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GEN have written software for businesses since the early 1990s, starting on UNIX systems in C. The languages and platforms have changed many times since, but the work has not: systems designed in partnership with the people who will use them, from a tool for a small team to platforms serving thousands of users across several sites.
If you need a new system, or changes to one you already have, we can help. We do not ask for payment in advance, and we support what we build for as long as you use it.
Back-end services, daemons and command line tools in Node.js, Go, PHP and C: the unseen software that moves data, runs jobs and keeps other systems fed.
Thick client software that runs in house for the best performance, from Electron applications to full graphical systems.
Thin client applications that run on your site or in the cloud and are used through a web browser, with nothing to install on the desktop. It is the way most business systems are built now, and a speciality of ours.
Applications packaged for Docker, LXC or Kubernetes, so they can be moved to any host in seconds, on your premises or in our UK cloud.
Applications written specifically for phones and tablets, in Swift, Kotlin, Java and C++.
New systems rarely stand alone. Integration links them to what you already run, and data interchange brings the old system's data across.
The stage where most projects fail. Together we agree what the system must do, using mock-ups, wireframes and flowcharts, with ideas from both sides, until there is a functional design specification everyone has signed.
We then choose the platforms and technologies that will deliver it most efficiently and can be maintained for the long term, not the ones that happen to be fashionable.
Our developers build to the specification, and in most cases you have early access, so you can see the system taking shape and tell us what you think while change is still cheap.
Before go live, users train on the finished system with test data, where they can make mistakes freely and without consequence.
We clear the test data, migrate data from the previous system or systems if needed, and put the system live, then monitor it closely to make sure everything works as designed.
Once it has run in production for a while, we complete hand-over and the development cycle closes. Support does not: the maintenance period starts here.
Real use always brings out small changes, and occasionally a bug the testing missed. Except on very small systems, we include a maintenance period of a few months to a year to deal with both, so the system settles in properly rather than being left the day it goes live.
After that, the choice is yours. We build diagnostics and error handling into what we deliver, and support it through the HelpDesk, under a service level that suits how critical the system is to you.
GEN Software Systems and Development, at www.gensoftware.dev, is our team of software architects, developers and engineers. They work from a development staging platform with test environments, data collection and bug tracking, on frameworks in PHP, Bash, Node.js and C that we have built and maintained over many years. Those frameworks are much of why our delivery is quick, reliable and predictable.
GENSoftware works on a "we build it, we own it" basis. We still support code we first wrote 25 years ago, and we will not turn you away: if we wrote it, we will support it.
No. Unlike much of the industry, we do not ask for payment in advance for development work. If you want a firm scope and budget before you commit, our consultancy can turn the idea into a specification with a full cost analysis first.
Whichever suits the job and can be maintained for the long term. That includes Node.js, Go, PHP and C for services, command line tools and back ends; Electron and full graphical applications for the desktop; Docker, LXC and Kubernetes for containerised systems; and Swift, Kotlin, Java and C++ for phones and tablets.
Wherever suits you: on your own servers, in our UK data centres, or packaged as a container that can move between the two. Browser-based systems can be used from any site with nothing installed on the desktop.
We monitor it closely after go live, and once it has been in use for a while we complete hand-over. Except on very small systems, a maintenance period of a few months to a year is included, for the small changes and fixes that real use brings out. After that you can take maintenance at a fixed annual cost or pay for changes as you need them. We do not insist on either.
Yes. GENSoftware works on a we build it, we own it basis, and we still support code we first wrote 25 years ago. If we wrote it, we will support it.
AI is a tool our developers use, not a developer. Every line of code is reviewed by a person and our developers answer for everything they deliver. Client code is only ever processed by local models, never sent to a cloud AI service; for GEN's own systems we use cloud AI alongside local models.
The best systems start with a clear description of the problem, not a list of features. Tell us what the work is, who does it and where it goes wrong now, and we will tell you what we would build, what it would run on and roughly what it would take.
If you want the project firmed up before you commit, our consultancy can produce the specification and a full cost analysis first. For websites and customer portals, see web development.