Ongoing development
Ecommerce support from engineers who stay
A platform earns its keep after launch, which is exactly when many agencies move on. eplatforms builds systems and then runs them – in its own words, “Most of our clients have been with us for over ten years.”
What it covers
Keeping a trading platform healthy and moving forward
Monitoring
Uptime, checkout, integrations, scheduled jobs and certificates watched, with alerts coming to us rather than to your customers.
Updates and security
Platform, extension and dependency updates tested on a staging copy before they reach the live store, with security patches prioritised.
Fixes
A clear way to report a problem, and anything that affects trading dealt with ahead of planned work.
Integration upkeep
APIs change on a schedule. Shopify, for example, releases a new API version every quarter and supports each stable version for at least twelve months, so integrations need moving forward before old versions are retired.
Planned improvements
A prioritised list agreed with you and worked through steadily, so the platform improves between emergencies.
Documentation
Kept current as the platform changes, so knowledge of how it works never depends on one person’s memory – including ours.
Arrangement
Sized to the platform, agreed in writing
Support is agreed per platform. Busy, heavily integrated platforms usually need a regular allocation of development time; quieter ones need monitoring, updates and a reliable route for the occasional fix.
We suggest an arrangement after looking at the platform, rather than selling a package first. What’s covered, how urgent problems are reported and how quickly we respond are written down before we start.
- You deal directly with the engineers who work on the platform
- Code in your repository, accounts in your name
- Changes tested on staging before release
- A written record of what changed and why
Long relationships
What this work typically involves
Ongoing development usually follows a build or a takeover: eplatforms builds a platform, or stabilises one another team left behind, and then stays to run, optimise and develop it.
From then on the work settles into a steady pattern: updates tested on staging and released, integrations moved forward before old API versions are retired, fixes that affect trading dealt with first, and steady progress through the agreed list of improvements – with the documentation kept current as the platform changes.
Next step
Need a development team that stays?
Tell us about the platform, who looks after it now and what keeps getting put off.