Solve With Software

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Opening hours are kept by Solve With Software.

About

Solve With Software is a Colchester software consultancy that takes over business systems that have got stuck. Perhaps the developer who built yours has retired or stopped answering the phone, it only runs on one old PC that nobody dares switch off, or your IT company won't support it any more. Or it's newer than that: an agency built it a few years ago and moved on, or you built most of it yourself with an AI tool and the last part won't come. Age isn't the problem. Being stuck is.

The technology matters less than you'd think. We take on Visual Basic 6, Microsoft Access, Delphi, FoxPro, Classic ASP and older .NET, and just as often React, Angular, Node, PHP and mobile apps, or something built in Lovable, Replit, Bolt, Bubble or Power Apps that got most of the way and then stalled.

We start with an in-depth assessment of your current system and give you a written report: what it does and what depends on it, where the real risks are, where AI would pay for itself, and costed options to stabilise it, modernise it in stages or replace it. You can take that report to us, another developer or nobody.

When we do the work, there's no big bang. The new system grows alongside the old one, sharing the same data, screen by screen, so your team keeps working throughout. Your data is migrated, checked and reconciled, with the old system kept as a fallback until you say so. Your code lives in your own accounts from day one, and you pay in stages, each payment tied to something you can see working. Sometimes the right answer isn't a rewrite at all. If your system is sound we'll say so, take it over, stabilise it and build what's missing.

You work with the person who writes the code. Founder Marc Allington started the company in 2012 and leads every project from the first call to the last release, bringing in a wider team when the job needs one. The company is based at North Colchester Business Centre, works on site across Essex, Suffolk and London, and remotely across the rest of the UK.

Questions people ask

What does it cost?

It depends on your system, but it doesn't take us long to get a price and a plan to you. We assess your system in depth, then hand you a written report with costed options and a fixed price for each. Real numbers, days after we start.

Our system was only built in 2020. Do you still take it on?

Age isn't the problem. Being stuck is. If the people who built it are gone and your business can't move it forward, it doesn't matter whether it's VB6 or React. Taking over a sound modern system is often faster and cheaper than you'd expect.

Can you add AI to our existing system?

Usually, yes, and usually without a rewrite. The wins that pay for themselves are rarely glamorous: reading invoices and orders straight into your system, drafting quotes and replies, answering questions from your own data. We'll tell you which apply to you, and which would be money on hype.

Will we lose our data?

No. Data migration is planned, tested and reconciled before anything goes live, and the old system stays available as a fallback until you're confident.

Do we have to move to the cloud?

No. Some clients should, some shouldn't. The assessment tells you which you are.

Can you just keep our old system alive instead?

Sometimes that's the right answer. If it is, we'll tell you and quote for that instead.

Are you insured?

Yes. We carry professional indemnity, public and products liability, and cyber and data insurance. If your due diligence needs the certificates, ask and we'll send them.

Do you only work in Colchester?

No. We're based in Colchester and work on site across Essex, Suffolk and London, and remotely with businesses anywhere in the UK.