Custom software, done well
Our focus with custom business software is you getting a return on your investment. Imagine completing processes faster and to a better quality, capturing organisational knowledge and making more informed, data-driven business decisions.
Get in touchWhy custom business software?
First, let’s answer the question “why not off-the-shelf software?” Off-the-shelf software tackles part of your business operations and proponents talk about “best of breed” functionality or processes.
That’s code for “run your business our way”. In reality, when you choose off-the-shelf software you are running your business against a set of template processes and forms. You’re running your business exactly the same as your competitors. How can this ever drive a competitive advantage?
The other problem with off-the-shelf is that you’ll end up with multiple systems to cover your whole business. These are unlikely to talk to each other properly, resulting in lots of error-prone and time-consuming manual handling. You also won’t be able to make truly informed business decisions that come from looking at all your data together, in one place.
Axios custom business software can cover as much or as little of your business as you want it to. It can integrate with other systems and bring information together, reducing manual handling and improving management decision making. It can expand and change with your business. It can be built to capture organisational knowledge and guide new users through complex processes, thereby reducing key-person risk.
In short, custom software can be more expensive up-front but it pays for itself many times over if you find a vendor that is skilled in business process improvement and project management – not just development.
Axios works with many astute businesses that want to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Will your business be another one of our success stories?
Common business opportunities that work well with custom
Consolidate spreadsheets and databases
Convert your in-house tools into web-applications that are accessible to all staff. Create consistency of process and capture key-person knowledge.
Workforce scheduling
and mobility
Manage and assign jobs to workers using skills/licensing/availability criteria. Workers have the ability to pick up jobs and report status in real-time from a mobile device.
Customer portals
Provide access for customers to request work, participate in jobs, close-out/approve jobs and manage their account – all tied back directly into your core system.
Contract/document construction
Use data in your custom system to pre-fill any documents you produce regularly, from purchase orders, quotations, quality reports and even contracts.
Mapping, GPS and logistics
Visualise your workforce or assets across sites, plan efficient utilisation of workers and optimise logistics with real-time location data embedded into your custom system.
Complex process automation
Capture key-person process knowledge and have your custom software walk less-experienced users through. Minimise key-person risk and maximise process efficiency and quality.
Quality management systems
Embed processes into your software to monitor quality checkpoints. Introduce signoff steps and produce quality management reports without any additional work.
Systems integration
Send timesheets, job costing or order/inventory data straight to your accounting system. Integrate with HR and a myriad of other business systems to turn otherwise disparate data into business intelligence.
Business intelligence
and analytics
Bring data together from across your business’ operations and finance, monitor KPIs in real time, spot trends and take informed action.
Our process
One secret to Axios’ success is having skills internally to run your project using a plan-driven (waterfall) or feedback-driven (agile) approach. They each have their pros and cons and we’ll help you work out what’s right for you.
Waterfall is an engineering methodology with rigorous design and planning up-front.
Consider building a bridge – the requirements are well understood upfront and the contracting firm will create plans and estimates that provide certainty of outcomes. You can’t really decide to add another lane part-way through though.
- Lots of workshops, designs and plans up-front
- Risks are identified early and dealt with, no surprises late in the project
- Plans can be quoted against, giving certainty of outcomes, costs and schedules (some risks assumed by Axios)
- Not very flexible as there is substantial investment in the designs and plans
- Excellent where requirements can be known up-front and it is important to plan ROI as part of project feasibility
- Not ideal when there may be an unknown number of iterations (market-led features, hidden complexities, R&D)
Step 1
Define
Identify processes, information flows and business decision-making that is ready for disruption. We workshop ideas and determine if a successful outcome will produce a good return on investment (ROI).
We do this as a paid consultancy up-front. You’ll receive recommendations and if we propose a further project, a quotation for that too.
Step 2
Elaborate
Once given the go-ahead, we’ll turn ideas into detailed designs, project plans and identify any risks to achieving that ROI. Sometimes this may require some proof-of-concept work or perhaps a test interface to an external system.
Before coding begins, we agree on the designs, apportion risks and prepare a project plan.
Step 3
Build
The build stage is iterative; we’ll do a first-pass based on agreed designs, test it in your organisation and make any adjustments. We also have a separate team testing to ensure quality.
Under the waterfall model, we now have what we need to build the software and will check in with you periodically to give you a status report or ask any questions. We’ll come back to you when we have completed modules we’d like you to test.
Step 4
Accept
You have the chance to review the software against what we were asked to build and verify that it is fit for purpose.
Your system is on a test server and you can test it out using the full range of situations you would expect to encounter in your business.
Step 5
Deploy
We move your system into a professional-grade hosting environment according to your specifications. In some cases, we can also deploy to your in-house servers.
Your software is now “live” and you can start realising the benefits of the project.
Step 6
Support
This is where the real benefits of your new system are realised. Our support plans not only include extended warranty and assistance for your users, we can also continuously modify and improve the software to meet your changing business needs.
We have a range of support packages and our aim is to help you maximise your project’s ROI.
Agile uses the inspiration gained from each stage to inform the next stage of work.
Consider remodelling a bedroom – you start with a seemingly small project and buy a new wardrobe and paint the room.
That might inspire you to buy new bedding or hang some art. You may decide you now dislike the first re-paint colour and do it again. Doing too much in the same room will start to have a diminishing return.
- Workshops are continuous, very visual, looking at the next sprint
- Customer directs the team – may focus on new functionality or revising something already built (flexible)
- Not possible to quote as the customer determines when the project ends
- Risks can emerge at any point and as Axios is engaged hourly, costs borne solely by the customer
- Excellent where there is a clear and useful minimum-viable product (MVP) that can be improved iteratively if required
- Not ideal where a fixed cost is required, where the customer cannot commit the time continuously or where the customer lacks the discipline to focus on high-ROI functionality rather than niceties or revising previously complete work
Step 1
Define
Identify processes, information flows and business decision-making that is ready for disruption. We workshop ideas and determine if a successful outcome will produce a good return on investment (ROI).
We do this as a paid consultancy up-front. You’ll receive recommendations and if we propose a further project, we’ll give you an estimated budget as well.
Step 2
Sprint
Once given the go-ahead, we’ll work out your most important priorities and design simplified workflows to tackle in short 2-4 week work sprints. These sprints incorporate design, development and testing but on a very limited set of functionality (perhaps one workflow or screen per sprint).
You’ll see your software come together very quickly and need to stay engaged to get the most out of this process.
Step 3
Iterate
The build stage is iterative; we’ll do a first-pass based on agreed designs, test it in your organisation and this will naturally expose hidden complexities and edge-cases as new requirements. You decide whether you’ll get the most value out of spending the next sprint improving working (but limited) functionality or adding more workflows/screens.
Discipline is key – it is possible to over-spend on perfecting certain functionality. We recommend catering for more workflows early on and then improving them afterwards, only where there is a strong ROI.
Step 4
Accept
At various stages throughout this iterative process, you’ll have versions of the software that are usable in your business. These builds may not cater for every user or every scenario, but you’ve tested it in known situations and are confident it can add value.
Before accepting/deploying software into your business, ensure it has been thoroughly tested using real-world data and that potential users know how to work around any unfinished areas.
Step 5
Deploy
We apply your accepted software into a professional-grade hosting environment according to your specifications. In some cases, we can also deploy to your in-house servers.
Your software is now “live” and you can start realising the benefits of the project.
Step 6
Support
When the software tackles what you want it to and you consider it “finished”, our support plan kicks in. This not only provides an extended warranty and assistance for your users, but we can also make small incremental modifications or improvements to meet any changing business needs.
We have a range of support packages and our aim is to help you maximise your project’s ROI.
Some of our work
How else can we help?
Customer testimonials
For over a decade, the partnership between Stratco and Axios has flourished, fostering a genuine sense of trust and collaboration.
Axios’s expertise and commitment to our business and partnership have enabled us to grow with great efficiencies and produce more output with less.
We’ve been working with Axios for many years now. So they’re really part of the team. They are a service provider but we really view them as an extension of our team. The partnership with Axios has really helped us to manage our business on a daily basis as well as actually grow our business. Part of our success has been the improvement that Axios have brought into the HPS platforms. They take ownership of what they do and what they provide and support us throughout the whole process.
Because Axios are seen as a partner to our business, they’re involved in everything we do, everything we build and every strategy or direction we take. I would say their strong work ethic was a perfect fit with our business and the delivery of the outcomes that we were after. I would absolutely recommend Axios to other businesses, particularly those that don’t have their own internal development teams and build solutions for their clients. Axios are critical to what we do.
Axios provided me with some security and surety. By taking custody of our existing software, this has enabled me to sleep well at night. To know that we have resources available when and if they’re required. So for me that gave me breathing room in order to collect my thoughts and plan forward for the business. I have been very happy with the work Axios has provided to us.