At Manchester Digital, we like to interview our members to find out a bit more about what they do and their work in the Greater Manchester digital and technology sphere. This week we're speaking with Ben Thomson, Operations Director at Full Metal Software.
What is Full Metal Software?
In a nutshell, we are problem solvers, not in the typical sense however we use the power of bespoke software development to help businesses work more efficiently and effectively. There are a lot of businesses that either run outdated legacy systems or are paying for software that is no longer fit for purpose.
Full Metal was borne out of a desire to help these businesses, ultimately helping them follow best practice whilst also keeping an eye on latest technologies. For some companies this will mean replacing aging software, for others this will mean setting them off on their first step of their technological journey.
Can you explain how Full Metal Software’s unique "4D" process—Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver—helps streamline software development and ensures successful outcomes for your clients?
Our 4D process was designed to simplify the historically complex journey of building bespoke software that most companies would feel is well out of their comfort zone. Far too often we found these companies had been mis-sold solutions or in more than a few cases had been bamboozled by tech providers, getting onto the wrong path for them.
So we took a step back and looked at our process from pre-sales to development and delivery and broke this into our 4D process, offering deliverables at each stage that allowed companies (and even those with no technology experience) an easy journey to embark on with us.
In this way, from the first point of contact, businesses can be sure of where they are in the development journey.
As a family-run business with a diverse team of experienced developers and professionals, how does Full Metal Software combine technical expertise with practical business insights to solve complex problems?
Within the technical team itself, we have over 100 years of commercial development experience, coupled with 50+ years of running businesses in the management team. This combination allows for realistic insight into business best practice, coupled with the technical know-how of how to achieve this.
It doesn’t stop there however, as we build collaborative partnerships with our customers, allowing them to bring their own business logic to the table (they know their business best), and alongside the above it allows for a triumvirate of expertise covering all bases.
In our opinion, this delivers the best outcome for all involved.
What are the key benefits of upgrading legacy software with Full Metal Software, and how do you support businesses in making the transition to modern systems?
This one is a hot topic, as there is a current trend to make investments go further and longer, and any bespoke software platforms are no exception. The issue with a lot of the legacy systems is that a business may have spent heavily in the platform at inception, however over time the ongoing support and maintenance has been reduced, making the gap between old and new vast.
Rather than scrapping and starting again, which is favoured by most software development agencies, we tend to focus on a different approach. Where feasible, we will support and maintain their existing software to bring about stability and an understanding of the business logic.
At that point, we map out a “brick by brick” approach to rebuilding the legacy software using modern best practices, which is not only better for cashflow (vs. a huge lump sum to rebuild all from scratch), it allows fluidity in features where business needs change over time.
For businesses looking to maintain or enhance their current systems, how does Full Metal Software’s maintenance and support services ensure long-term efficiency and reliability?
Full Metal has a proven track record of offering support and maintenance of our own projects and also in the case of existing bespoke software written by others. Both fall into ongoing support and maintenance.
With all software development, work should not stop once the initial platform has been released, as with everything, without ongoing investment, the software will fall further behind over time and fall into the legacy discussion above (which brings about its own set of unique issues to overcome).
This is why we educate all clients to use our support and maintenance services as this will not only ensure stability from a bug point of view, it allows pro-active updates to the underlying frameworks as and when they are released, which usually reduces issues like security flaws or efficiency.
What should companies expect when starting a new project with Full Metal Software, and how do you help them decide whether a project should be done and how best to approach it?
It all starts with a conversation. With vast experience in developing software across a range of industries, there is not much we haven’t seen in some form previously. Following our 4D process, we usually kick things off with a Discovery meeting as a first step.
This allows for an open discussion about headline requirements, what is possible (and importantly what is not) and headline budget discussions. All of this is a free service as we are acutely aware of the decision to build a bespoke platform vs. settle for a (probably not ideal) off-the-shelf solution usually comes down to cost.
From there we very much take a hand-holding approach to mapping out the full project in our Define stage, with many feedback loops, to arrive at a full specification of what the business requires and a timeline for delivery.
We aim to remove jargon and be as transparent as possible during these two D’s, before the real work begins for Develop and Delivery.
Learn more about Full Metal Software here.
