# Frequently asked questions > Who we are, pricing and payment, the AI Concierge, taking AI-built apps live, and custom software. Every answer from across the site, grouped by topic. - URL: https://www.happen.software/faq - Publisher: Happen Software (https://www.happen.software/) ## About Happen Software Source: https://www.happen.software/about-us ### Where are you based, and do you work with clients abroad? We have people in Ireland and South Africa, and we work with clients in any country. Between the two, we cover European and African business hours, and we're used to working across time zones. ### Who will we actually work with? The engineers who scope your project are the ones who build it and look after it afterwards. Our lead engineers have each been building software professionally for 12 to 19 years. There are no account managers or hand-offs in between. ### Do you outsource or subcontract any work? No. Everything is designed, built, and supported by our own team. We don't outsource or subcontract any part of your project, so the people you meet are the people accountable for the work. ### How big is your team? We're a small team of experienced engineers and architects, on purpose. It means you work directly with the people building your system, and the same people are still there years later. ### How long have you been doing this? We've built custom software for businesses since 2016. On average, clients work with us for more than three years, and some relationships go back to 2017. ### What industries do you work in? Mostly operations-heavy businesses: logistics and distribution, manufacturing, retail and eCommerce, telecoms, and financial and professional services. If your team runs on documents, data entry, and processes that have outgrown spreadsheets, we've probably solved something similar. Our case studies can be filtered by industry. ### What technology do you use? The right tool for each job: Angular and TypeScript for web and mobile apps, .NET (C#) for complex business rules, Node.js for high-volume events, and Python for data and AI, all behind secure APIs. Every system gets automated tests and release pipelines. ### Where is our data hosted? Are you GDPR compliant? We host in your region (EU, UK, or US) to meet data residency and GDPR requirements. We regularly sign data processing agreements (DPAs) and complete security questionnaires as part of procurement. ### Will you sign an NDA before we share details? Yes, routinely. We're happy to sign an NDA before you share anything sensitive about your business, systems, or data. ### What are your payment terms? It depends on the engagement, but the principle is the same: you only pay for scope you've approved. Work is usually invoiced monthly, and larger projects may use a deposit and milestone payments. Payment is due on delivery of the agreed scope, not when the system goes live, so a delay in your own launch plans doesn't hold up the work. ### What support do we get once a system is live? A full SLA. We stay responsible for uptime, monitoring, security patching, and fixes, with agreed response times, and keep improving the system as your business changes. If you'd rather run it yourselves, we hand over with full documentation and code walkthroughs. ### Can you train our team to use AI tools themselves? Yes. Training is built into how we work: in AI Concierge sessions your team learns by doing, on their own processes. We also run focused training on tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot, including usage guidelines for what data can and can't go into each one. ## Working with us Source: https://www.happen.software/ ### Do you do software, AI, or both? Both, and most of our clients need both. We're an engineering team that has built production-grade custom software since 2016, and we apply the same engineering discipline to AI. That means the AI we recommend actually gets built into your systems, rather than stopping at a slide deck. ### Why not just build it ourselves with AI? You can, and for prototypes, experiments, and testing an idea it can work well. The hard part of business software isn't getting something that works in a demo, it's keeping it working, securely, for everyone, for years. • Ownership: Someone has to fix it, update it, and answer for it after the person who built it moves on. • Security: Proper sign-in, permissions, secrets, and data protection, which a prototype rarely has. • Reliability: Tests, monitoring, backups, and safe releases, so it keeps running as usage grows. If your team has already built something with AI, our Prototype to Production service turns it into software your business can rely on. ### Will you tell us if we shouldn't build it? Yes. Every system you own has to be hosted, secured, and maintained for as long as you use it, so building isn't always the right answer. If an off-the-shelf product would do the job, or a spreadsheet is genuinely fine for now, we'll say so. It's cheaper to find out on a free call than after launch. ### How much does it cost? It depends on scope, so we don't publish prices. What we can promise is that you'll know the number before we start: every stage has a fixed scope, builds come with a capped budget, and we model ongoing AI running costs upfront so there are no surprise bills. ### How quickly will we see results? Assessments take one to two weeks and proofs of concept two to four. • Targeted tools: 4–8 weeks. • Full platforms & portals: 8–16+ weeks. • AI systems in production: usually under 90 days. We ship in increments, so you see progress every week. ### What happens after we get in touch? One of our engineers gets back to you to arrange a free 30-minute strategy call. We talk through your operations, systems, and goals, and you leave with practical next steps. If there's a fit, we'll suggest a short, fixed-scope assessment so you know exactly what you'd get, and what it would cost, before committing to anything bigger. ### Can you work with the systems we already have? Yes, integration is one of our core strengths. We connect to your ERP, CRM, finance, document, and email systems, and when off-the-shelf tools can't do the job, we build the custom software to fill the gap. ## AI Concierge Source: https://www.happen.software/ai-concierge ### What is an AI Concierge? An ongoing, hands-on AI partnership rather than a one-off project. We start with an AI Opportunity Assessment to find where AI fits your business, then meet with your team twice a month to turn manual processes into working AI workflows, with support in between and every result logged on a shared board. Think of it as an experienced AI engineer on your team, without the cost of hiring one. ### What does the AI Opportunity Assessment involve? Over one to two weeks we interview the people doing the work, review your processes and data, and measure where time and money go. You get a ranked roadmap of AI opportunities, each with estimated savings, costs, and risks. It sets the agenda for your AI Concierge sessions, but it's yours to act on, with us or without us. ### What happens in a working session? Each session is a 45 to 60 minute video call. Someone on your team shares their screen and walks us through a process. We audit it together, cut the steps that shouldn't exist, and turn what's left into an AI workflow they can run, often before the call ends. Afterwards you get a written summary of what we built and the time it should save. ### What if we need help between sessions? Message us. Whether it's a question, a workflow that isn't behaving, or a new idea, you'll get a reply within one business day, and usually much sooner. ### How is the AI Concierge priced? A fixed fee for the assessment, then a flat monthly fee for the AI Concierge, so you always know what you'll pay. Any larger build is quoted separately with a capped budget, and AI running costs are modelled upfront, with usage caps to prevent runaway bills. ### We're not a tech company. Is AI really for us? Yes. Most of our clients aren't tech companies. The best AI opportunities are usually in everyday work such as documents, data entry, email, and reporting. If your team does repetitive work with information, there's almost certainly something worth automating, and the free strategy call is designed to find it. ### Which AI tools do you work with? Whichever fits. We're vendor-neutral and work with Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, and the tools you already pay for. We'll only recommend a change where it's clearly worth it, and we help set usage guidelines, including what data can and can't go into each tool, so the whole team benefits without putting client data at risk. ### What if a workflow needs more than an AI assistant? Then our engineers build it properly. Some work needs a production pipeline, an integration with your ERP or CRM, or a model fine-tuned on your own data. We scope it with a capped budget, build it, and run it under SLA. It's the same team, so nothing gets lost along the way. ### What if AI isn't the right answer for us? Then we'll tell you. Sometimes the best fix is a simpler process, a better integration, or a small piece of custom software, and we build those too. We'd rather recommend the right tool than sell you AI that won't pay back. ### Do we need our own technical team? No. We work directly with the people doing the work, and handle any engineering end to end. If you have an IT team or provider, we work with them on access, security, and integration. ### Will our data be used to train public models like ChatGPT? No. We use enterprise-grade services and configure zero-retention policies where available, so your data is processed for the request but never stored or used for training by the AI vendor. ### How do you stop the AI from making things up? We don't rely on the model's memory. Workflows are set up to answer only from the data we give them: your documents, databases, and policies. If the answer isn't there, they say so instead of guessing. For anything sensitive, a person reviews the output before it's used. ### Are we locked into a single AI provider? No. We design workflows and systems to be model-agnostic, so we can switch the underlying engine (for example from OpenAI to Anthropic or Google) without starting again, and move to the best model for the price and performance. ## AI Opportunity Assessment Source: https://www.happen.software/ai-opportunity-assessment ### What is an AI Opportunity Assessment? A fixed-fee piece of work that finds where AI will pay off in your business. We interview the people doing the work, review your processes and data, and measure where time and money go. You receive a ranked roadmap of AI opportunities, each with estimated savings, costs, and risks, plus a data readiness review and tool recommendations. ### What does it cost? A fixed fee, agreed before we start, so you know the cost upfront and there are no day rates rolling on. We'll give you the figure on the free strategy call, once we understand the size and shape of your business. ### How long does it take? One to two weeks from kickoff to roadmap, depending on the size of your business and how many teams we talk to. We'll confirm the timeline along with the fixed fee on the strategy call. ### Who will we work with? An experienced engineer, the same person from the first call to the final roadmap. No account managers, and no hand-off to a junior team. ### Do we have to sign up for the AI Concierge afterwards? No. The roadmap is a practical plan you can act on, with us or without us. Many businesses choose to carry on with an AI Concierge because the roadmap sets the agenda for its sessions, but it's your decision. ### How is this different from an AI strategy workshop or a consultancy report? It's built on measurement and interviews rather than a generic framework, and it's written by engineers who can also build what it recommends. The output is a ranked, costed list of specific workflows in your business, not a set of principles. ### We're not a tech company. Is it worth it? Yes. Most of our clients aren't tech companies. If your team does repetitive work with information, there's almost certainly something worth automating, and the assessment is designed to find it and rank it. ### What will you need from us? Time with the people who do the work as well as those who manage it, because that's where the best opportunities usually are. Plus examples of the documents and data involved, and a point of contact who can arrange both. We do the analysis. ### What if AI isn't the right answer for us? Then we'll tell you. Sometimes the best fix is a simpler process, a better integration, or a small piece of custom software, and the roadmap will say so. We'd rather recommend the right tool than sell you AI that won't pay back. ### Is it safe to share our processes and data with you? Yes. We regularly sign NDAs and DPAs, and we use enterprise-grade services with zero-retention settings where available, so your data is never used by an AI vendor for training. Part of the assessment is setting out clear rules for what data can go into which tool. ## Prototype to Production Source: https://www.happen.software/prototype-to-production ### Which AI tools do you work with? Any of them: Lovable, Claude Code, Cursor, Bolt, Replit, v0, Codex, ChatGPT, or plain scripts written with AI help. What matters isn't the tool, it's what was built: the code, the hosting, the backend services, and the data. ### We're about to launch to customers. Is that a fit? Yes, that's one of the most common reasons people come to us. If you've built a working product with AI tools and want to put it in front of paying customers or roll it out to your clients, we'll make sure it's ready before they see it. We're not the right partner for ideas with nothing built yet. The prototype is what lets us move fast. ### How do you find the edge cases? We read the code and the data model, then try to break it the way real users will: unexpected input, slow or failing third-party services, many users at once, expired sessions, payments that fail halfway, and the things nobody planned for. Every fix gets an automated test, so it stays fixed as you keep building. ### Do we have to throw away what we built? Not necessarily. Sometimes the code is a sound base and we harden it. Sometimes it's better to rebuild in a stack your team already supports. Either way, the prototype is never wasted: it's the best specification you could have, because people have already used it. ### Our technical team doesn't use the language it was built in. What now? That's one of the most common situations we see. There are three options: 1. Adopt it: your team learns the stack, which makes sense for a core, long-lived system. 2. Rebuild it: rewrite it in the stack your team already knows how to deploy, monitor, and secure. 3. Fence it: run it as a small, isolated service with a named owner and clear inputs and outputs. The readiness review tells you which fits, and what each would cost. ### Will you take it away from the person who built it? Only if they want us to. If the builder has a clear vision and enjoys the work, we'd rather work alongside them: setting up the repository, pipeline, tests, and practices that let them keep building safely, with every change checked before it reaches real users. ### It was built in Lovable (or similar). Can it move to our own hosting? Usually, yes, but it's more than copying code. The front end can often be exported, while users, data, files, and secrets live in a hosted backend and need a proper migration. We plan and run that migration, and verify nothing is lost on the way. ### What does it cost? The first conversation is free. The production readiness review is a fixed fee agreed upfront, and it ends with a costed recommendation, so you know the price of hardening, rebuilding, or running the tool before you commit to anything bigger. ### Is it safe to share our prototype and data with you? Yes. We regularly sign NDAs and DPAs, complete security questionnaires, and can work with sample or masked data during the review. Part of what we check is whether the prototype itself is already exposing data it shouldn't. ## Custom Software Source: https://www.happen.software/custom-software ### 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? Not legacy codebases. To guarantee quality and maintainability, we don't inherit or patch software another vendor or team has built and maintained. We rebuild it better. 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 over the long term. The one exception is a prototype built with AI tools such as Lovable, Claude Code, or Cursor. It gets a production readiness review first, and we keep and harden the existing code only when the review shows it's a sound base. Otherwise we rebuild it, using the prototype as the specification. ### 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. ### 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. ### 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 2017. 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 Still have a question? Ask the engineers who'd do the work. Contact: https://www.happen.software/contact or sales@happen.software