The tool the spreadsheet became.
Operations platforms, approval workflows, scheduling and dispatch tools — the systems a business invents in spreadsheets and email, rebuilt as software with roles, history, and an audit trail.
Custom software, built like infrastructure.
When the software our clients need doesn’t exist, we build it — internal tools, data and integration platforms, automation pipelines, and regulated reporting systems. Scoped on paper first, built against a real spec, and handed over with source, runbook, and training. The same engineers, the same $150 per engineer-hour.
Remote · WorldwideOn-site · NYC Metro
Software for how the business actually runs.
We build the systems that sit between off-the-shelf products — the workflows, integrations, and reports that are too specific to buy and too important to keep running by hand.
Systems that finally talk.
Data and integration platforms that connect the systems you already run — synchronized on a schedule you control, with failures surfaced instead of swallowed.
Reporting someone actually reads.
Pipelines and dashboards built around the decisions they feed — not a wall of charts. Numbers traceable back to their source when someone asks where a figure came from.
Built against a real spec.
Regulated reporting and compliance systems built to the document that governs them — with the controls, retention, and review trail the regulator expects to find.
Pipelines that remove the re-typing.
Design-automation and document pipelines that take a process run by hand today and make it repeatable — same input, same output, no Tuesday-afternoon variance.
Your repo, your system.
Source code in a repository you own, a deployment runbook, operating docs, and training for the team that runs it after we hand it back. No hostage situations.
What a software engagement includes.
An engagement starts with a scoping document and ends with a handover — the ledger below is the shape of the work in between.
SW-01Scoping document before any code
SW-02Technical design, reviewed with you
SW-03Milestone plan with staged demos
SW-04Build — with working software shown as it grows
SW-05Security and access model baked in
SW-06Data migration from the spreadsheets it replaces
SW-07Deployment runbook and operating docs
SW-08Source-code repository handed over
SW-09Training for the team that will run it
SW-10Post-launch metric pack
SW-11Defined support window after launch
SW-12Exit-ready documentation — no lock-in
Spec to supported system.
The deliverable isn’t a demo — it’s a system your team operates after we leave: source in your repository, a runbook that works, and a support window with edges.
Good fit
Where we do our best work.
Operational software with a knowable spec — where the business already understands the process and needs it to become reliable, auditable, and independent of any one person’s memory.
- A workflow that outgrew its spreadsheet years ago
- Two systems reconciled by hand every week
- A report a regulator wants that takes days to assemble
- A quoting or intake process that loses details in email
- A legacy internal tool nobody can maintain anymore
- A manual process that must survive the person who runs it
Honest no
What we’ll point elsewhere.
Some software problems deserve a different shop — and some deserve no custom software at all. If off-the-shelf solves it, the scoping document says so and costs you one conversation.
- A startup MVP hunting for product-market fit
- A mobile app for consumers
- A website refresh — that’s a design shop’s job
- Staff augmentation on someone else’s codebase
- A system whose spec nobody can agree on yet
- Software better bought off the shelf — we’ll say so
Software engagements, named.
Real engagements for named clients — written up on the work page.
InnovantSoftware engagement for a workplace-furniture manufacturer.Read the engagement Fortress Investment GroupSoftware engagement for a global investment manager.Read the engagement Marathon Asset ManagementSoftware engagement for an asset-management firm.Read the engagement
All engagements PricingRates & minimums →
Scope before code.
The scoping document comes first, so the build starts with a shape and cost you’ve already seen and signed off on. Rates are published on the pricing page.
Scope
The problem, the users, the systems it touches, and what done means — written down and agreed before code.
Design
A technical design you can read and challenge — data, integrations, roles, and the seams where it will grow.
Build
Milestones with working software at each — you see the system run long before launch day.
Hand over
Repo, runbook, training, and a defined support window — then it’s yours, documented well enough to stay that way.
Frequently asked questions.
If your question is not here, send it — a senior engineer reads every inbound.
What kind of custom software does ShiftCTRL build?
Operational software — internal tools, data and integration platforms, automation pipelines, dashboards, and regulated reporting systems. The systems too specific to buy off the shelf and too important to keep running by hand.
What does custom software development cost?
An engagement starts with a scoping document and technical design, so you see the shape and cost of the build before code is written. Current rates are published on our pricing page.
Who owns the code when the project ends?
You do. Source code lives in a repository you own, and handover includes a deployment runbook, operating documentation, and training for the team that will run it.
Do you maintain the software after launch?
Builds ship with a defined post-launch support window, and ongoing support beyond it is available — but the handover is built so you are never locked in.
Will you tell us if we shouldn’t build custom software?
Yes — and it happens. If an off-the-shelf product solves the problem, the scoping conversation says so and the engagement ends there.
Is this the same team that does the network work?
Yes — the software is built by the same engineers who design, install, and support networks, which is why operational software for physical businesses is where we do our best work.
GET IN TOUCH
A process that's outgrown its spreadsheet?
Describe the workflow, the systems it touches, and where it breaks today — we’ll tell you whether it deserves custom software, and what the scoping step would cover.