Our development team has extensive experience in a wide range of technologies, off-the-shelf systems, platform and API integrations, and in solving a broad range of problems from simple content management to complex, dynamic and personalised e-commerce. All our projects are governed by our unique Project Quality Framework (PQF), drawing together technical standards and methodologies into a single measurable framework. Our broad range of skills and experience allow us to integrate different disciplines and project phases into a common methodology.

Web Application Development

Upbeat creates websites, e-commerce stores, apps, frameworks, service-layers, proof of concepts and prototypes using a range of technologies. We’ve architected and developed some huge projects catering to millions of end-users, as well as many smaller projects such as local businesses and charities. Whilst we are primarily technology agnostic we have specialist skills in a number of frameworks, search technologies and content management systems, such as Ruby on Rails (ruby), Symfony (php), Drupal 7 and Drupal 8, and Elasticsearch. Please see our case studies to explore some of our work.

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Web Design

Our design team craft engaging and attractive user experiences that also deliver on accessibility and conversion. We fully understand how to manage the design process within a larger programme of work and into specific technology stacks. This allows us to deliver user-research, wireframes, flows, stories, personas, designs, stylebooks and frontend code that is of maximum benefit to the project team. Please see our Design Book for a sample of our recent work.

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Search

We make extensive use of Elasticsearch, Solr and Lucene. We’ve delivered a range of solutions including simple site search, faceted search, real-time analytics dashboards and similarity matching for organisations including Which?, the UN and Unison. Getting complex search right often involves significant data modelling and transformation, as well as architectural skills. Our experience includes handling millions of data points from multiple data sources in near-real-time, including complex data transformation and necessitating careful consideration of data storage, processing performance and costs.

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Project Rescues

We can apply our technical and architectural audit skills and our project quality framework to your existing project. Perhaps your current project is running late, is not delivering the features you’d expected, or something just doesn't feel right. We can audit your current project and assess the scope, plan, costs and current volume and quality of work delivered. We will assess these against your business and operational plans to ensure what is being delivered aligns with your expectations. We can work with existing teams to create a new programme plan and put appropriate methodologies and milestones in place. If your project has already stalled, we have established a tried and tested onboarding process after taking over the development of countless websites at various stages of completion.

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Hosting & Support Services

Digital projects don’t just stop when they are delivered. Hosting and maintaining a live web or mobile application requires ongoing commitment, investment and expertise. Regular security testing, monitoring of performance and errors, regular assessment of privacy and data, assessment of modernity and compatibility, and timely patching are all essential to keep your applications stable, performant and secure. We can provide scalable hosting supported by a choice of plans that cover security and routine maintenance of your application(s). Equally, we can work with your existing hosting solutions and wrap our support and maintenance services around it. We will work with you to assess your ongoing development and project needs so that we can allocate resource.

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R&D / Proofs of Concept

Working in collaboration with our client and any experts required, we can create a proof-of-concept to either prove technical feasibility or commercial viability of a new product. Many of our recent POCs have launched successfully to the public and are serving hundreds of thousands of users and managing millions in online payments. Our extensive experience creating and managing websites, and other digital startups, allows us to rapidly select appropriate skills and technologies and complete construction.

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Technical, Quality, Performance and Security Audits

We can independently audit your existing or new applications. We can audit the quality, scalability and performance of existing code and its deployment. We can complete security testing (both internal and external) and make recommendations, and we can help you achieve PCI and GDPR compliance. Our broad range of skills and extensive experience at all levels of application size and complexity allow us to rapidly assess most applications. We often perform pre- and project rescue audits on behalf of businesses, investors and company boards, as well as auditing the work of internal technical teams in larger companies.

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Strategic Insight and Support

Each project and organisation is unique and we can adapt to provide both a good fit with your requirements as well as providing fresh insight and process if needed. We like to feel part of your business and your culture - even if for a short while. Our senior team has experience working with boards of both large and small companies, and in steering the technology of high-profile projects. Our wider technical team have an extensive depth and breadth of knowledge and experience. Our preferred method of working is to become a trusted partner to bring our experience to bear for you. We both take time to understand your business and, importantly, make recommendations on future technology and requirements based on business objectives as opposed to just responding to a tender request. As one of our clients commented recently: "What's pleasing is the Upbeat team are steering us strategically...whilst we are street fighting."

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