. If none of them describe you, it probably doesn't.
Off-the-shelf nearly fits
You've found software that does most of it and you're working around the rest with spreadsheets and habit. The workaround is the cost, and it compounds every year.
The current system is holding you back
Slow software slows everything around it. When it's also out of support and no longer getting updates, you're paying for it twice — once in licence, once in lost time.
The same data is typed in twice
Two systems that don't talk, and a person in the middle re-keying between them. That person's time has a number on it, and it's usually bigger than the integration.
The process only lives in someone's head
It works because one person knows the order things happen in. That's fine until they're on holiday, and a genuine risk when they leave.
Worth saying out loud
Most businesses should buy, not build.
Bespoke software is the most expensive thing on this website and the one most often commissioned when something off the shelf would have done. If an existing product fits what you do, we will tell you which one and how to set it up. We would rather have that conversation than build you something you did not need.
What we build
Software questions
What does it cost?
It depends entirely on scope, and any number quoted before we understand the problem would be fiction. What we can say is how we work: we scope it properly first, break it into stages, and you see something working early rather than at the end.
Should I build, or buy something off the shelf?
Buy, usually. Bespoke software is worth it when the thing you do is genuinely unlike what the market sells, or when the licence-plus-workaround cost of the nearest product is worse over a few years. If an existing product fits, we'll tell you which one — we'd rather do that than build you something you didn't need.
What happens if you stop supporting it?
You own the code and you get the source. That is the answer to the question everyone should ask a developer and most don't. Being locked out of software you paid for is the worst outcome in this field, and it happens often.
Can you fix what someone else built?
Often. Bring us what you have — the code, the hosting details, whatever documentation exists — and we'll tell you honestly whether it's worth supporting or whether you'd be better starting again.
How long does it take?
Longer than anyone wants, and we'd rather say that than promise otherwise. What we do commit to is staging: something usable in your hands early, so you can tell us it's wrong while it's still cheap to change.
Describe the problem, not the software
Tell us what's slow, what gets typed twice, or what only one person knows how to do. We'll tell you whether it needs building.