application development

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What we offer our customers is a fast and efficient way to design and build complex software applications. We don't just write code but see our role as helping customers with everything it takes to successfully build software applications to solve business problems or realize business opportunities.

Most of the applications we build are online applications and these include the most complex types designed to service millions of concurrent users or provide support for very complex transactions.

Most of the applications we build are constructed from a mixture of different off-the-shelf software products and existing customer systems all integrated together usually using Java or .NET open source. Occasionally we build monolithic applications in either Java or .NET, but most of our work relates to integration.

Building systems out of lots of different applications is very difficult as not everything is under our control and there are lots of unknowns and moving targets but it is what we specialise in. In designing the sort of systems we build, there are many different considerations to be taken into account. These include:

• Making the best use out of both off-the-shelf software products and existing systems, which means we really need to understand the systems we are working with to make sure they can do exactly what you need them to
• Working within our customer's Enterprise IT architecture, making best use of whatever features it has and ensuring we don't duplicate or create new islands of technology

We don't have a rule-book approach to projects. Every customer and every project is individual so we make sure we use the right approach for each individual project. This means that sometimes we take a more agile approach to projects - especially as very often with the type of customers we work with the requirements are really not clear, or the customer needs to be able to re-shape and change requirements regularly. If the requirement is well understood and the restrictions of existing enterprise systems and processes are significant, a more waterfall approach may be required. Regardless, while ioko understands individual methodologies such as RUP, Agile, PRINCE2, DSDM, etc. we think that it's even more important to know how to select and apply aspects of each. They are tools to help us do the job not obstacles to get in the way of quick and efficient application building.

As part of this, our defined 'Discovery Process' stretches from the earliest conceptual discussions with the customer through to the point where the project is well and truly pinned down, defined, planned and costed. Using a mix of workshops, agile techniques, and technical feasibility studies, this phase focuses on ensuring that we understand what you want, and that you the customer have a clear view of what options are open to you, what the solution will actually look like, and how exactly we will go about creating it.

We are flexible and pragmatic in our dealings with customers - what we're interested in is making sure you have an end solution that meets your requirements and adds value to your business. That means that we're happy to work with your own IT specialists, third party suppliers and UI designers in delivering the project - though obviously we don't mind taking responsibility to deliver the project ourselves.

At the heart of our success in this area is that we employ brilliant people who care about delivering the right solutions. We hand-pick our teams and abhor the practice of shoving in 'desk-fillers' onto a project. Our people are passionate about technology and about ensuring that the customer gets the results they're looking for. We give them the skills, knowledge and toolsets to enable them to select the right tools for the job.

We believe that small teams are the most effective - they work together to rapidly deliver a high-quality system, without the crushing weight of defensive communication structures - often our teams are as much as one third of the size of teams our competitors deploy onto similar sized application development projects. As well as being cheaper, small highly skilled teams move quicker and hence get the system live sooner.