Software Development in Suffolk

Software development in Suffolk

Cloudship makes software in Bungay, in the north of Suffolk. We also run the Green Dragon, a CAMRA award-winning pub and brewery in the town. A pub has thin margins, so we only keep the software that pays for itself.

We build software for Suffolk businesses, from a small app that takes one chore off your week to a system the whole business runs on. Online shops, custom software, links between the systems you already use, and AI where it saves time. Websites too: a starter site is £250.

Suffolk businesses we've already built for

Some of it is down the road:

The Green Dragon, Bungay: our own pub and brewery. Its online ordering goes straight into Omni Tend, the till system we built.

Black Shuck Festival, Bungay: after each festival a program reads the attendee survey responses, hundreds of them, and gives the committee the themes, the mood and a short list of things to change.

Giddens & Thompson: an independent Suffolk greengrocer now selling online, with orders tied to the shop's stock and fulfilment.

Bungay Town Page: a directory of local businesses, an events calendar and a guide to Bungay.

You talk to the people who write the code.

How it works

Start with the idea.

Tell us what you have in mind, or the job that takes the most time. We say what we would build, or which off-the-shelf thing to buy instead.

Half a day. £300.

One way to start. We begin at nine and by lunchtime it is on a web address, with your own data in it. It runs free for a month whether or not we go further.

Small or large. From £2,000.

Every build is quoted in writing before we start, from a single tool to a system the business runs on. Then from £39 a month to keep it running, backed up and patched, with someone to call.

Where software helps Suffolk businesses

What we would look at first, by trade:

Farming and food production: market analysis, supplier invoices and the compliance paperwork.

Hospitality, on the coast and inland: from Southwold and Aldeburgh to the market towns, bookings, guest emails, stock and waste, and a weekly summary of what the reviews say.

Independent shops: online ordering, stock figures that match the shelf, and less retyping.

Professional services: drafting, summarising and finding things in years of old files.

Around Suffolk

We're in Bungay, so most of Suffolk is an easy drive: Beccles, Halesworth, Southwold, Woodbridge, Lowestoft, Ipswich, Stowmarket and Bury St Edmunds. We will come and see how the business works before we suggest anything.

Common questions

Do I need to know exactly what I want? No. Describe the problem in your own words and we will work out what could be built.

What if software isn't the right answer? Then we'll tell you. Sometimes a tidied-up process or a link between two systems you already have does the job, for far less.

How quickly will I see results? Half a day. You describe the job in the morning and by lunchtime it is on a web address with your own data in it. Finishing it usually takes one to three weeks.

Is my business too small? Probably not. One job that eats a few hours every week is worth automating, whatever the size of the business.

Can you take on something large? Yes. Omni Tend runs the tills and stock at our own pub every day. When a job needs more hands, we bring in developers we have worked with for years.