# Custom software development for business operations

> For established businesses that have outgrown spreadsheets, manual processes, or ageing systems. Our engineers design, build, and support the platforms, portals, and integrations your operations run on, as a fixed-scope build or a monthly squad.

- URL: https://www.happen.software/custom-software
- Publisher: Happen Software (https://www.happen.software/)

## What we build

### Custom platforms & portals

Replace spreadsheet chaos with one system. The digital backbone of your operations: client-facing portals and internal line-of-business applications, built around how you work and replacing disjointed legacy tools.

### Integration & data processing

Stop the manual double-entry. Secure integrations with your ERP, CRM, and payment gateways, and high-volume pipelines that move, clean, and transform data reliably.

### Field & office apps

Equip your team, in the field or the office. Progressive web apps that feel native on desktops, tablets, and phones, work offline, and update without waiting on an app store.

### Workflows & governance

Codify your business logic. Your operational rules built into the software: approvals, routing, and role-based permissions, with an audit-ready history of every action.

### AI built in

Automation where it pays off. Practical AI and automation designed in from day one: reading documents, cleaning data, and handling repetitive admin, so your team can focus on higher-value work.

### Software rescue & rebuilds

Rebuilt better, not patched. Failed projects, unsupported legacy systems, software nobody wants to touch: rather than patching them, we rebuild them better alongside your current system, migrate without stopping the business, and look after them for the long term.

## Stuck with software that lets you down?

Failed projects, unsupported legacy systems, and software nobody wants to touch are more common than you'd think. We can take over and stabilise what you have, and where possible we recommend rebuilding it better, without stopping the business, and staying with you for the long term.

1. **Audit**: One of our engineers reviews your current system, data, and integrations to understand what the business actually needs from it.
2. **Rebuild it better**: We build a new platform in parallel with the old one, on a clean, modern foundation, so daily operations carry on while the replacement takes shape.
3. **Migrate & cut over**: Data is migrated and verified, users are trained, and we switch over in planned stages, not with a risky big bang.
4. **Stay for the long term**: We keep it secure, fast, and evolving as your business grows. On average, clients work with us for more than three years.

## Case studies

Systems we've built and run. All case studies, by industry and type: https://www.happen.software/case-studies

- **Live Election Results Platform** (Media · Platforms & portals; TimesLIVE; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/live-election-results): Live results for TimesLIVE across the 2016, 2019, and 2021 elections, with more than 200,000 concurrent views at peak. Official IEC results appeared as counting progressed, with maps down to every voting district and a site that stayed fast and available under election-night traffic. In 2016 it won Best Data Visualisation Project at WAN-IFRA's Digital Media Africa Awards. Results: 200,000+ Concurrent views at peak, with the site staying fast and online; 3 elections National and municipal, in 2016, 2019, and 2021, on one codebase improved after each; Live updates Official IEC results kept current throughout the count; 5 levels Of results on the map, from the whole country down to a single voting district.
- **Sales & Field Operations Platform** (Manufacturing · Platforms & portals; International security manufacturer; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/field-sales-operations-platform): The portal and mobile app an international manufacturer runs its field workforce on: attendance, GPS-verified meetings, AI-scored debriefs, journeys and fleet, training, and performance report cards, all connected to the CRM. It recorded more than 67,000 client interactions in the last year. Results: 67,000+ Client interactions logged in the last year, more than 5,600 a month, with 13,000+ contacts; 56,000+ Working days of attendance recorded in the last year, across nearly 400 employees; 47,000+ CRM contacts across 22,000+ accounts, connected to the platform from Microsoft Dynamics; 12-point AI coaching score on every recorded debrief, with the reason behind each score.
- **Fibre Compare: Internet Comparison & Lead Platform** (Telecoms · Platforms & portals; Telcotech; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/fibre-compare): Fibre Compare lets homes and businesses in South Africa enter their address, see the fibre and internet packages ISPs offer there side by side, and order in a few steps. It brings in more than 1,500 leads a month across 18+ ISPs. We've built and run it for Telcotech since 2019, with the portals, partner sites, and lead routing behind it. Results: 1,500+ Leads a month from homes and businesses, each routed to the right ISP and network operator; 3,800+ Leads marked as activated in the last year; 94.6% Of leads in October 2026 came from partners' own systems through the partner API; the comparison site and its branded versions brought in the rest; 140,000+ Package browsing actions logged in the last year, nearly 12,000 a month.
- **Zondo Explorer: State Capture Commission Search for News24** (Media · AI & automation; News24; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/zondo-explorer): Zondo Explorer made the State Capture Commission's reports, transcripts, and statements searchable by the people and organisations named in them. Starting in 2021, we ran OCR and traditional natural language processing over more than 250,000 pages, matched tens of thousands of entities and their relationships, and built the public site and editors' portal for News24. Results: 250,000+ Pages of commission reports, transcripts, and statements processed; 10,000+ People and organisations identified, tens of thousands in all, each linked to every page that mentions them; 1,000s Of entities connected by relationships the models found, each tied to the page it came from; 100% Of mentions traceable to the original document page, which readers can open or download.
- **On-Demand Courier Platform** (Logistics · Rescue & rebuild; 1Fetch; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/on-demand-courier-platform): After a first attempt at their platform didn't work out, 1Fetch asked us to build it properly. We rebuilt ordering, payments, and accounts, and connected partners whose orders 1Fetch now pulls in, delivers, and reports back on automatically. More than 380,000 deliveries have been completed on it since 2017. Results: 380,000+ Deliveries completed on the platform since 2017; 51% Of orders now arrive through the business API or partner integrations, not typed in by hand; 99.9%+ Of completed deliveries with an electronic proof of delivery.
- **CrimeCheck: Neighbourhood Crime Risk for News24** (Media · Platforms & portals; News24; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/crime-check): CrimeCheck answers one question for South Africans: how safe is my neighbourhood? It turns official police statistics for all 1,158 police precincts into risk gauges, maps, rankings, and comparisons, and reached about 100,000 users a week. We built it for News24 and kept it updated as each quarter's data was released. Results: 100,000 Users a week, finding out how safe their neighbourhood is; 1,158 Police precincts mapped, each with risk gauges and rankings on seven indices; 50+ Crime types per precinct, from 2017 onward, updated with every quarterly release; Finalist In the 2023 IAB Bookmark Awards, Specialist Publisher Sites, with News24's articles drawing on its data.
- **Productify.ai Product Data Platform** (Retail & eCommerce · AI & automation; Happen Software (our own product); https://www.happen.software/case-studies/productify-product-data-platform): Productify.ai is our own AI product data platform. Teams send it product names, spreadsheets, or photos of packaging, and it returns e-commerce copy, taxonomy categories, translations, and structured pack data through a web portal, an API, or Zapier and Make. Clients in Europe, Singapore, and South Africa each run more than 8,000 operations a month. Results: 8,000+ AI operations a month for each client, with larger batches before peaks such as Easter and Christmas; 3 continents Clients in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe, Singapore, and South Africa; 47 Languages that product copy and text can be translated into; 1,083 GS1 nutrient codes that every digitised nutrition table is checked against.
- **Retail Returns & Uplift Platform** (Logistics · Field & mobile apps; Antel Solutions; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/retail-returns-uplift-platform): One system for collecting returned stock from stores nationwide, from the schedule to the signed proof, the sealed bag at the depot, and the supplier's claim. Hundreds of operators use its offline field app every day, and more than 37,000 uplifts were captured in the last year. Results: 37,000+ Uplifts captured in the last year, more than 3,100 a month; Hundreds Of operators collecting returned stock from stores around the country, every day; 10,000+ Stores set up for collection, with nearly 2,000 visited in the last year; 21 Suppliers with collections in the last year, of 33 set up.
- **Deal Extractor** (Retail & eCommerce · AI & automation; Happen Software (our own product); https://www.happen.software/case-studies/deal-extractor): Our own AI product finds and reads individual deals on retail broadsheets, validates the results, and returns structured data ready for comparison and reporting. It extracts more than 100,000 deals every month. Results: 100,000+ Deals extracted from retail broadsheets every month; 90%+ Accuracy on the deals it extracts, with results validated before delivery; Since 2024 In production, finding and reading deals for a client's capture team; 149+ Test cases used to check extraction quality, including deals sampled from real pages.
- **Broadsheet Deal Capture** (Retail & eCommerce · Rescue & rebuild; Retail data and insights company; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/broadsheet-deal-capture): A rewrite of an old Windows capture tool into a system that has captured 40,500+ retailers' broadsheet adverts and more than 3.8 million standardised, checked deals, with AI to find and read each deal and a capturer reviewing every result before it reaches the client-facing reports. Results: 3.8 million+ Deals captured, each in the same standard shape whatever the retailer or region; 40,500+ Broadsheet adverts captured since the rewrite in 2020; 84,000+ Products captured, each linked to its brand so it can be recognised across adverts.
- **Procurement & Requisition Rebuild** (Manufacturing · Rescue & rebuild; International security manufacturer; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/procurement-requisition-rebuild): Taking over an unmaintained requisition system, auditing it against live data, and rebuilding purchase and travel requisitions with clear approvals, budget controls, notifications at every step, live dashboards, and direct ERP posting. Results: 39,000+ Historical requests migrated with their full approval history; 4,900+ Purchase requests and trips a quarter taken over by the rebuild: 3,693 and 1,229 in the old system's last full quarter; 8 → 1 Conflicting budget calculations replaced by a single engine behind every screen; 13 In-depth reports, from budget versus actual to month end, alongside three live dashboards.
- **Kanera Work Management** (Software · Platforms & portals; Happen Software (our own product); https://www.happen.software/case-studies/kanera-work-management): Kanera is the work management product we designed, built, and run: boards, cards, and shared workspace setup, planning views with dependencies and a timeline, automations, and an MCP server and CLI so AI agents can pick up cards and report back on the same boards as the team. Results: 2 months From starting the build in May 2026 to v1.0 on 30 June, with our own work run on it throughout; MCP + CLI So AI agents pick up cards and report back on the same boards as the team; 14s → ~3s Time for notifications to reach a 200-member team at the 95th percentile, after one performance pass; 3,500+ Automated quality checks help keep the web app, integrations, and agent tools reliable as the product evolves.
- **Telecoms Sales Platforms** (Telecoms · Workflows & approvals; Telcotech; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/telecoms-sales-platform): A family of branded telecoms sales platforms built with Telcotech. Across more than 15 client deployments, they connect coverage checks, package selection, customer signup, business contracting, and sales operations, tailored to each operator and its channels. Results: 15+ Client deployments across the UK and South Africa, with sales journeys tailored to each business; 12,700+ Customer records in one business-sales deployment; 1,300+ Order journeys started by 86 agents across 45 channel partners in that deployment; 100+ Channel partners configured in that deployment, with 195 agent accounts.
- **Sales Presentation App** (Manufacturing · Field & mobile apps; International security manufacturer; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/sales-presentation-app): A template-driven tablet app and content portal that replaced huge, hand-built PowerPoints. More than 31,000 approved, on-brand presentations have reached high-value clients around the world, rated 4.7 out of 5 on average, with live dashboards and a detailed report on every one. Results: 4.7/5 Average client rating, from more than 8,800 responses; 31,000+ Presentations to high-value clients around the world, 18,000+ of them linked to CRM meetings; 13,000+ Hours of presentations measured by the app.
- **E-commerce Product Data Platform** (Retail & eCommerce · Platforms & portals; Retail data and insights company; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/ecommerce-product-data-platform): A platform that turns product data from brands into accurate, complete e-commerce content for major retailers across South Africa, managing 152,000+ products with organised jobs and batches, two QA stages, configurable fields, bulk processing, and customer-specific API delivery. Results: 152,000+ Products managed on the platform for the client's customers; Milliseconds Response times for key operations, reduced from seconds across large volumes of product data in 2026; No code Needed to add a new kind of product data: fields are set up in the portal, not built by developers; 2 QA stages On every batch, after capture and after creative, before it goes to review.
- **Factory Wage & Attendance System** (Manufacturing · Platforms & portals; International security manufacturer; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/factory-wage-attendance-system): Replacing a sprawling wage spreadsheet with automatic clocking, shift building, daily exception approvals, and one tested wage engine, across factories in two countries. Results: 16 days First wage report within 16 days of project start, and live within a month; 1,500+ Clock events a day at a single factory, paired into shifts automatically; Weekly Wage packs in each factory's inbox, with no manual build; 2 countries Factories in two countries, each in its own time zone, on one platform.
- **Retail Price & Promotion Reporting Portal** (Retail & eCommerce · Platforms & portals; Retail data and insights company; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/retail-price-reporting-portal): A client-facing reporting portal where brands and retailers explore advertised prices and promotions, use AI insights, and drill down to the deals behind the numbers within their subscribed categories. It covers more than 370,000 deals from 270+ retailers, with major performance improvements in 2026. Built from scratch after an earlier attempt didn't deliver. Results: 370,000+ Deals clients can explore, across 36,000+ products and 6,500+ brands; 270+ Retailers covered, in 140 retailer groups across 16 regions; 7 weeks From project start in June 2024 to the portal live for clients in August; 2,000+ Exports a quarter, as clients take the data into their own analysis.
- **Merchandiser Returns App** (Logistics · Field & mobile apps; Antel Solutions; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/merchandiser-returns-app): An offline app and portal for merchandisers to raise returns in store, get them approved by the supplier, and hand them straight to the collection system, with the collection date and proof of collection coming back to the merchandiser. More than 340 merchandisers raised nearly 8,000 requests in the last year. Results: 7,900+ Return requests raised in the last year, more than 660 a month; 20,000+ Stores set up for returns, with requests raised at more than 1,500 of them in the last year; 340+ Merchandisers raising returns in the last year.
- **Barloworld Equipment: Sales Rep App for Cat Machines** (Equipment · Field & mobile apps; Barloworld Equipment; https://www.happen.software/case-studies/equipment-sales-app): A tablet and phone app that put Barloworld Equipment's full Cat machine range, live stock, priced quotes, finance sums, and business mileage in every sales rep's hands, online or off. We built and ran it with BigBrave from 2018 to 2021, with the API and management portal behind it. Results: Nightly Sync of Cat's product data, so every rep saw current models, specs, photos, and 360° views; On site Quotes built and emailed in front of the customer, with discounts that stop at each product's bottom price; Offline catalogue Downloaded products and favourites stay available on customer sites with no signal; Field visibility Managers can see reps on a map and review each business journey's route, distance, and cost.

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is this service best suited for?

Established, growing businesses with real operational workflows that have outgrown spreadsheets, manual processes, or ageing systems.

We're not the right fit for idea-stage startups looking for an MVP. Our process is built to digitise and scale operations that already exist.

### Why not just build it ourselves with AI (vibe coding)?

You can, and for prototypes, experiments, and testing an idea it's genuinely great. The hard part of business software isn't getting something that works in a demo. It's making sure it keeps working, for everyone, every day. That's where our expertise comes in:

• Every case: Edge cases, messy data, permissions, and the unhappy paths real users find on day one.
• Tested: Automated tests that check every change before it reaches your team or customers.
• Stable: Monitoring, backups, and safe releases, so it keeps running as your data and usage grow.
• Secure: Proper authentication, access control, and data protection, built in from the start.
• Performant: Fast under real-world load, not just on one laptop.

The best of both: vibe code a prototype to explore the idea, then use it as a living spec for us to engineer the real thing properly.

### Do you take over existing codebases?

Yes. We can take over an existing system, stabilise it, and keep it running. Before committing to it long term, we audit it end to end, and where possible we recommend rebuilding it properly rather than patching it indefinitely.

When we rebuild, we build the new platform alongside your current one, migrate your data safely without disrupting daily operations, and then stay on to run and evolve it. For one client, we took over an unmaintained requisition system, stabilised it and finished its half-built ERP integration, then rebuilt it alongside the old one and moved the business across with its full history.

Prototypes built with AI tools such as Lovable, Claude Code, or Cursor get a production readiness review first. We keep and harden the existing code when the review shows it's a sound base, and otherwise rebuild it, using the prototype as the specification.

### A previous attempt at our system didn't work out. Can you help?

Yes, and it's more common than you'd think. 1Fetch came to us after a first attempt at their courier platform didn't work out. We rebuilt it in 2017, and more than 380,000 deliveries have been completed on it since.

For a retail data company whose earlier attempt at a client reporting portal didn't deliver, we started again and had the new portal live for clients seven weeks later. A failed attempt isn't wasted: it shows what the business actually needs.

### How do you migrate data from our old system?

Carefully, and in stages. We map your existing data, clean and transform it, and run test migrations that your team verifies before anything goes live.

We then cut over in planned stages, running old and new side by side where it helps, so nothing is lost and daily operations keep moving. When we replaced one client's requisition system, we migrated more than 39,000 historical requests with their full approval history after rehearsed imports, then cut over from the old system.

The same applies when we modernise our own systems: a field sales platform we've run since 2017 got a new portal and app in 2025–2026 without a break in service.

### Do we have to give up our spreadsheets?

Not where they genuinely help. We move the rules, calculations, and approvals into a tested system, then keep Excel as an output where your team still wants it.

When we replaced a factory wage spreadsheet that only one person understood, the weekly wage workbook stayed in Excel, built automatically each week and checked against the system so payroll can trust the figures in both.

### Do you build mobile apps?

Yes. We build cross-platform apps with Ionic and progressive web app (PWA) technology. They install on phones, tablets, and desktops, work offline, and can use the device camera and GPS, all from one codebase instead of separate apps for each platform.

### Can you collaborate with our internal IT team?

Yes. We work closely with your IT team or provider on architecture, security standards, and integrations so the software fits your environment.

To stay fast and accountable, our team owns the build itself. When it's done, we can keep running it for you or hand over with full documentation and code walkthroughs.

### What are the typical timelines?

We work in short, transparent cycles.

• Targeted Tools: 4–8 weeks.
• Full Platforms & Portals: 8–16+ weeks.
• We agree on milestones upfront and ship increments continuously so you can see progress every week.

Some go live sooner: Fibre Compare was in production 12 days after we started, a factory wage system produced its first wage report in 16 days, and a client reporting portal was live in seven weeks.

### Can your systems handle sudden spikes in traffic?

Yes. We built and ran TimesLIVE's election results site through three elections, where it served more than 200,000 concurrent views at peak and stayed fast and available. CrimeCheck, which we built for News24, reached about 100,000 users a week and stayed responsive when a news story sent a surge of readers its way.

We design public-facing systems for the peak, not the average.

### How does pricing work?

Every project is different, so we scope before we quote. You can choose between a Fixed-Scope engagement (for well-defined builds) or Monthly Squad pricing (for evolving requirements).

In both cases, you get a capped budget, clear inclusions and exclusions, and a signed acceptance checklist before final billing.

### Who owns the code?

You do. You own your application, its data, and the IP of the software we build for you.

We keep ownership of our own reusable internal libraries and tooling, and license them to you as part of your system. That way you benefit from years of proven engineering without paying to reinvent it.

### What happens after launch?

Most clients keep us on as their long-term engineering partner. On average, clients work with us for more than three years, across a wide range of their software needs, and some relationships go back to 2016.

1. Managed Service: We stay responsible for uptime, security patching, and continuous improvement under an SLA.
2. Handover: If you'd rather run it yourselves, we transition to your team with full documentation and code walkthroughs.

### Can you meet our security and procurement requirements?

Yes. We regularly sign NDAs and DPAs, complete security questionnaires, and host in your region to meet data residency and GDPR requirements.

## Get in touch

Ready to build a system? Book a free 30-minute strategy call with one of our engineers. We'll talk through what you need and whether we're the right partner to build it.

Contact: https://www.happen.software/contact or sales@happen.software