Custom Software

Retire the spreadsheet that runs your business.

Off-the-shelf tools fit 70% of the job. The other 30% lives in spreadsheets, inboxes and someone's memory. We build software for that 30%, and connect it to everything else you use.

Send us your spreadsheet See what we replace
internal tools and portals shipped
60+
hours of manual work removed a year
31k
big-bang switchovers
0
Fig. 1 — The same morning's jobs, before and after. Drag to compare. On the left, a shared spreadsheet with colour-coded cells, a #REF! error, a duplicated row and a comment asking who deleted row 14. On the right, a dispatch board showing the same six jobs as cards: two to assign, three on the road with drivers and arrival times, and one delivered and signed for.

01What we replace

If it lives in a spreadsheet or an inbox, we've probably replaced it.

The eight jobs we're asked to do most often. If yours isn't here, it's probably a cousin of one that is.

  1. From 14 shared spreadsheets to One dispatch board with live status Internal tool
  2. From Approvals by email and memory to Approval flows with an audit trail Workflow
  3. From An Access database from 2009 to A web app with roles and backups Legacy replacement
  4. From Copy-pasting orders into accounting to A nightly sync with Xero Integration
  5. From Customers phoning for updates to A self-service customer portal Portal
  6. From A month-end report built by hand to A live dashboard Reporting
  7. From Paper job sheets in the van to A field app that works offline Field app
  8. From Three tools that don't talk to each other to One record for each customer Integration

Recognise one of these? Send it to us

02Process first

We map the work before we write the software.

One real workflow, order to invoice at a food distributor: as we found it, and as it runs now.

  • Typed again by hand
  • Hand-off by email or phone
  • Happens automatically

Before 9 steps · 4 re-keys · about 2 days

  1. CustomerEmails an order as a PDF
  2. SalesRetypes it into the orders sheetRe-keyed12 min
  3. WarehouseChecks stock, phones back15 min
  4. SalesConfirms by email4 h wait
  5. WarehouseCopies it onto a pick sheetRe-keyed6 min
  6. CustomerPhones to ask where it is10 min
  7. WarehouseWrites the delivery note by handRe-keyed5 min
  8. FinanceWaits for the signed note1–2 days
  9. FinanceTypes the invoice into XeroRe-keyed8 min

After 5 steps · 0 re-keys · same day

  1. CustomerOrders in the portal, with live stock
  2. SalesApproves it in one clickStock reserved
  3. WarehousePicks from the list on a tabletCustomer gets a tracking link
  4. WarehouseDriver gets a signature in the appPhoto and time saved
  5. FinanceChecks the invoice already in XeroSent the same day
steps from order to invoice
was 9 now 5
times the same order is typed again
was 4 now 0
days from delivery to invoice
was 2 now 0

Your first week with us produces this map for your own process. You keep it, whoever builds the software.

03The spreadsheet tax

What is the manual work costing you?

Count the people who move data between tools by hand: copying orders, fixing the shared sheet, chasing approvals. Then be honest about the hours.

How we work it out

  • 46 working weeks a year, after holidays
  • A full-time job is 40 hours a week
  • Good software removes about 70% of the manual work, not all of it
  • A typical build costs $20k–$60k

It's a rough guide. Your first week with us gives you the real number.

8
5 h
$28

1,840

hours a year

$51,520

a year, every year

That's one full-time job spent copying data between tools.

A build in the $20k–$60k range that removes 70% of this work pays for itself in 7 to 20 months.

Get the real number

04Replace without stopping

No big-bang switchovers.

Your business keeps running on the old system until the new one has proved itself, team by team. Going back is always one step away.

  1. Phase 12–4 weeks

    Shadow

    The new system runs alongside, on copied data. We compare its results with the old one every day. Nothing changes for your team yet.

    If it's wrong: nobody notices

  2. Phase 22–4 weeks

    One team

    One willing team works in it for real. We sit with them, fix what annoys them and check their output against the old way.

    If it's wrong: that team switches back the same day

  3. Phase 34–8 weeks

    Most teams

    Team by team, in an order you choose. Each one gets a 30-minute session and a champion who has already used it.

    If it's wrong: going back is one setting

  4. Phase 41 weekend

    Switch off

    The last data moves over a weekend. The old system becomes read-only, so nothing is lost and nothing can drift.

    The old system stays readable for 12 months

We rehearse the data move three times. The fourth one counts.

  • Cleaned: duplicates merged, typos fixed, blanks chased
  • Mapped: every old column has a new home, or a reason it doesn't
  • Reconciled: row counts and totals match, line by line
  • Signed off by you, before the real move
migration.log · customer and order records
RunRowsMismatchesNote
Rehearsal 141,208312Duplicate customers
Rehearsal 241,37718Old VAT codes
Rehearsal 341,4020Signed off
Go-live41,4150Sat 06:00–09:40

05Built with the people who'll use it

Software only works if your team wants to use it.

We design with the people whose day changes, not only the person who signs off. Here's how three of them put it.

07:30, every dayDispatcher
“I used to start every day rebuilding yesterday's sheet. Now the board's ready before I am.”
OH Omar HaddadDispatcher, Quanta Logistics
Last week of the monthFinance
“Month-end was three days of copy-paste into Xero. Now it's an afternoon of checking.”
LF Leah FernandesFinance assistant, Harbour Foods
All day, every dayWarehouse
“Drivers update jobs from the van. I've stopped taking the same phone call forty times a day.”
DK Daniel KowalskiWarehouse lead, Harbour Foods

How we get there

  1. 01

    Two days on the floor

    We sit with your team before designing anything, and write down what they actually do.

  2. 02

    A champion in every team

    One person per team tries each release before everyone else sees it.

  3. 03

    Training in 30 minutes

    Short sessions, recorded for whoever joins next year.

  4. 04

    A “something's wrong” button

    On every screen. Reports reach us with a screenshot attached.

It talks to the tools you already pay for.

And Microsoft 365, NetSuite or anything else with an API. No API? We've connected systems with CSV exports, SFTP drops and email parsing. Not glamorous, but it works.

  • Xero
  • QuickBooks
  • Sage
  • SAP
  • Odoo
  • Zoho
  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot
  • Shopify
  • WooCommerce
  • Stripe
  • Google Sheets
  • Slack
  • Azure

06A system we replaced

QL Quanta LogisticsLogistics · UAE · 60 drivers

Fourteen spreadsheets, one dispatch board.

Before
Four dispatchers planned 300 deliveries a day across fourteen shared spreadsheets. Drivers phoned in every change, and customers phoned to ask where their order was.
What we built
A dispatch board with live routes, a driver app that works offline, and a nightly sync with their accounting system. It ran beside the spreadsheets for three weeks before anyone switched.
After
The day is planned by 9am instead of 11. The spreadsheets are archived, read-only, and nobody has asked for them back.
time spent on dispatch
−38%
places the day's jobs live
14 → 1
days of downtime at switchover
0
“Our dispatchers used to juggle fourteen spreadsheets. Now it's one screen, and nobody wants to go back.”
Priya Raman, Head of Operations, Quanta Logistics
Ask for the full case study

07What it costs

What custom software usually costs.

The ranges most of our projects land in. Your price is fixed in writing after the first week, once we've mapped the work.

Rate cardUSD, before tax
Workflow automation or integrationOrders into Xero, approvals out of email
$8k–$25k3–6 weeks
Internal tool or dashboardA dispatch board, a stock tracker, a live month-end report
$20k–$60k6–10 weeks
Customer or partner portalOrdering, tracking and invoices, without the phone calls
$40k–$100k10–16 weeks
Legacy system replacementThe Access database, the old ERP, the system one person understands
From $60k3–9 months, phased
Support and improvementsFixes, small features and someone who answers
From $2ka month

Always included

  • Your code and data, in your accounts
  • Runs on your cloud, ours or your own servers
  • Documentation and recorded training
  • 30 days of fixes after launch

Compare it with licences

40 people × $60 a month
$2,400
× 12 months
$28,800
Next year, again
$28,800

That's for a tool that fits 70% of the job. Custom software is a one-off build plus support, and you own it.

If a tool already fits 90% of the job, buy the tool. We'll say so.

FAQ

Questions operations teams ask us.

Further reading

What happens if you're not around in five years?

You'd be fine. The code, data and servers are in your accounts from day one, built with mainstream tools such as Laravel, Django and PostgreSQL that thousands of developers know. Every project ships with documentation and a handover session.

Can it run on our own servers or our Azure account?

Yes. We deploy to your Azure, AWS or Google Cloud account, to our managed hosting, or to servers in your own building. We'll recommend one, but it's your call.

How do you move our data without losing anything?

We clean it, map every old field to a new one and rehearse the move three times on copies. Each rehearsal is reconciled line by line, and you sign off before the real move, usually over a weekend.

Our old system has no API. Can you still connect to it?

Usually, yes. We've connected systems through CSV exports, scheduled files over SFTP, email parsing and, as a last resort, reading the database directly. We'll tell you which is safest after looking at it.

Who can see what?

Every user gets a role, and each role sees only what it needs. People sign in with their Microsoft or Google work accounts, and an audit log records who changed what, and when.

What does support look like after launch?

Thirty days of fixes are included. After that, support starts from $2k a month, with agreed response times and a few days each month for improvements.

Send us the spreadsheet.

Email the spreadsheet that runs your business, or a screenshot if it's sensitive. Within two business days we'll reply with how we'd replace it, roughly what it would cost, and whether you should.

Email your spreadsheet Start a project instead