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Custom software: business systems, web apps and mobile apps

Business systems and web apps, mobile apps, complex systems. Built around the way you actually work, by one team of engineers: from the first meeting to code in production.

If you are the glue between your programs, the problem is the software.

The Excel export to get what the management system does not cover. The licence you renew every year and use a fifth of. Data copied by hand from one program to another, with the typo you find three weeks later.

These are costs you will not find on an invoice, but you pay them every day.

We start from how you work today and build the software around that work, not around an industry in general.

When does custom software make sense?

It makes sense in two cases: when you do something off-the-shelf products do not cover, or when their rigidity costs you more than the licence saves you.

If your process is standard, a ready-made package is perfectly fine, and we will tell you so. Building makes sense when the way you work is part of your competitive edge: bending it to fit a generic program means throwing it away.

An example: you arrive with three systems that do not talk to each other and one person who spends their days copying data from one to the next. You leave with a single dashboard where that data talks to itself. That is what we did for R&W Tech: 50 welding machines that used to be blind to each other, now read from one dashboard.

What we build

Business systems and web apps

The operational heart of the company, in the browser. Orders, warehouse, production, jobs, reporting: one place where data goes in once and shows up everywhere you need it. Business system and web app are the same thing today: what changes is not the technology, it is how much work runs through it. Ten people in an office and ten thousand simultaneous users are designed differently. We build to measure and make what you already have talk to each other: accounting, CRM, e-commerce, logistics, HR, production machines. For Satispay we built the corporate website on an architecture designed to carry the company's growth and the arrival of new products.

iOS and Android mobile apps

People who work in the field, on the shop floor or in front of a customer do not open a browser: they pick up the phone. They need an app that responds instantly, works where the network does not reach, and does not need a course to use with gloves on. We develop in Flutter: one codebase for iOS and Android, so one thing to maintain instead of two. When needed we go native, where Bluetooth, NFC, sensors and hardware protocols live. The four cases that come up most often, and how we solved them, are below.

Complex systems

Some projects are not an application: they are a system. More software, more machines, more data sources that have to stand up together, often in real time, often with nobody watching. Here the work is not drawing a screen: it is deciding the architecture. Who writes and who reads, what happens when a piece falls over, how it holds when devices go from 50 to 5,000. For IMA the question was whether a machine could handle certain operations: months of embedded software, on paper. We built a proof of concept that gave the answer sooner and with 10% of the resources, cutting research and development costs by 90%.

Business apps, not app store apps

The apps we build are not downloaded because they are handy: they are used because you cannot work without them. The maintenance technician in front of a stopped machine, the engineer inside a warehouse the network does not reach, the sales agent closing an order at the customer's home. The phone here is a work tool, and the app is the mobile piece of a system that already exists: management software, ERP, production data, devices in the field.

Four cases come up more often than the others. The companion app of a machine or device, which configures and controls it over Bluetooth or NFC: for Assa Abloy we rewrote the Mottura locks app without touching the hardware protocol, so the locks already installed kept working while the app changed completely. The app for field technicians, which has to work offline and sync when the network returns. The app for the sales force, with catalogue, price lists and orders that go straight into the management system instead of passing through a PDF and a phone call. And the app connected to an IoT system, which reads the sensors as the data arrives: for HCube it is a continuous Bluetooth stream from a patch sewn into sportswear, with charts scrolling in real time.

We develop iOS and Android in Flutter: one codebase for two platforms, so one thing to maintain and update at every release. Where cross-platform does not reach we go native, Kotlin and Swift: hardware protocols, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC, system widgets, Apple Watch apps. It is a matter of arithmetic: two native apps to maintain cost twice as much, forever, and there is almost never a technical reason to justify them.

What we do not do is the consumer app to launch on the stores, the kind that lives on downloads, rankings and retention. That is a different trade, won with marketing more than architecture. If your app has to talk to your processes, your data or your devices, you are in the right place. If it has to win a million private users, you are better off looking elsewhere, and if you ask us we will say so.

Who we build it for

We work with scale-ups and mid-sized and large companies whose process is too specific for ready-made software: manufacturing, logistics, financial services, healthcare, agritech. And with startups that need to go from an idea to a real product, in production, with paying users.

Few clients, a lot of attention: like a boutique, but with modern technology.

The technology, and why these

TypeScript, Next.js and React on the web. Node.js on the backend. Flutter on mobile. Infrastructure on AWS.

These are mature technologies, with large communities and developers you can actually hire. In practice: your software can be maintained and grown by another team too. We do not sell you a padlock.

When stability matters we go with the proven. When there is a concrete advantage we try new paths: IoT, AI and blockchain go into a project because they solve the problem, not because they look good on a slide. What we learn we put back into circulation: our open source projects, such as Multijet and Blaze, are public on GitHub.

  • TypeScript logo
  • Next.js logo
  • React logo
  • Node.js logo
  • Flutter logo
  • Amazon Web Services logo

The bill is paid over the long run

Off-the-shelf software costs little at the start and presents the bill later, in lost hours and stopgap fixes that become permanent. Custom software is an investment that pays back when it stops slowing you down and starts letting you do things your competitors, with the same bought tool, cannot do.

That is why we stay after release. Software lives for years, and in those years people, rules and the market change. We stay to help it evolve: the difference between good custom software and software "made once" shows in the third year, not the first.

OUR CLIENTS

Satispay: Quinck clientProtesa: Quinck clientIMA: Quinck clientWEP: Quinck clientMottura: Quinck clientNuovo Circondario Imolese: Quinck clientBMI: Beauty Management Italia: Quinck clientSatispay: Quinck clientProtesa: Quinck clientIMA: Quinck clientWEP: Quinck clientMottura: Quinck clientNuovo Circondario Imolese: Quinck clientBMI: Beauty Management Italia: Quinck client
WORK

Custom apps and business systems we have built

Preview of project bMOTTURA: the smart lock app, rewritten in Flutter
Assa Abloy / Mottura (design by Tangible): client logo

bMOTTURA: the smart lock app, rewritten in Flutter

Two native apps became one, without touching the protocol that talks to the locks.

See the project
Preview of project ChargeCar: one app for every charging point
Motors Club (with Antreem): client logo

ChargeCar: one app for every charging point

The backend for a mobile platform that brings electric charging providers together into a single experience.

See the project
Preview of project Autoctono: a wine e-commerce with a community and content
Autoctono: client logo

Autoctono: a wine e-commerce with a community and content

The digital ecosystem that turns buying wine into an experience for the people who actually love it.

See the project

Frequently asked questions about custom software

How much does custom software cost?
It depends on three things: how many processes it covers, how many systems it has to integrate and how many people will use it. The first step costs nothing: a free conversation, then a short analysis that ends with a precise quote. And if the project qualifies for a public grant the numbers change: some clients have gone from 40,000 to 20,000 euros out of their own pocket.
How long does it take to develop custom software?
A clickable prototype can be seen in a few weeks. The first version in production, the one people start using to work, usually arrives within a few months, and it is not the complete version: it is the piece that delivers value straight away. From there we add by iteration, with something usable at every release. We do not leave you a year without seeing anything.
For a business process, is it better to have a management system, a web app or a mobile app?
The right question is where the work happens. If people work seated in front of a screen, you go for the browser: a management system and a web app are the same thing. If they work standing, on the move or on the shop floor, you need mobile. Almost always the answer is both, with a single backend underneath: data entered from the phone shows up at the desk a second later.
Do you develop business apps for iOS and Android?
Yes, both: usually with a single Flutter codebase, and with native Kotlin and Swift code where we need to reach the hardware. Context matters, though, because it is what we do well: apps connected to company processes, data or devices. A machine to configure and control, a management system to consult on the shop floor, sensors to read in real time, orders to close at the customer's. We built them for Mottura, where the app controls smart locks over Bluetooth and remotely, for HCube, which streams vital signs continuously from a patch sewn into sportswear, and for ChargeCar, which gathers charging stations from different providers into a single app. We do not build standalone consumer apps, the kind that live on downloads and retention on the stores: that is a different trade. If there is a company behind the app that it has to talk to, it is our field.
What are "complex systems" in software development?
Projects where the software is not an application but a system: several programs, several machines and several data flows that have to work together, often in real time. IoT and Industry 4.0 platforms, data collection and analysis from plants and devices, integrations between systems that were not born to talk. The value is not in the interface, it is in the architecture: for IMA the system was a proof of concept that gave the answer with 10% of the budgeted resources.
Does custom software integrate with the management system and the tools I already use?
Yes, and it is the most frequent case: often the integration is the whole project. We integrate through APIs when they exist, and when they do not we work on databases, files, message queues or directly on machine protocols. The goal is that you no longer have to be the bridge by hand.
What happens after the software is released? Is maintenance included?
We stay, with infrastructure maintenance, monitoring, bug fixing and development of the new things you need as you go. The software you use in three years will not be today's, and that is fine: what matters is that it does not have to be rebuilt from scratch.
Do we own the code of custom software?
Yes: the source code and the documentation belong to you. The software you pay for is yours. If we stay, it is because it suits you.
Do you only work with companies in Imola and the province of Bologna?
No, we work with clients all over Italy and abroad. But 90% of the team is in our office in Imola, because having designers, developers and project managers in the same room means decisions get made faster. If you want to drop by and see how we work, the coffee is good.
Custom software or a ready-made package?
If your process is standard, a ready-made package is perfectly fine, it costs less and we will tell you so. Custom pays off when the way you work is part of your competitive edge: bending it to fit a generic program means throwing it away. The most reliable signal is how much manual work you do to hold together the software you have: if you are the glue between programs, the Excel export and the data copied by hand, you are already paying for the ready-made package in hours.
Is it better to go to a software house or a freelance developer?
For a small, well-defined job a good freelancer is perfectly fine, and costs less: if you need a single feature or a website, there is no need to call us. A software house makes sense when the software has to stand for years, integrate with other systems and outlive the people who wrote it: there you need a team, with someone who answers when something breaks and documentation for whoever comes after. With a freelancer the real risk is continuity: what happens when they are no longer there.
Where do you start with a digital transformation?
With the point where software costs you most today: if you are the glue between programs, with Excel exports and data copied by hand, that is where to step in first. We build the piece that brings value straight away, get it used, and add to it in iterations instead of redoing everything from scratch.
How does an end-to-end software project work?
A single team follows the project from the first meeting to code in production, in three phases: analysis (needs, costs, timing and a prototype to test with real users), design (architecture, cloud infrastructure, automated releases and tests) and production (verified release and maintenance). After release we stay to help it evolve.
FROM THE BLOG

We wrote about it

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Digital transformation: where to begin without redoing everything from scratch

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How a software project is run from strategy to deploy

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Is your vibe-coded app stuck? Here is what to do before spending more money

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Have a process that no ready-made software can follow? Tell us about it. Together we will work out whether it is worth building, and how.

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