Built and operated
Built to run, not just delivered.
Most software projects end at handover — the invoice clears and the system quietly becomes someone else’s problem. We build the systems your business needs, on proven open-source platforms where one fits and custom where none does, and then we keep them running.
The handover problem
Delivered is not the same as working.
A system goes live, the project team moves on, and six months later nobody is quite sure who patches it, whether the backups restore, or who to call when it stops. The software was fine. The arrangement around it was never made.
We do both halves. The same team that builds the system operates it afterwards — with the release controls, backups, monitoring and tested recovery we run for every customer.
We build what your business needs, and we stay responsible for keeping it running.
In plain terms: there is no handover cliff. The people who know how it was built are the people who look after it.
What we build
Proven systems first. Custom where it’s needed.
Most business problems have already been solved by a mature open-source system. We’d rather configure and extend one of those than write you something new — it’s faster, cheaper to own, and you are not the only one maintaining it.
- ERP and accounting
Finance, purchasing, inventory and the reporting that hangs off them.
- HR and payroll
People records, leave, attendance, and payroll runs that have to be right and on time.
- CRM and sales
Pipeline, quotations, customer history — connected to what finance already sees.
- Helpdesk and support
Ticketing and service workflows for internal teams or customers.
- Operations and inventory
Stock, production, projects, field work — the day-to-day of the business.
- Document management
Controlled storage, approvals and retention for the records you must keep.
And custom, where no system fits
Internal tools, customer portals, integrations between systems that don’t talk to each other, and automation of work currently done by hand. Built on the same operating model as everything else we run.
We reach for custom when the fit genuinely isn’t there — not by default. If a proven system does eighty per cent of what you need, we will tell you so, even though it is the smaller piece of work.
How an engagement runs
Four stages, and the last one doesn’t end.
- Discover
What the business actually needs, what exists today, and whether a proven system already does most of it. This step often changes the brief.
- Build
Configured, extended, integrated, or written from scratch — in environments that mirror production from the first week, not the last.
- Stabilise
Backups, monitoring, a tested recovery path and a controlled release route, proven before anyone depends on it.
- Operate
The same managed lifecycle operations we run for every other customer — watched, patched, backed up, recoverable. Ongoing.
The fourth stage is a service in its own right. See what managed lifecycle operations covers
Who owns what
On this service, the software is ours to own.
That is deliberate, and it is the opposite of our other service. Here you are buying an outcome, not a set of hands — so we own what the system does and the defects in it, as well as the platform underneath.
- What the software does, and defects in what we built
- Selection, configuration, extension and integration
- The environments, release path and rollback
- Backups, monitoring, patching and tested recovery
- What the system is for, and what matters most
- Approval of what reaches your live system
- Business rules, process decisions and your data
- Licences and commercial relationships where they apply
Your approval still gates production. Even though we build it, nothing reaches your live system without your nominated approver — and the record shows who approved what, and when. Building it does not mean we get to skip the gate.
Two services, two boundaries. On managed lifecycle operations, a separate developer or vendor owns the software and we operate the platform only. On this service, we own both. Tell us your situation and we will tell you which one you actually need.
Is this you?
A good fit looks like this.
No in-house developers, or a team already fully committed to something else.
It works, just about, and everyone can see it won’t for much longer.
The same information is being entered twice, and the two copies disagree.
For building it and for keeping it running afterwards — not a handover between two suppliers.
We don’t take delivery-only work. If you want the cheapest possible build with no arrangement for operating it afterwards, we are the wrong firm — and we would rather say so now.
We are not staff augmentation. We take responsibility for an outcome, not for filling seats.
Business systems, built and operated
Start with the problem, not the spec
Tell us what the business needs.
You don’t need a written specification to start. Describe the problem — the process that’s breaking, the system that doesn’t fit, the thing being done by hand — and we’ll tell you whether a proven system already solves it or whether it genuinely needs building.
Scoping is a conversation, not a proposal machine. If we think the work is smaller than you expect, or better solved by configuring something that already exists, we will say so before quoting.