AB...

• Online stock control, goods in systems including barcode scanning
• Membership and training platforms
• PDF generation, such as certificates and invoices
• Improving your internal and external systems

What do we mean by bespoke?

When buying a suit, many people visit their local M&S and pick a suit from a selection available There’s a choice of colours and styles and they come in different sizes It can a bit baggy in the middle and the sleeves are too short, but then it wasn’t made with you in mind To have a suit that fits you perfectly, you need to get the suit from M&S adjusted or better yet you can visit a tailor and have a suit made to measure

The same is true with computer software Whatever your business, there will probably be some computer software out there that kind of fits your needs Except that it’s missing a few key features that your business needs and it comes with a whole host of functionality that has nothing to do with your business

Benefits of a bespoke solution

While off-the-shelf software looks like an affordable option, you need to have it adjusted to fit your business A software developer needs to work on the software to remove sections that you don’t need, move around features you do need to fit your workflow and then finally start building the missing functionality All these adjustments take a long time and cost far more than expected at the beginning Then at the end of the process you have a system that kind of works for you but is no longer really compatible with the original software and you probably have to change some business processes and retrain staff to suit the way the system works

That’s where bespoke software development comes in Bespoke software is like having a tailor-made suit that fits your business and yours alone Built from the ground up, it’s designed with your business in mind, to make using it intuitive to users and a seamless experience Management and KPI reporting can be built to give you the data you need, the way you want to see it 3rd party systems can be incorporated to enhance the system in a seamless way

Barcodes to scan in deliveries, judges inputting scores into iPads and winning entrants being able to instantly download certificates and logos have been gamechangers for us here at the Guild of Fine Food It makes organising the World Cheese Awards a lot easier, meaning we can be more accurate and get results back to entrants in about twice the speed Enabling entrants to update their stockists online also helps ensure more people around the world can find where to buy their winning cheeses – which is a win win for everyone!

Christabel Cairns from The Guild Of Fine Food

How do I know if my business needs a bespoke system?

Computer systems are supposed to work for you If you need to change the way you work to suit the software, you are probably in need of a bespoke system If your business is off-the-shelf, then a standard one size fits all solution might be the way to go, but the reality is that most businesses do things differently and a bespoke system is often the right solution If your business is straight forward and the way you work very standard, you probably find an off-the-shelve system that is right for you If not, you should consider the benefits of your own tailor made system rather than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole

How can the AB development team help?

The team at AB have many years experience of building different bespoke cloud-based software systems, tailor made for a variety of very different businesses

After failing to find standard software that could work with their extensive and varied dealer network, CLAAS, one of the leading global manufacturers of agricultural machinery, came to AB to build them a bespoke website content management system that could support their entire dealer network in the UK and Ireland and run multiple websites and sales channels

If you and your teams keep having to use Excel to manipulate data or have legacy systems, you will benefit from our expertise

The Guild of Fine Food promote artisan food and drink across the UK, supporting thousands of retailers and producers as well as running both the Great Taste Awards and World Cheese Awards They needed a system capable of seamlessly joining up all of the various different business processes, including managing and judging the entire awards process from start to finish The team at AB evaluated their entire business, before designing a bespoke cloud-based system that could transform their old data and systems into one integrated system that was very personal to their business

Whichever industry you are in, AB can evaluate your unique situation and advise if a bespoke system is the right approach for you

What is off-the-shelf software?

Off-the-shelf refers to ready made generic software It usually forces users to comprise and work in a set way that may not suit them or the way your business operates Quite often off-the-shelf software suffers from bloated features and can be over complicated because it’s trying to work for lots of different types of use cases Off-the-shelf software is also pre built and you can’t request changes or new features

Can you help me with my legacy systems?

Yes, we can help modernise or replace your legacy systems Often outdated systems can slow the growth of your business and stop you reacting quickly to changes Other key issues are security, speed, unused feature bloat, system knowledge, integration, time and cost AB can review your current systems and replace it with a solution specifically tailored to your business needs

Can you improve our data and processes?

Yes, we’ll help to identify any time consuming manual processes that can be automated, such as data entry, to make inputting data as easy as possible – saving you time and money We’ll also help your business to maintain good data hygiene by removing any duplicated data that appears in your systems

We can make your internal processes more efficient by uniting your systems We’ll help you to connect various pieces of technology in your business, such as accounting software and your website, to create a single system Consolidating everything into one central system ensures you’re able to view data accurately and make better informed decisions

Will my online bespoke web application server be secure?

Yes, from the way we configure servers to implementing security features such as Secure Certificates, Content Security Policy (CSP), Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), Malicious IP Address, Web application firewall (WAF), Cross-site scripts and bot blocking, we will keep your site safe and sound We also use a specialist provider for Penetration Testing and implement recommendations across our servers and websites