Custom Software Development Built Around Your Business
Custom software is built around how your business already works, not how an off-the-shelf product expects you to. We have built it for services firms, clinics and marketplaces, including ATC, a system hundreds of employees use every day.
Reviewed by Azmat Rana, CEO & Founder · Updated
What Custom Software Fixes
Off-the-shelf tools make you work their way. Custom software is worth it when your process is what sets you apart, or when no product handles it properly.
Core capability
A process no product fits
Software built around a way of working nobody sells. Alertia schedules guard shifts and checks each guard’s licenses before they start.
Compliance and audit trails
Rule checks, audit logs and reports you can show an auditor. Falcore flags outdated records and keeps a dated history of every check.
Sensitive records
Systems that handle health, legal or student data safely. Fisar manages GDPR subject access requests for schools.
Replacing spreadsheets
Processes that run on shared spreadsheets and email turned into proper tools with permissions and history.
Software you own
You own the source code and the intellectual property, so you are never locked into one vendor.
Project story · ATC
Rebuilding the system a services firm runs on
ATC is the internal tool one of our clients runs its projects, staff hours, leave, invoicing and client email on. Hundreds of employees work in it, with updates synced live. When it came to us, it had outgrown the way it was first built.
- Team
- 3 engineers
- Effort
- 2,800 hours
- Used by
- Hundreds of employees
- Stack
- ASP.NET Core, Vue.js, PostgreSQL, Redis
The problem
Client modules were set up in a way that was hard to manage, and the database held the same information in several places. Analytics queries joined many tables, so dashboards loaded slowly. Keeping each person’s billing-rate history accurate for invoicing was a constant chore.
What we changed
- 01Rebuilt the client modules as a simpler V2 structure and removed the duplicated tables underneath it.
- 02Moved rate changes into scheduled Hangfire jobs that update each person’s rate and log every change, so admins can see the history behind any invoice.
- 03Rewrote the slow LINQ analytics as tuned SQL with caching, which took load off the database and sped up the dashboards.
- 04Replaced the CoreUI interface with DevExtreme one component at a time, testing as we went, so nothing broke for the people using it every day.
- 05Connected Zoho Books for billable hours and invoices, Zoho Writer for documents and e-signatures, and Mailgun so client email arrives inside the dashboard.
Where it stands
The firm now runs HR, resourcing, invoicing and client email from one system that is simpler to maintain and quicker to use. Most custom software work looks like this: a system the business depends on, improved piece by piece while people keep using it.
Read the full ATC case studyFrom Idea To Impact
Every project starts with a discovery call and a delivery plan, and you see working software every week after that.
Discover
Understand The Process
We map your workflow, users and the systems involved, then you get a delivery plan with milestones.
Develop
Build And Demo Weekly
Working software every week, checked against those milestones, so nothing surprises you at the end.
Support
Run And Improve
After launch we monitor it, fix what comes up and add features as the business changes.
What working with us looks like
- Team
- A small dedicated team. ATC was built by 3 engineers.
- Progress
- Weekly demos of working software, checked against the milestones agreed at the start.
- Contract
- A defined first scope and no long-term contract. You add more once the fit is proven.
- Communication
- A shared Slack channel and project board. Full Blown Media, whose review is on Clutch, ran its project through Slack and Trello.
Technology Behind Our Software
The stacks we build custom software on, picked to suit the team that will run it.
React
Next.js
Node.js
Python
.NETReact Native
PostgreSQL
MongoDB
GraphQL
Docker
KubernetesWhen Custom Software Is The Right Call
Building your own software costs more up front than a subscription. It pays off in a few specific situations, and it is the wrong choice in others. We will tell you which one you are in.
Your process is the advantage
If the way you quote, schedule or deliver is what sets you apart, squeezing it into a generic tool gives that edge away.
Your systems need to talk
When staff copy data between two tools every day, a proper integration often pays for itself faster than another subscription.
You have outgrown the tool
Workarounds, spreadsheets running beside the system and per-seat costs that climb with headcount are the usual signs.
Your rules are unusual
Industry billing rules, compliance steps or approval chains that off-the-shelf products only half support. Nuvana’s HIPAA chronic-care billing is one example.
Skip it when a tool already fits
If an existing product covers most of what you need, use it and build only the integration or the missing piece.
Wait until the process is clear
If nobody can yet describe the workflow being automated, start with a short discovery phase before committing to a full build.
Related services
Projects like this one usually involve these as well.
Further reading: How long software projects take: data from 28 of our projects
Prefer to add engineers to your own team?
Hire full-time developers in the stacks we use for this work.
Hire Ruby on Rails developers
Hire Vue.js developersCustom Software FAQs
What buyers ask before commissioning custom software.
When your own way of working is part of what you sell, when staff re-key data between systems, or when you have outgrown a tool you rent. If an existing product already covers most of your needs, adding an integration is usually the cheaper route.
With a discovery call to map your goals, constraints and the systems involved. You then get a team recommendation, a timeline and a delivery plan with milestones before the build begins.
No. Work starts with a defined scope, and you add more only once the fit is proven.
You do. Everything we build for you, including the source code and the intellectual property in it, belongs to you.
Through weekly demos of working software, checked against the milestones agreed at the start.
Yes, and it is a large part of our work. On ATC we restructured an existing system’s modules and database. We then moved its interface to a new UI library one component at a time, while staff kept using it.
We measure first and fix the real bottleneck. On ATC the slow part was analytics queries joining many tables, so we rewrote them as tuned SQL and added caching instead of adding servers.
Yes. We integrate custom applications with CRMs, ERPs, accounting and payment systems, email providers and internal tools. ATC, for example, syncs with Zoho Books and Zoho Writer and receives client email through Mailgun.
React, Next.js, Vue.js, Node.js, Ruby on Rails, Python, .NET, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, AWS and Azure, chosen to fit the project and the team that will maintain it afterwards.
Yes. Nuvana, a chronic-care billing platform, was built around HIPAA requirements, and MicroHealth runs a suite of healthcare apps including chat, mapping and CRM tools.
Ready To Build Software Around Your Business?
Tell us about the process you want to fix. We reply within one business day to set up a discovery call.