Frequently Asked Questions

The client has the copyright ownership to any source code we write for them. Whoever appoints and commissions us to write and develop the code, is the owner of this. Usual practice is for Circle Software & Design and the client to first sign an NDA and then once appointed, a contract which confirms ownership of the code is with the customer.

Employing your own software developers can work really well, however, finding skilled, available and affordable engineers is a time consuming process. The costs of keeping an in-house software development team is also high, by hiring us, we can get started right away, there’s no additional business costs to consider and with 10+ years Ruby on Rails experience, little training is required.

We favour flexible, reliable open source technologies such as Ruby on Rails for our backend and React & Javascript for our front-end. Our full tech stack list can be found on our website.

We’ve been specialising in cloud solutions and Ruby on Rails applications for 10+ years. Developing multi-tenant, globally recognised SaaS applications that could handle 5 million page requests per day. New features were deployed and released with zero downtime and near perfect 24/7 access and availability. We’ve also built many seamless integrations with leading, recognised brands such as; Mailchimp, Xero & Intercom.

We strongly believe in rigorous testing (conducting both development and acceptance tests), reviewing every line of code developed. We present the application to you at various stages of development to ensure you are happy with the progress and apply any feedback you have for us along the way. We also evaluate the end result with you after a few weeks in a live environment to be certain that all is working as expected, you’re happy and no bugs or errors have surfaced that couldn’t have been foreseen.

The golden question! The honest answer, we’re not so expensive we’d make your eyes water but we’re not super cheap you’d question our quality - we’re somewhere in the middle. We pride ourselves on delivering high quality at affordable prices and happily take on small to large projects. The cost depends on many factors such as; project scope, technological background and requirements and the time spent on this.

We are an exclusively UK based company which means our team is fully located in the UK. We don’t offshore or outsource any of our development work. The software development rates we provide you with in your project proposal are the rates to have our in-house, highly skilled and experienced UK team develop and deliver your project. We like to work in an open and transparent way, priding ourselves on producing high quality, well structured code at affordable prices.

Software infrastructure design is the hero behind every successful software system. By creating a well-designed infrastructure, we ensure your application is ready to take on any workload, both now and in the future. Providing high availability and enabling seamless integrations that make your system a well-oiled machine. So rest easy knowing that our team of infrastructure experts are ready to build the solid foundation your software needs, to thrive in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

A well-designed infrastructure ensures that the underlying components, such as servers, networks, and databases, are optimised to handle the expected workload and can scale effectively as your user base grows. It looks at factors such as load balancing, caching mechanisms and network architecture to provide a robust and scalable foundation for your application - all crucial elements for software longevity.

By tapping into our expert knowledge, you get access to an abundance of experience in designing and monitoring infrastructures. Plus, outsourcing saves you from the hassle and expense of hiring and training an in-house team. You can focus on perfecting your core offering while we handle the intricate system infrastructure tasks with finesse.

We believe in the power of customisation and treating each project as their own unique gem. While we understand that every software has its own quirks, our typical maintenance services encompass the essentials: banishing pesky bugs, keeping your software up-to-date with the latest features through timely updates, security patches, and optimising performance. We aim to provide you with a worry-free software experience so you can stay laser-focused on your own business goals with confidence.

Absolutely! We offer a 360 service from consulting, prototyping and application development to upgrading, testing, training and maintenance. We take on projects of all sizes so if you’re looking for a company who’s going to keep a watchful eye over your application, we’d happily do this for you.

We totally get it - budgeting and cost considerations are essential! We provide customised pricing tailored to the unique needs of your software. Factors like the complexity, size, and specific maintenance requirements of your software will influence the final cost. We price ourselves competitively for the experience we can offer and are more than happy to provide you with a quick quote based on your needs.