Before you launch: test with a few people, then make it simpler
Small usability tests and simpler forms are two of the cheapest ways to improve a new website, app or digital product before launch. Here is how to do both.
Choosing a tech stack for the future: start with a single source of truth
Most technology problems I see are not really about the software. They are about information living in too many places. Choose where the truth lives first, and the right tech stack becomes much easier to pick.
The problem with "we will just add another tool"
Growing businesses tend to collect software. A spreadsheet for enquiries, a separate tool for quotes, an inbox for customer questions, a finance package, a rota system and a website that nobody quite owns. Each tool made sense when it was bought. Together they create a business where the same customer exists in five places, slightly differently in each.
The symptoms are familiar. People retype the same details. Two brochures quote different lead times. A manager asks a simple question and three people give three answers. Nobody is sure which version is right, so everyone keeps their own.
What a single source of truth means
A single source of truth is simply an agreement: for each important piece of information, there is one place where it is created and kept up to date, and everything else reads from it.
It does not have to mean one giant system. It means being clear that, for example, customer records live in your operations platform, product facts live in one approved fact sheet, and money lives in your finance system. Other tools can show that information, but they do not hold their own copy.
We have used this approach in our own work. For Dignity Access, every brochure and web page was built from one approved fact sheet, so the details always agree. For the new Dignity Access website, enquiries are designed to arrive in the Cura+ Admin pipeline at the New stage, so no lead sits unseen in an inbox.
Decide where the truth lives, then choose the tools
When clients ask which technology they should use, I suggest working through it in this order.
- List the information that runs your business. Customers, enquiries, quotes, jobs, staff, products, money. Keep it short.
- Decide where each one lives. One home for each. Write it down.
- Map how information flows. From first enquiry to invoice, who creates what, who needs to see it, and where it is retyped today.
- Only then choose the tools, judged on how well they hold or connect to that information.
What to look for in a tech stack that lasts
The UK government's Technology Code of Practice is written for public sector projects, but several of its points are good tests for any organisation. They include "Be open and use open source", "Make use of open standards", "Use cloud first", "Make better use of data" and "Integrate and adapt technology". [S44] In plain terms, I would ask of any tool:
- Can I get my data out? Easily, completely and in a standard format. If you cannot leave, you do not really own your information.
- Does it connect? Good tools talk to each other, so information is entered once.
- Is it accessible? Everyone who needs to use it should be able to, including staff and customers with disabilities.
- Is it secure and does it respect privacy? Especially if you hold personal or health information.
- Can it change with us? Can you switch features on and off, add steps and adapt as the business grows, without starting again?
- What does it really cost? Licences, set up, training, and the cost of leaving.
Bespoke or off the shelf?
Neither is always right. Off the shelf software is quicker to start and often fine for general jobs such as finance or email. Bespoke software makes sense where the way you work is your advantage, or where nothing on the market fits a specialist process. Many good stacks combine both, joined together around a clear source of truth.
Building for the future
The future is hard to predict, which is exactly why the foundations matter. If your information is clean, owned and in one place, you can change tools, add new channels and take on new opportunities without starting again. If it is scattered, every new idea starts with a clean up.
If you are planning new systems, or living with too many old ones, our Bespoke web apps and iOS apps and Workflow analysis and digitalised improvements services are a good place to start. Or simply book a discovery call.
Sources
- Government Digital Service and Central Digital and Data Office, The Technology Code of Practice, last updated 7 July 2025. [S44]
- Caresque, Dignity Access brand and digital programme case study and Cura+ Admin platform case study.
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