Questions, and straight answers

Yes. Anything we deliver remotely, which includes app development, website design and VoIP, we deliver anywhere in the UK. The work that needs somebody on site, meaning CCTV, network cabling and PC builds, is where the Kent and Sussex service area applies.

It depends on scope, and we would rather tell you that than quote a number we cannot stand behind. What we can say is how we price: a fixed figure agreed before work starts, broken down so you can see what each part costs, and no charge for the conversation that gets us there. We are also currently not VAT registered, so there is no VAT on top.

Not at present, so no VAT is charged on any of our prices. When we do become VAT registered we will give advance notice and update pricing in line with UK law.

We do. There is no subcontracting layer between you and the people writing the code or configuring the system, which is the main reason we can keep prices where they are and answer a technical question without going away to ask somebody.

It carries on being supported. For apps that means store updates, monitoring and backend maintenance; for websites it means a care plan covering updates, backups and changes; for VoIP it is included in the monthly price. We build things we expect to still be running in five years, so handing over and walking away has never been the model.

Often, yes, and we do it regularly. The first step is an honest audit: what is there, what is at risk, and whether improving it or replacing it is the better use of your money. Sometimes the answer is that what you have is fine and only needs maintaining, and we would rather tell you that than sell you a rebuild.

A focused first version is typically three to four months from the first conversation to a live store listing. That includes the store review itself, which is outside anybody's control and is worth allowing two weeks for. A larger build with several integrations runs longer, and we would rather give you a real date at the end of scoping than a hopeful one at the start.

Yes, both, from one codebase. That is deliberate: two separate native builds cost close to twice as much to make and considerably more than twice as much to keep in step over the following years. Our own apps are built the same way.

You own your app, your branding, your content and your data. If the build is bespoke you own the code for it. Where your app is built on our existing platform, as Orbit is, you licence the platform and own everything specific to you, which is the arrangement that makes a platform build cheaper than starting from nothing.

Yes, and usually we recommend it: your listing, your reviews, your account. If you do not have one we can publish under ours to get you live and move it later, which is slower to undo than to set up correctly at the start. Worth deciding before we build rather than after.

It gets looked after. Store updates as the platforms change their requirements, which they do every year, backend monitoring, security patching and a route to us when something looks wrong. An app nobody maintains stops working within about eighteen months, usually because an operating system release broke something rather than because anyone touched it.

Everything is encrypted in transit, the sensitive data is encrypted at rest under a key unique to you, each customer's data is isolated at the database level rather than by a filter in the application, and changes are audit logged. That is how we build by default. Our background is in cyber security, which is why it is the default rather than an upgrade.

Yours, as far as your members are concerned. It carries your name, your logo and your colours, and publishing it on your own developer account, so the store listing is yours too, is something we can set up with you. The platform underneath is ours, which is exactly why it costs a fraction of commissioning an app from nothing.

Orbit is the platform running as a product: you switch on modules and launch quickly. A bespoke build is for when what you need does not exist yet. They are not exclusive, and the usual answer is Orbit for the parts every organisation needs plus bespoke work on top for the part that is genuinely yours.

Yes, and most people should. Switching a module on later is a configuration change rather than a development project, so there is no advantage in buying capability you are not ready to use. Launching with four modules that get used beats launching with fifteen that confuse everybody.

Yes, and separated at the database level rather than by a filter in the application. Each organisation has its own schema, so there is no query that returns another organisation's members. Documents, uploads and form submissions are encrypted under a key unique to you, and changes are audit logged.

Your administrators create the accounts. There is no self-registration, so nobody can sign themselves up and your member list is exactly who you put in it. Roles separate ordinary members from editors and administrators.

Typically a few weeks rather than a few months, because the application already exists. What takes the time is your branding, your content and the store review, and we will tell you exactly what we need from you at the start.

Both, and that is the point. Your clients get the app on their own phone with their plan, their food log and their check-ins in it. You get the trainer side of the same app, plus a desk view on a browser for the work that is easier with a keyboard, like writing plans.

You issue an invite code from the trainer side and they enter it when they install the app. There is no public sign-up, which is deliberate: it means nobody lands in your client list who you did not put there, and you never have to approve a queue of strangers.

Yes, with recovery codes, and for a trainer account we would strongly encourage it. You hold other people's health data, body measurements and progress photographs, so a password on its own is thin protection. Once it is enrolled the login challenge is enforced every time, and the recovery codes mean turning it on cannot lock you out of your own business.

Yes. There is a personal mode you switch into that gives you the client-side experience for your own training, habits and measurements, kept entirely separate from your coaching work.

Completely, and at the database level rather than by a filter in the application. Each trainer's data lives in its own schema, so there is no query anybody could write that returns another trainer's clients. Health notes, measurements and photographs are encrypted under a key unique to your business, and changes are audit logged.

It is priced per trainer, with a client allowance we agree with you, rather than a charge that climbs with every person you sign. Get in touch and we will confirm current pricing and set you up. There is no VAT on top while we remain unregistered.

That is a different product. Fitara is our coaching app under our name. If you want an app carrying your own brand on your own store listing, that is what our app development work does, and the platform behind it is the same one Fitara runs on.

A brochure site for a small business typically lands in the low thousands, and something with bookings, a member area or a shop costs more because there is more to build and more to keep safe. You get a fixed figure in writing before anything starts, broken down by part, and there is no VAT on top while we remain unregistered.

Only when it is genuinely the right tool, which is usually when a client needs to publish frequently and already knows WordPress. It is the most attacked platform on the web and most small business sites do not need what it costs to keep secure. Where we can, we build sites that are fast and static with no database to break into, which is both safer and considerably quicker.

Where you need to be, yes, and we will be honest about where you do not. A page whose text changes twice a year does not need an editor behind it; a news feed or an events list does. We would rather build a small editing area around the things that genuinely change than hand over a page builder that lets anybody break the layout.

Usually four to eight weeks for a small business site, and the critical path is almost always content rather than code. Photography, copy and sign-off are what projects wait on. We will tell you at the start exactly what we need from you and when.

It will be built so it can be: correct page structure, real page titles and descriptions, structured data, a generated sitemap, fast loading and a mobile layout that works. That is the groundwork, and it is the part that is genuinely in our control. Ranking for a competitive term also needs content and time, and anybody promising you a position is guessing.

We audit it first and tell you honestly whether it is worth improving or replacing. Sometimes a site is structurally fine and only needs maintaining properly, and saying so costs us a build and keeps your trust. When we do replace one, existing addresses are redirected so that neither your visitors nor your search rankings are thrown away.

Yes, and number porting is included on every plan. We handle the whole porting process for you so there is minimal disruption to the business.

For a new number, a few days. For a port, the timescale depends on your existing provider, and we will keep you informed throughout rather than leaving you to wonder.

Not necessarily. We look at what you already have before recommending anything. You can also use a softphone app on a computer or mobile at no hardware cost at all, and desk phone hire is available from £5 a month if you would rather have a handset.

We are currently not VAT registered, so no VAT is charged on any of our prices. When that changes we will give advance notice and update pricing in accordance with UK law.

Additional users can be added to Core at £10 to £15 per user per month. If you have 10 or more users and want the advanced features, Pro is usually the better fit and we will quote it for you.

Yes. It is an add-on from £25 a month on the Core plan, and it is included as standard on Pro.

The Pro plan includes overflow and failover routing, which sends calls to a mobile or another number when the line is unavailable. It is worth saying plainly: VoIP depends on your connection, so if the broadband is unreliable we will tell you that before selling you a phone system rather than after.

No. Footage records to an NVR on your premises, so watching your own recordings back carries no monthly fee. Cloud backup is available as an optional extra, and it is genuinely optional: we mention it because off-site copies survive someone stealing the recorder, not because we want a subscription.

Sometimes. If the cabling is sound we can often reuse it, which is usually the expensive part. Analogue cameras themselves are rarely worth keeping, because the resolution is the whole problem. We will tell you what is reusable after the survey rather than quoting to rip everything out as a matter of course.

Yes, with obligations. You need signage telling people they are being recorded, a reason for recording, a retention period rather than keeping footage forever, and a way to respond if somebody asks for footage of themselves. We set retention up sensibly at install and tell you what your responsibilities are. We are not your data protection officer, but we will not leave you to discover this from a complaint.

It depends on storage and the number of cameras, and 30 days is a common target. We size the recorder for the retention you actually want rather than fitting the smallest one and letting it overwrite in a week.

Yes. Multi-site systems view under one account, so you are not logging into three different recorders to see three premises.

Anything repetitive, rule-based and done often. The best candidates are usually boring: copying the same fields between two systems, sending the same email after the same trigger, producing the same report every Monday. If a human is following a procedure with no judgement in it, that is an automation.

Usually not. Most of this work is about making the tools you already pay for talk to each other, which is cheaper and far less disruptive than replacing them. If something genuinely cannot integrate we will tell you, and that is a real finding rather than a sales opening.

It is built to fail loudly rather than quietly, so it tells somebody instead of going silent. A silent failure is much worse than an error: a workflow that stops sending invoices and says nothing can cost you a month before anyone notices. Ongoing monitoring by us is available as a support package.

It is a fair question and the honest answer is that it depends on where the platform runs. Where it matters we can host the automation platform on infrastructure we control rather than a third-party cloud, so your data stays in an environment you have a relationship with. For anything sensitive that is what we would recommend, and we will confirm exactly where it runs before anything is built.

For the obvious candidates, quickly, because the calculation is simple: hours a week times a realistic hourly cost. We work that out with you before quoting, and if the sum does not work we will say so rather than building it anyway.

No, and we would rather not. Cabling is often reusable and is usually the expensive part. Sometimes the honest answer is that you need two access points and a switch rather than a new network, and the survey is what establishes which.

For a house, that is often the right answer. For a business it usually is not: consumer mesh gives you little real control over segmenting guest and smart devices away from your business machines, little visibility over what is connected, and is not designed for the number of devices an office puts on it. The failure mode is the network being fine until the day it matters.

It means putting different kinds of device on separate logical networks that cannot reach each other. You need it because the weakest thing on your network is rarely a computer: it is a smart TV, a printer, a camera or a guest's laptop. Segmentation means a compromise there does not become a compromise of your business data.

Often, yes, and that is one of the most common reasons people call us. VoIP is very sensitive to a congested or badly configured network, so where the phones are the symptom the network is frequently the cause.

We schedule it around you and can usually do the bulk outside working hours. The survey tells us what needs a cutover and what can be added alongside the existing kit, so the answer is known before we start rather than discovered on the day.

This service is new machines: we specify and source them rather than refurbishing or repairing existing hardware. For a standard office machine a well-chosen business desktop or laptop with a manufacturer warranty is usually better value and much easier to support. For a workstation with specific demands we will specify exactly the components that matter and nothing you are paying for twice.

Yes. Some people want a spec and a shopping list so they can buy it themselves, and that is a perfectly reasonable thing to want. We will still configure and deploy it if you would like us to.

Worth thinking about before it leaves the desk: a drive that has been deleted, formatted or reset still holds recoverable business data. Secure wiping and disposal are not part of this service as standard, so ask and we will tell you what we can arrange.

That is the whole point of doing it this way. The machine is configured, updated and loaded with your files before it arrives, so the changeover is minutes rather than a morning. The old one stays available until you are happy.

Ongoing support is available, and it is worth knowing that we would rather sell you the right machine once than the wrong machine twice and then support it. That is the reason for the honest-spec position above rather than a slogan.