Custom software development
Custom software development for a specific business task: from a program on an employee desktop to a server service that runs without people. We build what off-the-shelf products do not cover.
People come to custom development from one of two situations. Either a ready product exists on the market but fits only halfway, and the other half of the processes has to be bent to someone else logic. Or there is no product at all, because the task is specific to your industry or to the way you work. In both cases what should be counted is not the price of the software but the price of that mismatch: how many hours a month people spend working around someone else constraints.
Your own software costs more up front than a boxed product and less over the distance. A boxed product charges for licences every year, dictates how you work, and may one day shut down or leave the market together with your data. Custom software development pays off where the process is unique, the volumes are large, or licences are counted in hundreds, thousands or more workplaces.
By software we mean everything that does not come down to a website or a mobile app: programs on the desktop for Windows, Linux and macOS, server systems and services, data processing, exchange between systems, work with hardware.
Backend, infrastructure and artificial intelligence models live inside one team, so the system does not have to be assembled from pieces made by different contractors. If this is an internal system for employees, see corporate solutions. If it is unclear what to fix in something that already runs, start with an audit or IT consulting.
What the service covers
Any combination of the items below can be taken on its own.
For Windows, Linux and macOS, working offline, with access to files, devices and local databases. Desktop is what you need where offline work matters, along with speed on large volumes, access to devices including unusual ones, and higher confidentiality requirements: the web stays the web and its surface for a leak is wider, while at the workstation leakage is minimal and usually comes down to the human factor.
The things that run without a person: queue processing, calculations, data exchange, scheduled reports, background jobs with a readable log and monitoring. If the data is sensitive to leaks, we deploy local artificial intelligence models on your own servers, including models fine-tuned for the processes of your company, so that nothing leaves for external services.
We connect systems that were never designed to talk to each other: ERP, CRM, accounting, warehouse, hardware, external services. Including cases where there is no documentation and the protocol has to be worked out by hand.
Polling devices, collecting readings, control, bringing instrument data together into one picture.
Systems that have been running for ten years and rest on one person. We work out what is inside and move it to a supported stack piece by piece, without stopping the work.
Installation, data migration, help with training the staff and further technical maintenance.
How we work
We look at how the process works today, where it breaks and what that costs the business. The output is a specification, scenarios, risks and the technical documentation.
We choose the stack, describe the components and the data storage and give an estimate by stage. This is also where we decide what to build ourselves and what to cover with an off-the-shelf product.
Two-week iterations with a demo. Every iteration can be launched and tried on real data.
Automated tests, checks on volumes close to production, and acceptance by the people who will work in this every day.
Installation, data migration, help with training, monitoring and on-call duty for the first weeks.
Stack and tools
Cases for this service
Frequently asked questions
The price depends on how many processes it covers and on what the system has to be connected with. After the discovery stage we give an estimate broken down by stage, so you can see what you are paying for.
Often it would, and we will say so if that is your case. Custom development pays off when the off-the-shelf product fits only halfway, when licences are counted in hundreds, thousands or more workplaces, or when the process is unique and is itself a competitive advantage.
Desktop is chosen for offline work, speed on large volumes, access to devices and higher confidentiality requirements. In all other cases a web version is cheaper to build and does not need installing on every machine.
We do, including old systems with no documentation. First we understand what has been built, assess its condition and say plainly what is cheaper to improve and what to rewrite.
Everything is set by the contract, and we put it in writing at the specification stage, before the work starts. During the project the team works either on our infrastructure or on yours: the choice depends on the complexity of the project and on whether you already have infrastructure in place. Every approved stage is transferred to your servers and your repository, so the work accumulates on your side rather than ours. Once the project is closed, all code, materials and documentation are handed over to you together with the rights to them.
Yes. Installation, data migration, help with training the staff and further technical maintenance are covered by a separate agreement.
Related services
Shall we discuss your task?
Tell us what needs to be done and we will come back with an estimate, the team composition and a plan for the first two weeks.