We understand business. That is why we build better software.
Custom business applications. From the owner's point of view, not the programmer's.
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Every company is different. It has its own procedures, specific needs and way of working. Yet most companies have to adapt to universal software that often does not match what they actually need.
We do it the other way round. We build software that adapts to your company. Not the reverse.
We combine years of experience developing our own business applications, practical knowledge of running companies and the possibilities of the latest technology, including artificial intelligence.
The result is solutions that not only work well, but above all make sense commercially, operationally and economically.
Off-the-shelf software
A ready-made system covers only part of how the company works. The company has to bend to the rest.
Custom software
The solution follows the shape of the company — its procedures, dependencies and exceptions.
Where this comes from
Why do we look at software development differently?
Because for years we stood on the other side.
The programmer's view
- A technically perfect application
- Every requested feature
- Brief and specification met
The owner's view
- How much work it saves
- How much simpler the operation gets
- What it brings the company
Like many other companies, we spent years commissioning our own business applications from outside suppliers.
And it was in that work that we kept running into a fundamental gap between how a developer thinks about software and what the owner of a company actually needs from it.
From a programmer's point of view an application can be technically perfect. It can contain every requested feature, meet the brief and work exactly to specification.
Yet from the point of view of someone who runs a company every day, that still does not make it good.
An owner is not interested in how many features a system has. They are interested in how much work it saves, how much simpler it makes the operation and what it brings the company.
Again and again we met solutions that were needlessly complicated, demanded too many steps or copied established procedures exactly instead of simplifying them.
This was not necessarily the developers' fault. It was a different way of thinking and a different set of priorities.
And it is out of that experience that our own approach to business software grew.
How we think
We think like owners. Not like IT people.
We do not start with the question of how to program something.
We start by asking why it is needed, whether it could be done more simply and whether the activity is necessary at all.
Years of running our own companies mean we look at every project in its wider context.
We care about the daily work of the staff, how the individual processes follow on from one another, running costs, economics and what the management of the company needs.
We know how frustrating it is to work with a system that creates more admin instead of making the work easier.
So we try to approach development the other way round.
We do not want merely to move an existing process into a computer. We want to find the simplest way to solve the thing itself.
10 steps today
2 steps after
- If the system can obtain the information automatically, we will not ask an employee for it.
- And if a step is not needed at all, we will not build another form for it.
Context
We see the wider picture
Good business software is not the product of good programming alone. It comes above all from properly understanding how a company works.
When we design a system for recording orders, for example, we are not interested only in entering and processing them. We also care how they connect to the warehouse, production, supply, logistics, invoicing, cash flow and the overall economics of each job.
We think about how to connect the individual processes, where unnecessary work can be removed, what can be automated and how the resulting data can be used to run the company.
What one order touches
- Order
- Warehouse
- Production
- Supply
- Logistics
- Invoicing
- Cash flow
We do not just build individual features. We think about how the whole company works.
That lets us design solutions that often go beyond the original brief and deliver more than the client expected at the outset.
Design
Simplicity is our priority.
We believe good software does not have to be complicated. Quite the opposite.
The better a system is designed, the less work its user should have with it.
Our aim is to build applications that are clear, intuitive and fit naturally into the daily running of the company.
Complexity belongs in the technology behind the scenes. Not on an employee's screen.
We want people to spend as little time as possible operating information systems and as much time as possible on work that is genuinely worth something to the company.
The employee's screen
Technology behind the scenes
What we build
What we can build for you
Custom business information systems
Complete ERP systems connecting sales, production, warehouses, purchasing, logistics, finance and other areas of the business. Without the needless features, compromises and limits of off-the-shelf software.
Internal business applications
From simple records through approval workflows and planning to complete tools for running the company day to day.
Process automation
Automatic processing of orders, invoices, documents and other information. Removing repetitive admin, manual re-keying of data and avoidable mistakes.
Connecting existing systems
Integrating accounting software, banks, e-shops, warehouse systems, production technology and other applications already in use into one working whole.
Financial and management tools
Clear dashboards, cost tracking, profitability calculations, cash-flow planning, performance review and simulation of different business scenarios.
Artificial intelligence in the company
Practical use of AI in document processing, data analysis, automation, planning and support for management decisions.
Technology
Technology is a means. Not an end.
Software development is going through a fundamental change. Modern development tools, cloud technology and artificial intelligence now make it possible to build complex applications far more efficiently than before.
Bespoke software is no longer the preserve of large companies with multi-million IT budgets. Today a small or medium-sized company can have its own professional system that matches its needs exactly.
We make full use of these possibilities.
At the same time we know that technology alone guarantees nothing. The finest application is useless if it complicates the work, saves nothing or fails to provide the information needed.
That is why we always look for the balance between what is technically possible, how simple it is to use and what it actually returns.
Experience
Experience you cannot gain by programming alone.
Our advantage does not come from technical knowledge alone.
It comes above all from years of running our own businesses, managing staff, production, trade, logistics and finance.
We know the moments when management needs the real costs straight away, when production is dealing with an unexpected change of plan, or when an employee is losing time re-keying the same data.
And because we were customers of software companies ourselves, we know well what we expect from a supplier and what we often found missing.
Today we bring the experience of the client, the company owner and the developer together into one approach.
That is what sets us apart.
- The client's experience
- The owner's experience
- The developer's experience
One approach to building business software.
Case study
An ERP for a family dairy, from paper logbooks to a single system
Twelve areas, eighteen connected services and devices, fifteen weeks. What it took, what it saved and what the system looks like inside.
Read the case study
How we work
We do not start with programming. We start with understanding.
First we want to understand your company.
- How does it work?
- What weighs on you most?
- Where do unnecessary costs arise?
- What information are you missing?
- What would you like to do better, faster or more simply?
Understanding
We go through how the company works, what slows it down and what information is missing.
Design
Only then do we propose a solution — sometimes an application, sometimes just a better link between what you already have.
Operation and growth
We put the solution into service and keep developing it as the company changes.
Only on the basis of those answers do we propose a specific solution.
Sometimes the right answer is a complete application. Sometimes it is a simple tool that saves staff hours of work a week.
And sometimes there is no need to program at all — it is enough to connect the existing systems properly or use them better.
Our aim is not to build software at any cost. Our aim is to improve how companies work, through technology.
Growth
Software that grows with you
Business processes change. Companies grow, widen their range, bring in new technology or reorganise the way they work.
That is why we design our solutions so they can keep developing alongside the company.
From a first simple application to a large enterprise system. From basic records to advanced planning, automation and the use of artificial intelligence.
With an emphasis on clarity, security, reliability and long-term sustainability.
- A simple application
- Records and reporting
- Planning and automation
- Enterprise system with AI
The result
We build software that works for you.
We do not want to develop applications just to tick off a list of requirements.
We want to bring our own ideas, point out needless complexity and look for solutions with the client that genuinely improve how their company works.
Sometimes that means building a complete enterprise system. Sometimes a simple application, automating a few steps or connecting the tools already in place.
For us the success of a project is not measured by the number of features programmed, but by the real benefit to the client.
Less
- Less administration.
- Fewer mistakes.
- Fewer pointless tasks.
More
- More oversight.
- More efficiency.
- More time for the business itself.
Let us start
Your company is unique. Its software can be too.
You do not have to change the way your company works just to fit what the available programs can do.
We will build a solution that matches what you actually need.
And thanks to our own experience in business, we may help you find opportunities you have not considered yet.
Let us find a better way to run your company, together.
Farmes Software
Software that works for you. Not software you have to work for.