Build / Bespoke software development
Your process is the advantage. Your software should make it easier to use.
Custom web applications, internal tools and APIs for the work a standard product cannot quite handle. Designed, built and supported by our Reading team, for organisations across the UK.
Start with a conversation. 0118 359 2220
Start with the business case
What needs to work differently? Bespoke software earns its place when the process matters to your business and the available products force expensive compromises.
A pricing model, a specialist assessment, an operations portal or a spreadsheet that has become business critical. We turn the rules your people depend on into a maintainable application.
A system shaped around your work, with permissions and a traceable record.
If a supported product meets your needs, buying it is usually the simpler route. Discovery considers that option before you commit to a build, including licences, data access and ongoing costs.
A sensible investment, with the cost of looking after it understood.
Sometimes the gap is between good systems: people re-keying information, chasing updates or reconciling different records. An integration or a focused automation may be enough.
Explore systems integrationA small example. A useful difference.
A purchase request should reach the right person, carry the information they need and leave a record. Try the normal path, a larger purchase and the exception that should stop the process.
01 / The request
Example rules: supplier details are required. A manager approves up to £5,000; a director approves anything above it.
02 / The decision
Supplier details are complete.
£1,200 is within the manager’s £5,000 limit.
The manager reviews and approves the request.
The decision records the amount, approver role and rules used.
A complete request reaches the right approver and keeps a record of their decision.
This is an illustrative workflow, not a customer system. All amounts and rules are examples. The interaction stays in your browser; it places no orders and sends no data.
The interface is only part of the work. The value is in the rules, the exceptions and knowing who can do what.
Tell us where your work gets stuckSoftware with a job to do
We have rebuilt a business-critical underwriting engine from an unsupported legacy platform into a live, audited system, preserving the logic the business relied on.
That is the point of modernisation: retain what makes the process valuable, then improve how it is accessed, secured and maintained.
Explore a DSC applicationDomain Health Check A public tool that turns technical domain checks into findings you can act on. Try it for yourself.30-second silent explainer · Software, automation and integrations
We start with the work your people need to do, the data involved and the systems they use. Then we agree the scope, access controls and what happens when something goes wrong.
You review working software during the build. We test the normal flow and the exceptions, check the agreed acceptance criteria and document the release and handover. Hosting and ongoing support are scoped separately from routine managed IT.
Clear decisions. Tangible deliverables.
We agree the scope before implementation and show you working software during the build. Your team can shape the result while there is still time to change it.
Users, business rules, data, dependencies and the result to aim for. A written scope and quote, including whether to build, buy or integrate.
A supported technology base, a clear data model and permissions designed around real roles. Regular reviews of the application as it takes shape.
Check business rules, integration failures and access boundaries against agreed acceptance criteria. Plan data migration and the release, with a way back where needed.
Document hosting, monitoring, updates, backups and support responsibilities. Improvements and recurring costs sit within the arrangement you approve.
Security is part of the build
We run and secure technology as well as writing software. That experience, alongside our governance and audit work, informs how the application handles access, sensitive data and operational failures.
Our security disciplineAn informed first step
Bring the process, the awkward workaround or the old application. Discovery defines the work and produces a firm quote before you commit to implementation.
See all project pricingFixed-price discovery
£1,500
2 days · excluding VAT
Credited against the build if it proceeds.
excluding VAT. Indicative, not a quotation. Complexity, integrations and migration affect the scope; hosting, third-party costs and ongoing support are agreed separately.
Read the full rate card · Reviewed 27 August 2026
Before you commit
Our published discovery price is £1,500 for 2 days. The indicative custom-build range is £5,000–£50,000, all excluding VAT. Discovery produces a scope and firm quote. Hosting, licensing and ongoing support costs are agreed separately.
That depends on the business rules, integrations, data migration and how much needs to be built. We agree the delivery plan after discovery and identify a useful first release where that suits the project. You review working software during the build.
Often, yes. We first understand its data, dependencies and business logic, then agree what to retain and what to replace. We have modernised an unsupported underwriting engine while preserving its business-critical logic and adding security and an audit trail.
We assess the available APIs, permissions, data quality and supplier restrictions during discovery. The plan sets out how data moves, what happens when a connection fails and how duplicate or conflicting records are handled. Sometimes an integration is the whole project.
Ownership of the code written for your project, handover and exit rights are set out in the agreement before work starts. Third-party components and open-source frameworks retain their own licences. We explain those dependencies and the arrangements for hosting and support.
UK hosting is available on infrastructure we run. We document where the application and data sit, and can maintain and improve the software under an agreed support arrangement. Application support is scoped for the build; routine managed IT is a separate service.
Only if it helps the work. Rules, forms and integrations can solve many problems directly. Where AI is useful, we agree its data access, permitted actions and human approval points. Our AI adoption service covers those decisions.
Bring us the difficult bit
A spreadsheet, a sketch or a conversation is enough to start. Tell us what needs to work better and we will help define a sensible next step.
Reading, Berkshire.
Working with organisations across the UK.
Hello, I am Ainsley, the AI assistant here at Dead Simple Computing. Ask me anything about managed IT, cyber security, software and AI, or governance and audit. I can also put you in touch with a person.
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