What Effective Bespoke Application Support Looks Like

Business leaders tend to focus more on outputs over processes when it comes to their organisation’s technology strategies. This isn’t intentional — the digital landscape can simply get too overwhelming for even the most technically well-versed of professionals to get to grips with.

In addition to more traditional responsibilities, the modern business leader has to:

• Get to grips with new technology and software developments
• Understand which technologies could benefit and/or grow their business
• Align any new technology with business-specific needs and goals

The best way to navigate this challenging, evolving landscape is to work with an external partner that understands your business’ unique goals and processes — and what solutions will be most specifically effective for you.

This is the idea behind bespoke application support; a service designed to maximise the performance, availability, and security of your applications through professional guidance and hands-on expertise.

In this article, we’ll explain what effective bespoke application support looks like, focusing on the key benefits it poses for your business.

Suggested reading: Legacy systems are just one of the many damaging factors to a business that bespoke application support can help with — read our eBook Legacy Systems Are Costing Your Business’ Growth for more detail!

Adjusted to your business goals and objectives

No two businesses are the same. When it comes to effective application and operational support, you should team up with a partner that spends time understanding the following core factors at a deep level:

• Your business vision, goals and objectives
• The industry you operate within, including its challenges and growth opportunities
• Your current applications, systems, and processes

This is where the bespoke comes in. External experts should tailor their services to meet your unique needs rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

Understanding your needs is an ongoing process. It involves a good deal of collaboration and communication every step of the way to ensure that outcomes are aligned with your business goals.

The right external partner will put in the effort to understand every facet of your business before going away to develop custom software solutions, applications, and strategies that will propel your business towards a more successful future.

Uncovers hidden growth opportunities

In addition to being diligent and thorough in their approach to serving your needs, the right external partner will also be innovative and creative. You want a team of experts that have proven experience in helping other businesses succeed through advanced technology solutions and can reliably apply that experience to your partnership.

They will bring a fresh pair of eyes to your business systems, helping to uncover hidden opportunities for profit growth, while implementing technological best practises.

Again, this is all about collaboration, with both parties fully invested in your business’ success in the short and long-term.

Keeps you ahead of the competition

We live in complicated times. In addition to global economic challenges, every sector experiences its own unique turbulence. This comes against a backdrop of rapid technological advancements and an increasingly competitive business environment.

To rise above these factors, businesses must:

• Ensure that outdated tech and processes are replaced or overhauled
• Leverage the right tech for their company and industry
• Ensure that tech solutions are flexible and scalable
• Have access to the right skills and expertise to maximise the impact and reduce cyber security risks of their tech solutions

Businesses that fail to do the above risk falling behind their competitors. Yet in many cases, business leaders simply don’t have the know-how and experience in-house to make the right calls.

While generalised application support may be better than nothing, it fails to take into account your business’ unique needs and challenges.

With bespoke application support, however, your partner will take into account the intricacies of your business, the industry it operates in, and the scope to find solutions that give you an edge above the rest.

Keeps that support ongoing

In many cases, solution providers are parachuted in to fix a set of defined objectives, with their work lasting for a set amount of time. While this is a standard process, an abrupt end to a partnership can leave any business feeling cut adrift, regardless of whatever training happened at the time.

No matter how diligent a business may be, their once-new web applications will inevitably need to be progressed at some point to prevent outdatedness and inefficiencies. Legacy tech in particular can be especially damaging to any organisation’s operations if it’s not quickly addressed.

Ongoing support helps businesses proactively tackle problems before they even arise. Upgrades to technologies and processes can be identified and implemented at speed, replacing legacy systems with modern solutions such as cloud technology and cloud-native applications.

The Talk Think Do partnership begins and ends with support

To be truly effective, application development and support must be tailored to an organisation’s unique circumstances and mission. This not only enables them to stay ahead of any challenges or competition that arise, but it also grants businesses the best possible chance of realising their missions and delivering value.

At Talk Think Do, we help forward-thinking companies build and manage mission-critical, cloud-native applications that transform processes and drive growth. Our application support team takes a highly collaborative and innovative approach, customising our services to our clients’ unique needs. Here are three real-life examples:

1. Driving digital transformation at Transport for London

Transport for London (TfL), a local government body responsible for London’s public transport network, was looking for ways to streamline processes, improve performance, and enhance the employee and customer experience through the use of mobile apps.

Working closely with their in-house experts, we at Talk Think Do helped TfL transform their app-building process by:

• Optimising processes and identifying growth opportunities within the discovery phase
• Outlining the cost and processes involved in building new apps
• Quickly yet effectively deploying the new solutions

2. Helping The Department for Education embrace the cloud

When the Department for Education (DfE) decided it was time to overhaul its existing solutions to optimise the process of allocating funds, it needed an external expert to help it move to the cloud.

Utilising the Government Digital Service (GDS) framework, we helped the DfE modernise its IT systems and embrace the cloud by:

• Designing a bespoke cloud-based solution architecture
• Equipping the support team with the skills and knowledge they needed

3. Enabling innovation at Explore Learning

Explore Learning, a private tutoring provider with over 100 centres across the UK, was reliant on a SaaS provider for key business systems. This setup didn’t fit their needs and was causing unnecessary and time-consuming workarounds. They asked Talk Think Do for help.

Following a thorough consultation that got to the heart of Explore Learning as a business, our team architected a cloud-native and bespoke software solution that met their unique needs, allowing them to:

• Take control of their data and intellectual property rights
• Handle huge spikes in user activity
• Navigate the pandemic lockdown with flexible, reliable digital tools
• Develop their own analysis and reporting processes

If you’d like to see how Talk Think Do could support your business through our bespoke support and solutions, get in touch with us today and talk to one of our experts.