Desktop application
From £1,585
- Windows desktop application
- Local database
- User accounts
- Core workflow for your business
- Reporting
- Document generation
- Backup and export
- Installation and handover
Local-first and ready to scale
Custom Desktop Software Development
Software that runs on your own machines, holds your own data, and keeps working when the internet does not. Based in Dundee, working with businesses across Scotland and the United Kingdom.
From £1,585 Starting price. Final cost depends on what the project needs.
Who it is for
- Businesses working from one premises
- Workshops and units with unreliable connectivity
- Internal tools that never need to leave the building
- Anyone who would rather their data sat on their own machine
- Operations replacing an ageing Windows program
- Staff tools where speed matters more than remote access
What it solves
- An old program that still works but nobody supports
- A subscription for software that does far more than you need
- Work that stops when the connection drops
- Data held by a supplier rather than by you
- A process built around a spreadsheet and a paper diary
- Reporting that means copying numbers by hand
What can be included
Not every project needs everything here. The scope is agreed before work starts, and the quotation reflects what you actually asked for.
Day to day
- Customer management
- Calendar and scheduling
- Jobs and job history
- Quotes and invoices
- Parts and stock
Output
- Reporting
- Document generation
- Automated calculations
- Printing and exports
Underneath
- Local database
- User accounts and access levels
- Backups and data export
- API integrations where wanted
- A sensible update process
Local or internal software for planning, client management, documents, reminders, workflows and structured business data.
Security can include
- Different access levels for users and administrators
- Validated information and safe database operations
- Protected configuration and careful storage of sensitive settings
- Appropriate encryption for information that is stored or transmitted
- Activity records, backups, exports and restore testing
- Controlled connections to cloud databases or other systems when needed
- Update planning, a documented handover and clear data-retention rules
Possible functions
- Customer and service workspaces
- Questionnaires, reports and document templates
- Dashboards, tasks, reminders and approval stages
- Databases, automation and carefully limited artificial-intelligence features
What you get out of it
- Works whether or not the internet does
- Your data stays on your hardware
- No monthly per-seat fee for software you already paid for
- Fast, because it is not waiting on a network
- Built for your process rather than a generic one
What you receive
- An installed, working application
- A local database holding your data on your hardware
- User accounts with appropriate access levels
- A working backup and export route, tested
- Documentation and a handover session
- A clear process for issuing future updates
What is needed from you
- A walkthrough of the work the software has to do
- Details of the machines it will run on
- Any existing data to bring across
- Someone available to answer questions during the build
Security considered from the start.
Desktop software is built with access controls appropriate to who uses it, secure configuration, protection of any credentials it needs, validation of what gets entered, a working backup and export route, and a clear process for issuing updates. Where relevant, development practices take recognised guidance from organisations such as OWASP and the UK National Cyber Security Centre into consideration.
Standards and guidance this work follows
Not a certification claim. These are the published references the work is measured against, so the decisions are somebody else's tested thinking rather than only mine.
OWASP
The Open Worldwide Application Security Project. Its guidance on authentication, access control, input validation, session handling and safe error messages informs how anything with a login or a form is built.
Information Commissioner’s Office
UK data protection guidance. Shapes what a form asks for, how long information is kept, what a privacy notice says, and how cookies are handled.
National Cyber Security Centre
UK government guidance on small business security, account protection, device management and backups. Used as the reference point for what good practice looks like.
Following recognised guidance is not the same as holding an independent certification, and none is claimed here.
How it works
Understand the work
What the software has to do, who uses it, and what it is replacing.
Scope and quote
A written specification and a fixed quotation.
Build and review
Built in stages, with working versions to try as it goes.
Install and support
Installed, data brought across where there is any, staff shown how it works.
Pricing
What moves the price: how many areas the software covers, how much reporting and document generation is needed, whether it connects to anything else, and whether data has to be brought across from an existing system.
Prices shown are starting prices. Final pricing depends on project requirements, functionality, complexity, integrations and third-party services. A clear quotation is provided before work begins.
Common questions
How much does custom desktop software cost?
From £1,585, with the final figure set by scope. A focused tool doing one job well is much less than a full business management system.
Should I choose desktop or web?
Desktop if it runs in one place and must work offline. Web if people need it from several locations or from a phone. There is no reason here to push one over the other. See web applications.
Does it work without internet?
Yes, that is one of the main reasons to choose desktop. Any part connecting to an outside service needs a connection, but the core keeps working.
Who holds the data?
You do. It sits on your machine or your own server, with backups so that is not a single point of failure.
Related services
Not sure whether you need desktop or web?
That is a normal question and the answer depends on how you work. Tell me the situation and I will give you a straight recommendation.