AURTIV SERVICES / 12 SPECIALIST CAPABILITIES

Build the system. Strengthen the foundation.

Bring applications, integrations and infrastructure into one delivery plan. Combine the engineering work you need with the release, quality and operational practices that sustain it.

THOUGHTFULLY CONNECTED.BUILT AROUND YOUR WORK.Discover more ↓

A connected engagement

Choose a starting point.
Connect what comes next.

Bring applications, integrations and infrastructure into one delivery plan. Combine the engineering work you need with the release, quality and operational practices that sustain it. The groups below show complementary capabilities. Choose a focused assignment or combine them into a scoped delivery plan.

01 / CONNECTED CAPABILITIES

Build & connect

Software & Cloud / 01

Custom Software Development

Web and enterprise applications designed around your business workflows and user requirements.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Build around the workflow that makes your business different.

Custom software is useful when a distinctive business process cannot be served adequately by configuration or an existing product. We start with users, decisions and information flows, then turn the highest-value journey into a reviewable increment. The design includes the people who administer, support and change the application after launch.

IN PRACTICE

Replace a spreadsheet-driven approval process

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

Teams exchange multiple versions of a request and struggle to identify the current owner or decision.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Model the request lifecycle, permissions and exception routes. Deliver a first usable journey with validation, notifications and an audit history, then test it with the people who perform the work.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

A shared workflow can reduce repeated entry and make status visible. Compare completion effort and error correction with the existing process.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Validate the core journey before expanding the feature list.
  • Include administration, accessibility and recovery behaviour in acceptance criteria.

Know what good looks like

  • User effectiveness: task completion and time spent correcting or re-entering information.
  • Maintainability: release effort and the ability of the owning team to make routine changes.

Should we build or buy?

Compare the distinctive requirements with available product capabilities, integration constraints and total ownership effort. Discovery may recommend configuration or integration instead of a custom build.

Software & Cloud / 02

Mobile Application Development

Android and iOS applications with a delivery approach selected for your users and budget.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Design for the moments when people are away from a desk.

Mobile development combines a focused user experience with device capabilities, unreliable networks and platform release requirements. We identify the tasks that genuinely benefit from a mobile interface and design around real usage conditions. The scope includes permissions, synchronisation, accessibility and the support needed after an application reaches users.

IN PRACTICE

Support field inspection work

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

Field staff need to capture observations and photographs where connectivity is inconsistent.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Design a short inspection flow with local draft storage, clear sync status and conflict handling. Test representative devices, interrupted sessions and denied permissions before planning distribution.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

Staff can capture information closer to the work instead of recreating it later. Measure missing records and correction effort as well as app usage.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Make offline state and synchronisation failures visible rather than silently losing work.
  • Request device permissions at the point of need and provide usable alternatives where possible.

Know what good looks like

  • Field usability: completed tasks under representative device and network conditions.
  • Data reliability: failed syncs, duplicated submissions and recoverable drafts.

Should the app be native or cross-platform?

The decision depends on device features, performance needs, team skills and release maintenance. A short technical investigation can resolve uncertain platform requirements.

Software & Cloud / 06

API Development & Integration

Secure APIs and integrations between business applications and third-party platforms.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Make systems exchange information predictably.

APIs define how applications request information and perform operations. Integration work must handle authentication, data meaning, failure and change over time. We design the contract around real business events, including how callers discover errors and how repeated requests are handled, so connected systems do not depend on undocumented assumptions.

IN PRACTICE

Connect orders to a fulfilment platform

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

Order information is manually transferred between a customer application and an operational system.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Define the order contract, map fields and establish authorisation. Add validation, duplicate protection and a recoverable queue for temporary failures, with reconciliation to identify missing updates.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

Teams can reduce rekeying while retaining visibility into incomplete transfers. The operational view is as important as the initial connection.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Version contracts and document compatibility expectations for consumers.
  • Design idempotent operations or explicit duplicate detection for retried business events.

Know what good looks like

  • Data integrity: missing, duplicated and mismatched business records.
  • Integration reliability: successful exchanges, delay and recoverability of failed events.

What if a third-party API is unreliable?

The design can include timeouts, bounded retries, queues and reconciliation where appropriate. Provider limitations and manual recovery responsibilities must be documented.

02 / CONNECTED CAPABILITIES

Modernise & optimise

Software & Cloud / 03

Cloud Architecture & Migration

Plan and implement cloud workloads across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or Cloudflare.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Move workloads with a credible path to recovery.

Cloud migration is a change to how an application is hosted and operated. We assess dependencies, data movement, performance and recovery needs before choosing a migration sequence. Some workloads can move largely unchanged; others need targeted redesign. The plan should make cutover decisions and ownership clear, including what happens if validation fails.

IN PRACTICE

Migrate a business application in stages

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

An application depends on a database, scheduled jobs and integrations that cannot all move simultaneously.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Map dependencies, establish the target environment and rehearse data movement. Validate representative transactions, agree a cutover window and define the rollback conditions before switching traffic.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

A staged approach makes migration risk and operating cost easier to assess. Success includes the ability of the team to run the workload after the move.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Rehearse restoration and cutover with realistic data and dependencies.
  • Track target operating costs and ownership alongside migration progress.

Know what good looks like

  • Migration integrity: reconciled records and successful end-to-end transactions.
  • Operational readiness: recovery evidence, monitoring coverage and post-cutover performance.

Does migration mean rewriting the application?

Not necessarily. The assessment compares moving, modifying, replacing or retaining each component based on constraints and the expected benefit.

Software & Cloud / 07

Application Modernisation

Improve legacy applications through targeted upgrades, refactoring or staged replacement.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Improve the system without losing what already works.

Modernisation addresses a specific constraint in an existing application, such as difficult releases, unsupported components or expensive changes. We examine the business behaviour that must survive and choose an incremental path where feasible. The work should reduce a measurable maintenance or delivery problem rather than replace technology for its own sake.

IN PRACTICE

Separate a frequently changing application module

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

A legacy application makes small customer-facing changes expensive because deployment affects unrelated functions.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Map dependencies and capture existing behaviour with tests. Introduce a clear boundary around the selected module, migrate a limited workflow and verify compatibility before expanding the change.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

A smaller change boundary can make future work easier to deliver. Include transition complexity and temporary duplication in the plan.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Capture critical existing behaviour before changing implementation details.
  • Retire old paths deliberately; avoid leaving two permanent sources of truth.

Know what good looks like

  • Change effort: time and dependencies needed to deliver the targeted class of change.
  • Continuity: regressions, compatibility issues and retirement of superseded components.

Is a complete rewrite ever appropriate?

It can be, but it requires evidence about business coverage, migration and operating cost. Compare a rewrite with smaller interventions before committing.

Software & Cloud / 08

Database Design & Migration

Design maintainable data models and move data between systems with a controlled migration plan.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Protect the meaning of data as its structure changes.

Database work connects business entities, access patterns and integrity rules to a maintainable storage design. A migration must preserve more than record counts: relationships, identifiers, application behaviour and historical meaning also matter. We plan validation and cutover around the systems that read and write the data.

IN PRACTICE

Move operational records to a new database

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

An application needs a new schema or database platform while maintaining trustworthy customer and transaction history.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Map schema differences, transform a representative dataset and reconcile keys, totals and relationships. Rehearse synchronisation and cutover, including the treatment of writes during the transition.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

The team gets a documented migration path and evidence that the target supports the required workload. Performance and correctness are checked separately.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Validate business-level invariants as well as row counts.
  • Define how changes made during migration are captured, replayed or paused.

Know what good looks like

  • Data correctness: reconciled relationships, totals and sampled business transactions.
  • Workload fit: representative query behaviour and recovery from migration failure.

Can migration happen without downtime?

Sometimes, but it depends on source capabilities, write volume and consistency requirements. Assess the tradeoffs before agreeing an interruption window or continuous replication approach.

Software & Cloud / 05

Cloud Cost Optimisation

Review cloud spend and identify changes that balance cost, performance and reliability.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Understand what spending delivers before cutting it.

Cloud cost optimisation connects resource usage to workload needs and business activity. We look for idle capacity, unsuitable sizing, data-transfer costs and ownership gaps, then assess changes against reliability and performance. A lower invoice is not useful if it moves cost into incidents or prevents the application from meeting demand.

IN PRACTICE

Investigate a growing cloud bill

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

Spending has increased, but teams cannot distinguish normal customer growth from inefficient resources.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Allocate costs to workloads, identify usage patterns and compare candidate changes in a controlled environment. Review rightsizing, scheduling and purchasing options separately so their assumptions remain visible.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

The business can prioritise changes using evidence and understand cost per useful unit of activity, rather than treating all growth as waste.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Establish ownership and allocation before assigning savings targets to teams.
  • Validate performance after each change and review long-term commitments against stable demand.

Know what good looks like

  • Unit cost: spend per agreed transaction, customer or workload unit.
  • Realised impact: observed cost change adjusted for demand and service quality.

Can you promise a fixed percentage saving?

No. The opportunity depends on current usage and constraints. An assessment identifies candidates and their tradeoffs before any savings expectation is agreed.

03 / CONNECTED CAPABILITIES

Release & sustain

Software & Cloud / 04

DevOps & CI/CD

Repeatable infrastructure, release automation and controlled deployment pipelines.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Make a release a repeatable engineering process.

CI/CD connects code changes to tested, traceable releases. We review the path from commit to production, identify manual decisions and automate the repeatable steps while keeping appropriate approval points. The goal is not simply more deployments: it is a release process that makes failures visible and recovery manageable.

IN PRACTICE

Replace a manual application release

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

Engineers assemble artefacts and update environments by hand, making releases dependent on individual knowledge.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Build a pipeline that validates changes, produces a versioned artefact and promotes it through agreed environments. Add smoke checks, secrets management and a rehearsed rollback procedure.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

The team can spend less time repeating release instructions and more time reviewing meaningful changes. Compare change reliability and delivery effort over time.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Promote the same tested artefact rather than rebuilding differently for each environment.
  • Keep deployment credentials scoped and include failure recovery in pipeline design.

Know what good looks like

  • Delivery flow: time from an approved change to a usable release.
  • Change reliability: failed changes and the effort needed to restore service.

Must every change deploy automatically to production?

No. Continuous integration and delivery can coexist with an explicit production approval. The release policy should reflect your application and operating requirements.

Software & Cloud / 09

Cybersecurity Consulting

Scoped application and cloud security reviews with practical remediation recommendations.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Turn security concerns into prioritised engineering work.

Cybersecurity consulting examines an agreed system or process and translates findings into actions with owners. The scope may cover application design, identity, configuration or operational readiness. We connect each finding to a plausible exposure and a practical remediation path, distinguishing observed evidence from assumptions that need further investigation.

IN PRACTICE

Review an application before a major release

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

A team wants an independent view of access boundaries and sensitive data flows before expanding usage.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Map the application and trust boundaries, review agreed controls and validate findings within authorised scope. Prioritise fixes, document residual questions and retest the changes included in the engagement.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

Engineering leaders receive actionable work rather than an undifferentiated issue list. Improvement is demonstrated through remediation evidence.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Agree systems, methods and authorisation before any testing activity.
  • Assign remediation owners and verify fixes instead of treating report delivery as closure.

Know what good looks like

  • Remediation progress: validated closure of prioritised findings.
  • Control clarity: documented ownership, unresolved exposure and repeat findings.

Does an assessment certify that a system is secure?

No. An assessment provides evidence within a defined scope and point in time. Certification, regulatory advice and ongoing monitoring are separate matters unless explicitly included.

Software & Cloud / 10

Software Testing & QA

Manual, automated and performance testing aligned to the application's risks and release criteria.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Build confidence in the journeys users depend on.

Quality assurance connects requirements to evidence about application behaviour. We identify the user journeys and failure modes that matter most, then combine appropriate manual and automated checks. The testing strategy should help the team make release decisions and diagnose failures, rather than accumulate a large suite with unclear relevance.

IN PRACTICE

Validate a customer onboarding release

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

A new flow includes identity checks, forms and integrations that can fail in several ways.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Map expected outcomes and exception paths, prepare representative test data and verify behaviour across agreed devices. Automate stable regression checks and retain focused exploratory review for uncertain interactions.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

The team gets a clearer release decision and reproducible defect reports. Track escaped issues and test usefulness, not just the number of checks run.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Prioritise tests by user impact and change risk.
  • Keep test data controlled and make failed checks reproducible for developers.

Know what good looks like

  • User risk: unresolved defects by impact on critical journeys.
  • Test effectiveness: meaningful defects found and time spent investigating flaky failures.

Should every test be automated?

No. Automation is valuable for repeatable checks, while exploratory, usability and changing workflows often need human judgement. The mix should reflect maintenance effort and risk.

Software & Cloud / 11

Managed Application Support

Maintenance, monitoring and issue resolution for an agreed application estate.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Keep application care visible and accountable.

Application support combines incident handling with the maintenance needed to keep a system usable. We define the supported components, access, escalation routes and coverage before work begins. A good arrangement distinguishes urgent restoration from permanent fixes and gives the business a view of recurring problems and improvement priorities.

IN PRACTICE

Support an established business application

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

Users report recurring errors, but incidents and maintenance requests compete in an informal message queue.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Create a structured intake and severity model, document recovery procedures and agree escalation to product or infrastructure owners. Review repeated incidents and schedule approved maintenance work separately.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

Users have a clearer support route and owners can see what repeatedly interrupts work. Coverage and response targets remain specific to the agreed service.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Document dependencies and escalation contacts before accepting operational responsibility.
  • Review recurring incidents for underlying fixes rather than repeatedly applying the same workaround.

Know what good looks like

  • Service restoration: incident impact, acknowledgement and recovery against agreed targets.
  • Support quality: repeat incidents, ageing requests and completion of corrective actions.

Is 24/7 coverage included?

Only if explicitly agreed. Support hours, severity definitions, response targets and exclusions are documented in the proposal.

Software & Cloud / 12

IT Technical Consulting

Independent technical guidance for architecture, engineering choices and delivery challenges.

Let’s discuss this capability ↗︎

Resolve the technical decision holding work back.

Technical consulting provides a focused investigation of a system, implementation choice or delivery obstacle. We agree the question to answer and the evidence needed, then inspect the relevant architecture, code or operating data. The output should be a decision your team can act on, with assumptions and follow-up work made explicit.

IN PRACTICE

Investigate an application performance bottleneck

Illustrative engagement

01 / THE STARTING POINT

The challenge

A team is considering a platform change but does not yet know which component limits response time.

02 / THE WORK

Our approach

Trace representative requests, review measurements and test the leading hypotheses. Compare targeted fixes with larger changes and document a prioritised implementation path.

03 / THE DIFFERENCE

How it helps

The business can direct engineering effort toward an evidenced problem. Avoiding unnecessary change is a valid outcome of the investigation.

Explore delivery guidance & success measures

Build it thoughtfully

  • Write down the decision and success criteria before collecting evidence.
  • Separate confirmed findings from hypotheses and proposed experiments.

Know what good looks like

  • Decision usefulness: a supported recommendation with visible tradeoffs.
  • Follow-through: feasibility and observed effect of the agreed first intervention.

Can consulting include implementation?

It can, if separately scoped. An initial assessment may end with recommendations or lead to an agreed engineering workstream.

HOW THE WORK CONNECTS

A practical path through the practice.

  1. 01

    Map the user journey and the systems it depends on.

  2. 02

    Deliver a reviewable increment with agreed validation and release controls.

  3. 03

    Transfer operating knowledge and review the next improvement using real usage.

SCOPE & COMMERCIALS

Combine capabilities.
Keep responsibilities clear.

The practice is a way to plan related work together. It does not require purchasing every service or changing your existing subscription.

Start with a bounded assessment, a defined project or an agreed allocation of specialist capacity. Pricing depends on the scope, dependencies and delivery model.

Confirm third-party costs, access, handover and ongoing support before work begins.

Discuss this practice ↗︎