Digital
Business systems built for how you actually work.
Most businesses here run on a WhatsApp group, a notebook and a spreadsheet somebody keeps on their own laptop. It works until it does not: until two people have different numbers, until the person with the spreadsheet is on leave, until you need to know what last quarter actually cost and nobody can tell you.
What a business system is
Software written for one business, doing the specific things that business needs. Not a subscription to a product built for somebody else's company in another country.
In practice that usually means some combination of recording what comes in and what goes out, tracking jobs or batches or stock through their stages, issuing invoices and delivery notes, knowing who owes you money, managing staff and what they are owed, and being able to answer a question about the business in ten seconds instead of an afternoon.
This is the part of the practice with the most proof behind it, so what follows is the proof rather than a description.
Two systems we run in production
Academic Horizons Holdings, admin platform
A full administrative platform for an education services company: role-based access, encrypted records, document generation with automatic letterhead and signature insertion, rolling backups, self-hosted analytics and an internal bug reporting module. Built dependency free so it runs on ordinary shared hosting.
FunGuy Mushrooms, operations system
A complete operations platform for a working farm. Batches tracked through every stage from compost order to clear out, environment checks with missed checks flagged, disease alerts, harvest logging per bunk and per worker, expenses categorised automatically, commissions calculated on payment, invoicing and delivery notes with PDF generation, staff chat, reporting, and push notifications to phones. It installs on a phone like an app, keeps working when the connection drops, and syncs when it returns. On a farm that is not a nice extra, it is the reason the system gets used at all.
No monthly licence
You pay to have it built, then you own it. There is no per-user fee that grows as you hire, and no annual increase decided by a company in another country. Compare that against three years of a foreign subscription before deciding what a custom system costs.
It runs on ordinary hosting
No cloud platform, no container orchestration, no monthly infrastructure bill. These run on the same kind of shared hosting your website does, which keeps the running cost close to nothing.
It works offline
Built as progressive web apps, so they install on a phone, work without a connection and sync when one appears. This matters more here than almost anywhere, and it is the most common reason a system succeeds rather than being quietly abandoned.
Your data stays yours
Records are encrypted, access is controlled by role so people only see what their job requires, and backups run automatically on a schedule. When we build a demonstration version of a system, it always carries a substitute company name, because a client's identity is not ours to show.
What we build
- Client and contact management with history, ratings and communication logs
- Stock, inventory and batch tracking through defined stages
- Invoicing, quotations, delivery notes and payment tracking
- Expense tracking and simple bookkeeping
- Booking and appointment systems
- Staff management, roles, permissions and commissions
- Reporting and dashboards, exportable
- Client portals
- Whatever is specific to your trade, which is usually the real reason you need one
What it costs
- Simple systems A dashboard, an inventory system, a straightforward CRM
- $450 to $1,200
- Custom platforms Full CRM, client portals, multi-role systems, offline apps
- from $1,200
Starting prices. Final quote after a free consultation.
30% deposit before work starts, 70% on completion. Files and access are released on payment in full.
How long it takes
A simple system is a few weeks. A custom platform is months, and we build the most useful part first so you are using something early rather than waiting for the whole thing. Every system we have built changed shape once real people started using it. That is expected, and it is budgeted for.
What we need from you
Mostly access to how the business already works, including the messy parts.
- How the work actually flows today, including the WhatsApp group and the notebook
- Who does what, and what each person should and should not be able to see
- The reports you need, and who reads them
- Time from the people who will use it, at the start and again once it is running
Common questions
What if my business changes?
It will. That is the argument for custom software rather than against it: a system you own can change when the business does. A subscription product cannot, and you end up changing the business to suit the software.
What happens if we stop working together?
You keep everything: the code, the data and the documentation. It runs on ordinary hosting, so another developer can pick it up. We build with no unusual dependencies partly for this reason.
Is my data safe?
Records are encrypted, access is controlled by role, and backups run automatically. On the systems we run in production that is not a plan, it is what is already happening.
Can I see one working before I commit?
Ask, and we will walk you through a system on a call. What we will not do is hand over a live client's system to look around, and you should want that answer, because the same applies to yours.
Start here
Tell us what you want to build
A house, a brand, a website, a system, or all of it. Send a message and we will map out the path from idea to reality.