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Custom Software Development · Reigate · RH2 · Surrey

Custom Software Development in Reigate

Reigate is an affluent commuter town with a serious professional and financial-services base. A lot of those firms are running on software that was the right choice a decade ago. We build the systems that fix the specific points where that is now costing time and money, without forcing a disruptive replacement of everything that still works.

Rob Sherwood, co-founder of Dev Partners
UK-based since 2011, a Kent firm round the M25. We work with established businesses that need a developer who understands that changing what works is a risk, not an opportunity. Start with the one process that is causing the most friction. Fix that. See the return before committing to anything bigger.

Trusted by:

Telegraph Media Group
Hearst Communications
Chi Chi London
AX Paris
Motel Rocks
2011
Building business software
~40mi
Gravesend to Reigate
100%
UK team, no offshore
Fixed
Price, not estimates

The strength of an established business is also its trap

Reigate has a denser concentration of professional and financial-services firms than most towns its size: accountancy and wealth-management practices, legal firms, consultancies, recruitment and property businesses, and the small head offices of companies whose directors chose to be near home rather than commute into the City every day.

The systems that hold them together have been in place for years. Everyone has built workarounds. Nobody wants to be the one to touch them. This is understandable: the system works, more or less, and a failed replacement is a bad day for the whole business. So the workarounds accumulate, the costs mount quietly, and the decision to do something about it keeps getting deferred.

We are not interested in ripping out everything that works. We are interested in the specific points where an old system is now costing you time and money: the report that takes half a day to produce, the data rekeyed between two packages, the process that depends entirely on one person and one spreadsheet. We fix those points carefully, without forcing a disruptive overhaul of everything around them.

What a system past its best actually looks like

These patterns appear in almost every established Reigate business we speak to. If more than one is familiar, it is worth a conversation.

A report that takes half a day to produce

The data exists. Someone extracts it, cleans it, combines it from three sources, formats it in Excel, and sends it. Every week or every month, the same half-day. A well-designed system produces it in seconds.

Data rekeyed between two packages

A client engagement goes into one system. Someone types the same details into the accounts package. Someone else updates a third tool. Three entries for one piece of work, and three opportunities for the numbers to diverge.

A system nobody wants to touch

It works, roughly. Last time someone changed it, something broke. The person who built it is long gone. So it stays as it is, accumulating workarounds, until the workarounds become the system.

The process that lives in one person's head

One experienced member of staff knows how it really works. If they are off sick or leave, work slows down noticeably. Nobody has written it down because nobody has had to until now.

Software the vendor no longer develops

The package your firm relies on is still running, but updates have stopped, integrations have broken, and your auditor is suggesting you move to something supported. The data is the problem.

Off-the-shelf that covers 80% and misses the 20% that matters

The gap is not a feature request. It is the specific way your firm runs that no generic platform was designed for. You have been working around it since you implemented the tool.

How we work with established Reigate firms

We start with what hurts most

No grand rebuild. We find the one or two processes causing the most friction and fix those first. You see a return before any larger work begins. Established businesses rarely need a complete overhaul. They need targeted fixes applied carefully.

We work with what you already have

Your accounts package, practice-management tool, and the rest can usually stay. We connect bespoke software to them rather than replacing them wholesale. The goal is your systems sharing data, not a disruptive transition that takes weeks and a consultant to manage.

We do not disappear after launch

For a firm planning to be around for years, the developer relationship matters as much as the code. Most of our clients have been with us for years. Several for over a decade. We answer the phone in five years because the same people are here.

Software for Reigate and the wider Surrey area

Professional-services workflow tools

Matter and case management, engagement tracking, time recording, billing and client onboarding. Bespoke systems for the accountancy, legal and consultancy firms that need more than a generic practice tool can provide.

Legacy system modernisation

Migrating ageing databases and legacy applications to modern, maintainable platforms without disrupting operations. Including COBOL, Access, and early-generation PHP systems running on infrastructure that needs replacing.

System integrations

Connecting the packages you already run so data flows between them without manual re-entry. Accounting software, practice management, payment platforms, document stores. If it has an API, we can connect it.

Operational workflow tools

Custom job management, scheduling, quoting, approval and sign-off workflows. The internal software that codifies how your firm operates, removing the dependency on individuals carrying the process in their heads.

Custom CRM and client management

A CRM built around how your firm actually manages accounts, pipeline or cases, not how a generic vendor assumes you do. An open-source CRM such as Krayin or EspoCRM as a starting point, or fully bespoke to your specification.

Reporting and data consolidation

Pulling data from multiple sources into dashboards and reports that are always current, without someone spending half a day extracting and formatting spreadsheets before anyone can see the numbers.

Who we have built for

Long-term clients across publishing, energy, hire and professional services.

The relationships that matter most to us are the ones that have run for years. A selection of who we have built for and kept running:

  • Telegraph Media Group — publishing and subscription management software, maintained for over a decade
  • Hearst Communications — circulation, subscription and reader services platforms
  • CDS Global — fulfilment and publishing software in continuous production since we built it
  • BPC Energy — complete bespoke business operations platform, built from scratch
  • AX Paris and Motel Rocks — e-commerce and fashion retail systems
  • Jones Hire — warehouse picking, customer ordering and driver delivery systems
Start a conversation

What our clients say

19 clients. A few of their words.

Read all 20 quotes →

Want your software, servers and tech plan handled as one monthly arrangement? See Your tech department.

Questions people don't always ask, but should

The questions we think every business should ask a software developer, including us. The honest answers are on our custom software page.

Questions from Reigate businesses

Almost always. We connect bespoke software to the accounts packages, practice-management tools and other systems you already run, so you are extending what works rather than replacing it. The goal is always that your systems share data rather than duplicate it, without a disruptive transition that disrupts operations.

Because you own it and we build it around your process, not a vendor's roadmap. When something needs changing, you deal directly with the people who wrote the code. No licence negotiation, no support ticket to a helpdesk, no waiting for the next release cycle. Changes happen on your timeline.

Yes. Modernising ageing databases and legacy software, including COBOL, Access and early PHP systems, is something we do regularly. We migrate data carefully and keep operations running throughout, rather than requiring a cutover that brings everything down at once.

By starting with the specific pain points rather than a comprehensive system audit. We find the one or two processes causing the most friction and fix those first, so you see a return before any larger work begins. Established businesses rarely need a complete overhaul. They need targeted fixes applied with care.

We are a Kent firm, based in Gravesend, about 40 miles round the M25 from Reigate. Not on your doorstep, but close enough to be in the room when a project benefits from it. Most development work runs remotely, but for established businesses where walking a process with your team matters, we make the trip.

We have been trading from Gravesend since 2011 with the same two directors, Rob and Jason. Several of our client relationships have run for over a decade. We are not a startup and we are not planning an exit. For businesses building on software they intend to run for years, that matters more than it sounds.

Rob Sherwood, co-founder of Dev Partners
“

Operational software lives or dies on the details — the edge cases, the handovers, the one report nobody ever documented. We build it properly the first time, in-house, so it keeps pace with the business instead of becoming the thing everyone works around.

Rob Sherwood
Co-founder, Dev Partners

Modernise your Reigate systems

Start with one straight conversation. No pitch, no obligation.

Tell us which system or process is causing the most friction. We will give you an honest view of what is worth fixing, what it would involve, and whether the cost makes sense. We reply within one working day.

We will cover:

  • The specific process or system that is the problem
  • Whether bespoke software is actually the right answer
  • How it would connect to the systems you already run
  • A realistic scope and cost, before any commitment

A Kent firm based in Gravesend, about 40 miles round the M25. We reply within one working day. Call 01474 639 089.

Book a free consultation

Tell us about your project and we will be in touch within one working day.