Software development company for Toronto businesses

Start with the process you need to support. An off-the-shelf product can fit standard work such as accounting, payroll or email. Custom software becomes worth examining when your process sets you apart, or when several products leave gaps that staff have to bridge themselves. A ready-made product gives you an established set of functions; a custom build asks you to define the rules and records you need.

Low-code tools such as Airtable, Zoho Creator and Retool suit simpler workflows and small teams. Check their limits before committing: complex rules take more work, per-user licences can grow, and moving data out later needs thought. A hybrid is another option. You keep a product that already handles work such as accounting and build the missing workflow around it, connected through an API.

We will discuss where your existing tools fit and where the gaps are. If an existing product fits your work better than a custom build, we will tell you. The decision should leave you with a process your staff can actually use, with a clear reason for each part you ask us to build.

If your software records taxable sales, the place of supply affects the GST or HST rate applied. Ontario HST is 13%. We set up fields for the information used to identify the place of supply, such as where goods are delivered, and invoice rules that apply the relevant rate. For sales across provinces, we agree the required rate rules with you as part of the build, so the records and invoices reflect the places your business supplies.

Bring examples of the work as it happens today.

• List the people who will use the system, including what each person must see, do and not see.
• Rank the problems by their cost to your business, such as hours lost, errors, late jobs or missed revenue.
• Name a decision maker and a staff member who will test, give feedback and champion the system with colleagues.
• Identify the process where a first version would save the most time, so we can scope that work.
• Bring copies of current forms and templates, with notes on the columns people rely on.

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  Copying the spreadsheet screen for screen

  Fix the underlying process first, then build the simplest system that supports it.

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  Scoping everything at once

  Start with the biggest bottleneck, then use the first version to shape what comes next.

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  Leaving permissions until late

  Define roles while screens are being designed to avoid rework and exposing data to the wrong people.

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  Leaving the system without an internal owner

  Give someone responsibility for answering rule questions and keeping testing moving.