Software maintenance and support

Software maintenance that keeps working software working

Software does not stay finished. Dependencies age, platforms change and small bugs pile up. Our support plans cover monitoring, patches, fixes and a steady stream of improvements, with response times agreed in writing and a report every month.

Start a project What maintenance costs

Response times written into the plan
Security patches applied promptly
Monthly report in plain English

Status page showing all systems operational, uptime bars for each service and a log of resolved incidents

What is included

Everything a live system needs each month

Monitoring and alerts

Uptime, errors, performance and cost watched around the clock, with alerts that reach a person, not a shared inbox.

Security patching

Dependencies, frameworks and servers kept up to date, with critical fixes applied as soon as they are tested.

Bug fixes

Issues triaged by severity, fixed, tested and released, with a short note on the cause.

Platform updates

New versions of iOS, Android, browsers, Shopify, cloud services and databases tested before they reach your users.

Backups and recovery

Backups checked, and restores rehearsed on a schedule, because a backup nobody has restored is only a hope.

Small improvements

Hours each month for the changes your team keeps asking for, planned from a short shared backlog.

How it works

The same rhythm every month

Monitoring runs all the time. Patches, fixes and improvements go out in regular releases, and each month ends with a short report: what broke, what we fixed, what we changed and what we recommend next.

The monthly support cycle: monitor, patch, fix, improve and report

Severity

Clear rules for what happens when something breaks

We agree severity levels and response targets before the plan starts, so nobody argues about priority in the middle of an outage.

Support severity levels with examples and how each is handled, from a system outage to a cosmetic issue

Taking over software another team built? We start with a two to three week onboarding audit and fix anything urgent before the regular plan begins.

What you get

Support you can see

You should always know what your support plan is doing. These come with every plan.

Agreed response times for each severity level
A monthly report of incidents, fixes and changes
A shared backlog for small improvements
Runbooks for the common problems
Restore tests on a schedule, with results
Access in your name, removable at any time

Recent work

Systems we have built and supported

Architecture of the remote device management application for utilities

Utilities / Java

Remote management for utility field devices

A central web application that lets water and energy utilities change settings on their radio devices, or upgrade a whole territory, without a site visit.

Read the case study →

Event-driven architecture of the home health financial system on AWS

Healthcare / .NET and AWS

A financial system rebuilt for new CMS payment rules

An event-driven finance platform for a home health and hospice provider, delivered to a fixed regulatory deadline while the rules were still being clarified.

Read the case study →

KITH campaign image of models in winter outerwear

Streetwear / Shopify Plus and iOS

KITH, built for Monday drops

A redesigned Shopify Plus store and an iOS app designed around the weekly release that brings shoppers back.

Read the case study →

See all our work

Questions

Maintenance and support FAQ

What does a maintenance plan cover?

Monitoring and alerting, security patches and dependency updates, bug fixes by severity, platform and OS updates, backups and restore tests, and a set number of hours each month for small improvements. We agree the exact scope in writing.

How much does software maintenance cost?

A common rule of thumb is 15 to 20 percent of the original build cost per year, but it varies with how much the software changes and how many systems it depends on. Our article on maintenance costs after launch explains what drives the number.

How fast do you respond to problems?

Response times are set by severity and written into the plan. A system-down incident is acknowledged fastest, a cosmetic bug is scheduled into the next release. We agree the targets with you before the plan starts.

Can you support software we did not build?

Yes. We start with an onboarding audit of the code, hosting, access and documentation, fix anything urgent, then move to the regular plan.

What happens to unused hours?

That depends on the plan. Most clients use the improvement hours every month on a short backlog we agree together, so the software keeps getting better and the hours do not go to waste.

Can we cancel or bring support in-house later?

Yes. Everything lives in your accounts and repositories, runbooks are kept current, and if you move support in-house we run a handover so your team can take it on.