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SOS – Save Our Software!

In the midst of a pandemic and another lockdown, businesses within the SME space are looking at ways to pivot and improve the way they deliver services. It’s time for us to put the struggle and frustration aside momentarily. As business owners and entrepreneurs we have to begin to look at life differently.

So, what is a ‘pivot’? It’s the term that reflects significant business change, ranging from mild to dramatic. When business owners and entrepreneurs get into the creative mindset this is often where the ‘pivot’ is birthed and where an idea forms.

This is where a lot of people go wrong, they leap into design and build mode without spending more time researching the idea. This is one of the fundamental reasons why Di9ital was born. Yes, you have an idea but you need a technology partner who is not just going to execute on build but actually have the confidence to explore the idea with you – it’s what we call validation.

Validation is vital in getting the necessary feedback and finding answers to hard questions before spending money on our assumptions about the target market.

This is what makes Di9ital the trusted software development partner for SMEs. Di9ital will work with you to empower you to thrive with confidence knowing that what you build has every chance to be adopted and make a significant impact.

Di9ital was birthed out of a growing need for software help and clients using Cre8ion as a sounding board for innovation. Darrell Irwin, the CEO of Cre8ion and Andrius, our CTO, realised there was a whole world of business leaders with the same pain points and we could really make an impact.

So in December 2020 Di9ital was born and our website went live – www.di9ital.co.uk open and ready for business! With a small team we are already on boarding new projects and looking to help as much as we can, with an appetite to grow and scale.

With Darrell and Andrius at the helm as co-founders and the insights they bring regarding target audiences and brand (www.cre8ion.co.uk) we believe we are best placed to impact the world of software with a ‘user first’ approach.

Andrius and his lean team of brave developers have now launched out to rescue small to medium sized businesses needing top-notch, bespoke applications, and others who need help to modernise and maintain their existing legacy systems.

We got some time to sit down with Andrius (Co-Founder and Technical Director) to find more about what makes the man behind the mission. Here are a few things that really stand out from our conversation with him.

Why is building software more than just a job?

For Andrius, running a software company is more than just doing business and programming has been his personal passion for years. Having worked in the world of development for years, Andrius passion has also become his purpose. At the heart of everything is the willingness to solve complex problems that can make significant impact on organisations. In a sense Andrius was born for such a time as this. A technology hero, with his team, helping those stressed out CEO’s and business owners rediscover hope and clarity, helping their businesses transition and deliver confidently.

So from idea to insight, clarity to cause, Andrius and the team are specialists in taking that moment of inspiration into a web portal, mobile app or even transforming a legacy system into reality.

The best way to do this is to take inspiration from the audience you serve. So once you have the idea, you look to build it out and allow ‘room’ for the crowd to give their feedback and examine the users behaviour to refine the experience.

This process is known as an MVP, Minimum Viable Product which gives you room to scale and room to learn. The benefit to the client is they are not paying for features they don’t need and at the same time understanding what the audience need most.

It’s this process of development that allows us to partner with you. Yes, you’ve got the idea, but we see it as working with you rather than for you. Why? Because most SME’s don’t have the technical skills needed and in the past may have been paying over the odds because of their lack of knowledge.

Di9ital actually walk you through each stage of development and take the time needed to understand the optimum solution. Often there is more time needed to understand through research and questioning to deliver the best solution, rather than commit endless lines of code based on assumptions which can  become expensive.

When we look into legacy systems (another large challenge for small to medium sized businesses) we find that the original system builder may no longer be around. The challenge is the business is left depending on software that they cannot update and faced with recruiting someone on high fees without the knowing whether or not they are the right team/person.

This is where Andrius and the team can liberate small to medium sized businesses from legacy systems which are no longer fit for purpose by working with the business owners to create new bespoke software solutions while helping them transition from new to old, working with the old system if needed.

With a modularised approach we have helped legacy systems perform better and improve if budgets don’t allow for a complete overhaul, while roadmapping out a series of improvements that make the biggest impact.

Where does Di9ital fit in the marketplace?

Somewhere between freelancing software developers whose priority is to get the work done as soon as possible and the large software consultancies who charge a lot of money, even to do anything simple, lies a bit of a ‘No Mans Land’.

It’s an empty middle ground that Di9ital are filling, because we know there is a massive need for it. Now, more than ever, businesses are adopting technologies and people are looking for more accessible options.

The problem is (and you’ll know this only too well if you fall into this category) that small to medium size companies can’t quite justify hiring their own internal department with developers and a designer but they do still need bespoke software. Even relatively small companies depend on bespoke processes and need bespoke tools. In order to get them built, these companies are forced to outsource, often abroad, in order to keep costs low, or use freelancers. There can be an element of uncertainty working with a freelance software developer as you have no guarantee that they might not decide to leave development entirely (tomorrow) and go and do something else. 

When you have a committed team in place, you have a company that are driven by delivering the best solution and providing the support you need to move forward. Our team are aware of the all the projects and we make sure that nothing revolves around one, meaning that if someone is on holiday then someone else can fit in! You might be paying a little more BUT knowing you have a team behind you gives you confidence to scale.

So, in essence… great software, lower costs…?

Andrius and the team are providing a high end service but with a process that is efficient enough to reduce costs and get work done more quickly. This means that small to medium size companies can avoid the costs incurred by the overheads of the bigger software consultancies. It’s all about offering a perfect software development solution in this middle space, centred around small to medium companies, providing better value.

Building a bespoke piece of software means saying goodbye to using ten different systems that don’t work together! Then watching it all come together quickly – there are so many creative ways to deliver solutions quickly and efficiently whilst retaining high quality! 

Existing Track Record

One of the best things about branching out from a sister company (in this case Cre8ion) is that Di9ital has an established track record of great software projects and satisfied customers.

It was partly because of the good feedback from customers that Andrius and Darrell decided that it was worth building a separate company in the first place.

Projects included building a custom staff rota system for a local sports coaching company (Shine) that fully integrated with the rest of the system functionality and data. Another was creating the Demos tax calculator which allowed the general public to put themselves in the shoes of the Chancellor and change our tax system. A third project was helping Solutions for the Planet to move their student collaboration process and their whole competition process online.

So how about you? Is your software letting you down?

Not everyone is working with software that is fit for purpose. Getting by for now won’t allow your business to scale, neither will juggling different software packages that don’t work well together. 

Getting ahead of the competition often involves a bespoke software solution or digital strategy as well as a reliable team to help you maintain your software.

Can you give us reasons to say yes, if I need help in the realm of software?

Absolutely, here are a few pointers that pretty much sum up those challenges.

You know that your service and offering can be better. 
You are dealing more than ever with customer complaints. 
The person that serviced the system has moved on, or even retired. 
You actually dont trust it can do what it is supposed to do. 
You have no roadmap or plan for the future of the system. 
Its slow and continually breaks and support is hard to get hold of. 
You have invested thousands but feel youre not getting the value you deserve. 
You need to modernise the look and feel as everything looks dated and ugly. 
You are not technical and need to make changes without the knowledge

That’s brilliant, what does someone have to do to get in touch with Digital?

You can book a FREE 30 minute discovery session using the chat bubble or the contact page through our website – www.di9ital.co.uk.

Once we have had that meeting, Di9ital will send you suggested solutions and recommendations of what would help you meet your goals. 

We’ll then then arrange a follow up and, all being good and you are happy with our findings, you have the option to enrol on our paid workshop. This will build out the launch spec and provide a roadmap of project execution with full costs. Di9ital are building a reputation as a trusted software partner for people just like you and we know working with us provides the technology strategies to make the best informed decisions for now and in the future.

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