Software is only useful when it solves the right problem.
Most software does not fail at launch. It fails eighteen months later, when a reasonable change turns out to cost more than the original build.
Yes — JANNEX builds custom software: web applications, mobile applications, SaaS platforms, enterprise applications, APIs, backend systems, integrations between existing systems, and modernisation of legacy applications. Work covers architecture, delivery and ongoing engineering.
The cost curve nobody plans for
Early speed is easy to buy. What decides the total cost is how the system responds to its third or fourth unanticipated requirement.
- Business rules spread across the UI, the API and three database triggers
- No test coverage on the paths that actually carry money
- Integrations written twice because the first one had no contract
- A deployment nobody wants to do on a Friday
- Knowledge held by one person who is now on leave
How we engineer
Fewer moving parts, clear seams, and the discipline to write down why something is the way it is.
Model the domain first
Names and boundaries in the code match the way the business actually talks. That is what makes the sixth change cheap.
Boring by default
Proven components, a small dependency surface, and complexity spent only where the problem genuinely requires it.
Contracts at the edges
Typed, versioned interfaces between services and to third parties, so a change on one side is visible before it breaks the other.
Tests where they earn it
Heavy coverage on money, permissions and data integrity. Light elsewhere. Test suites are a cost too.
What this covers
Applications
- Web applications
- Mobile applications
- SaaS platforms
- Enterprise line-of-business systems
- Internal tools and admin consoles
Backend
- API design and versioning
- Service and microservice architecture
- Background processing and queues
- Multi-tenant data models
- Search and reporting
Integration
- Third-party API integration
- Payment and billing systems
- ERP and CRM connectivity
- Webhooks and event delivery
- File and EDI exchange
Modernisation
- Assessment of an existing codebase
- Incremental extraction
- Data migration
- API layer over a legacy core
- Framework and runtime upgrades
Technology
The working set for this capability. Choices are made per engagement, against your constraints and your team's skills.
Where it is typically applied
Patterns we see repeatedly, described generically. Your version will differ in the details, and the details are the work.
A platform replacing spreadsheets
A process run across shared files moved into a system with roles, history and validation — usually the highest-return software a business builds.
An API for partners
A versioned, documented, rate-limited interface so integrations stop being bespoke projects.
Legacy modernisation
An old application kept running while functionality is extracted behind a new interface, rather than a rewrite with a launch date and a cliff.
Multi-tenant SaaS
Tenancy, billing, roles and auditing designed in at the start, because retrofitting them is the expensive version.
How the engagement runs
The same seven stages, scoped to the size of the problem.
Understand
We start with the constraint, not the feature list. What breaks today, who it affects, what it costs.
Define
A written scope with the trade-offs made explicit — what is in, what is deferred, what we will measure.
Design
Interfaces, data models and system boundaries designed together, because they constrain each other.
Build
Short cycles against a working environment. Reviewed code, tests where they earn their keep.
Launch
Staged rollout with monitoring in place before traffic, not after the first incident.
Learn
Instrumented usage read against the thing we said we would measure at Define.
Scale
Performance, cost and operations tuned once real load has told us where the pressure is.
Questions we are asked
Build custom or buy SaaS?
Buy whenever the process is genuinely standard — accounting, payroll, email. Build when the process is how you compete, when no product fits without distorting the business, or when integration cost between several products exceeds the cost of one system.
Who owns the code?
You do. Source, infrastructure definitions, documentation and credentials are yours and are handed over as a matter of course, not as a negotiation at the end.
Can you work with our existing team?
Yes. Joint delivery, code review both ways and a written handover are normal. We would rather leave a team able to maintain the system than a dependency.
What about a system we did not build?
We take on existing codebases. The first step is an assessment: what works, what is risky, what should be replaced and in which order.
Related reading
When should a business build custom software instead of buying SaaS?
A decision framework that accounts for the costs on both sides — including the ones that do not appear on either invoice.
Read Software Engineering · 7 min readMonolith vs microservices: what actually makes sense?
Service boundaries are an organisational decision with a technical bill attached. Most teams pay the bill before they need the benefit.
ReadHave something worth building?
Tell us the constraint you are working against. If we are not the right people for it, we will say so.
Or write to connect@jannex.in