Custom web applications
Client portals, admin portals and internal tools, custom-built by a small, committed team.
Software modernisation
Members app for de Dieu
Custom web application development gets interesting once your business runs on a spreadsheet that should have been a system. We build custom software that runs in the browser, either brand new or on top of software you already use.
What we build
Client portals
Clients or members log in and handle things themselves, in a portal built around the way you work.
Admin portals and internal tools
Your team manages users, requests and data in one place.
Connected to what you already have
Your platform exchanges data with your existing software and with external services (APIs).
Working with hardware
A web application can talk to hardware, from an access pass to a machine in your factory.
When is a web application right for you?
A web application is software you use in the browser, with a login and data that keeps changing. Think of a platform, a tool or a portal, not a website that only tells people who you are. The question usually comes up when work is scattered across too many files and people, when clients or members keep emailing you for information they could easily look up themselves, or when the platform is your product. Sometimes you start with a web application and a mobile app follows in a later phase.
Custom software or an off-the-shelf package?
A standard package is usually the fastest route, and for many companies it's more than enough. For simple cases, a no-code tool can work fine too. It changes when the exceptions become the rule: an export here, an extra spreadsheet there, and the one colleague who knows how it all works. Then you pay for software and still do the work by hand.
With custom software, your own rules, steps and exceptions live in the software itself, instead of in your people's heads. If a package does what you need, we'll recommend it, even if that leaves nothing for us to build.
Client portal, booking system, admin portal
With a custom client portal, you decide what clients or members see and can do once they log in, which a ready-made portal service won't let you do. A booking system lets people reserve a space themselves. An internal tool takes over work that now bounces between email and spreadsheets. A web application can also show your data in a dashboard: what's coming in, what's in progress and where things are stuck.
One example is De Dieu, a members' club for founders. The administrator manages events, the member list and external bookings from the central admin portal in the browser, and members book a space in the building themselves.
Existing software, integrations and hardware
If we're building on existing software, we first look at which parts are worth keeping.
A web application rarely stands alone. It exchanges data with your existing software and with external services, and sometimes with hardware, such as the door access at De Dieu. How we build those integrations is explained on our integrations and APIs page.
Web application development, phase by phase
A web application that has to do everything at once stays on the drawing board for too long. That's why we split the work up.
- Introduction and analysis: we look at how the work gets done now, which spreadsheets and packages are involved, and who'll be logging in. We then work out which set-up fits; that research is on us. If you could either build new or build on what you have, the plan sets out both routes side by side, with what each phase delivers.
- Design and visual prototyping: we design the screens around your wishes, for each type of user, such as client and administrator. You see how it works, screen by screen, before any development starts.
- Building in phases: phase one delivers the part your users get the most out of, such as logging in and self-service booking. Their feedback shapes the next phase, and after each phase you decide whether to continue.
- Launch and support: your clients and your team get going with the new web application, while we keep an eye on things in the background.
The first six months after launch include full support. After that, a maintenance package of six hours every six months keeps security and software up to date, plus monitoring. If something breaks, Sentry alerts us straight away and we fix it at no cost. We take care of hosting too; where and how, we decide together.
What does a web application cost?
It depends on the project. How many types of users are there, how many screens and how many of your own business rules? How many other systems does the application need to talk to? And how many phases do you want? You get a price once it's clear what's needed, after the introductory call and our research. Start with just the core, say booking first and the rest later, and the first invoice stays small.
After launch
Going live isn't the finish line: a platform still has to find its users. Where useful, we help you think through marketing and the launch, as we did for Impackt, StatieApp and Mamamoon.
Bring the spreadsheet or package you're stuck with to a free introductory call. Use the "Schedule a call" button to book one.
