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Technical Account Manager

Andy Mardell

In simplest terms, it&#39;s the integration of technology throughout a business, replacing slow, more manual ways of working with digital systems that do the job better, faster, and all over more efficiently. But from thinking about digital transformation strategies and plotting roadmaps, to considering different digital technologies, the change can feel overwhelming. Wouldn&#39;t it be easier to stick with what you know? You&#39;re used to it, after all.Interesting thought, but no. In this case change is good.Unless your processes are up to date and you honestly can&#39;t think of a single thing that doesn&#39;t give you a bit of a headache, there&#39;s plenty that digital transformation can do for your business. And as a rather knowledgeable bunch who enable said transformation, we&#39;re here not just to advise you on what opportunities you have, but to deliver the solution too.

As excited as you are to get stuck in, it&#39;s easy for your enthusiasm to turn into a runaway train, or derail entirely, if you don&#39;t know where you&#39;re going. Before moving on to the &#39;how&#39;, or even the &#39;what&#39;, it&#39;s important to know the &#39;why&#39;. Why do you need to focus on transformation? Because meeting customer expectations and adapting to their needs is now a critical issue. Why does it matter for your business? Because in an increasingly digital world, change happens fast and you need to be able to move with it at pace to at the very least keep up with your competitors.Picking apart your motivations in these early stages means you&#39;re building a much stronger understanding of what to focus on in the exploration stage.

Starting with the important question

While you&#39;re planning the next step for your business, it&#39;s the perfect chance to do more than just ask a few basic questions in a briefing. In our experience, some of the best solutions are <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover/workshops">discovered through workshops</a> with your team, helping gauge a deeper understanding of what problems you&#39;re trying to solve and how to set you up for success.After that, we carry out <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover/research">our own research</a>, exploring everything from technologies and platforms to user behaviour and design trends to help us formulate the ideal solution to challenges you&#39;re facing.This process was invaluable for our work building <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/wightlink">Wightlink&#39;s user-centric website</a>, where we held regular workshops to understand their pain points and requirements, as well as to discuss key phases of the design and build. While traditional user testing revealed the problems, these workshop sessions held on the actual ferry crossings helped discover why they persisted.

Don't skimp on the discovery phase

Customer research is one thing, but you can&#39;t move forward with the right solutions without first auditing your systems. When done right, this phase can spot transformation gaps and unearth inefficiencies, financial waste, chaotic processes and workflows, giving you a better idea of what areas you need to focus on for proper long-term planning.From tech stacks to workflows, a digital transformation audit is intentionally broad to touch on multiple different areas of your business. You might find that software doesn&#39;t cover your needs anymore, outdated hardware is no longer secure, or that your systems are disconnected. Process mapping also helps you see what might otherwise stay invisible, flagging bottlenecks, jumbled responsibilities and where you can streamline workflows, helping your team communicate clearer.Shining a light on the problem parts is always nerve wracking, but well worth doing – and it&#39;s why our clients trust us to guide them through it.

Make time for a proper audit

With all that data gathered, now you can get on with the exciting bit: finding what will not only transform your business, but keep the door open for future improvements too.In our case, when we’ve collected all the necessary information we’ll design a comprehensive solution tailored to the specific needs of your business. Then once we’ve walked you through our findings, recommendations and overall solution, we’ll make sure we’re all aligned with clear requirements and goals, whether you’re looking to improve processes or develop a whole new site, CMS or app. After that, we can focus on bringing your project to life.<a href="https://sidigital.co/work/tilt">Take Tilt, for example</a>. When Howden came to us, they wanted an experience that matched the expectations of modern customers whilst also operating within a regulated insurance environment. The challenge wasn&#39;t just in building an app, but to establish a foundation that could support a new way of operating and have a platform capable of evolving in a way that was predictive, not just responsive.

Plotting your digital transformation journey

Ultimately change is a fact of life. It can be held up but it can&#39;t be stopped, and you don&#39;t want to end up on the wrong side of it compared to your competitors. So when you&#39;re considering your digital transformation journey, it&#39;s not just about focusing on that first stop, but having the insight to look to the next one and the one after that.It&#39;s exactly how we future-proofed <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">leading connector manufacturer Harwin</a>. By rebuilding their website from the ground up, Harwin&#39;s various systems now all work together through our <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">secure Faraday middleware</a>, keeping products and stock up to date and website speeds 90% faster for a fantastic customer experience. No need for manual updates. A single source of truth for products. And with a 97% increase in filter interaction since launch, we know customers are using the changes implemented.diviD

A more harmonious, future-proof way of working

If you’re fed up of feeling slowed down by frustrating processes, get in touch. We’d love to chat about what the future looks like for your business and help you figure out what to do about it.

Not sure where to start?

For over <a href="https://www.saasacademy.com/blog/saas-statistics" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">80% of businesses</a>, a SaaS system has become a core part of their day-to-day operations, with larger organisations of <a href="https://financesonline.com/saas-software-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">10,000+ employees using an average of 447</a> SaaS systems within their businesses. This can quickly become an admin nightmare, a data disaster, and a costly expense. Check out the top time and money savings perks below.

Nobody likes tedious data admin, and managing data stored across multiple SaaS systems can be a chore to keep on top of and maintain. This could be product data stored in various systems, images and videos stored in a digital asset management system like <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate/asset-management-software">Bynder</a>, and customer data stored somewhere else like <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate/salesforce">Salesforce</a> or HubSpot. It can quickly become messy, clunky, and confusing.By automating tasks like data entry, invoicing, and reporting with an advanced SaaS integration, you can reduce the need for manual work, freeing up team members across different areas of the business so they can focus on more important things, like business growth and development. In turn, this also cuts back on labour costs, freeing up budget to be spent elsewhere.

Less manual labour = lower labour costs

It might not seem like a direct benefit for you, but integrating can improve your customers’ user experience when they’re browsing your website, portal, or app. We can dovetail various smaller integrations into your wider infrastructure, like ElasticSearch, which can help to bring users the data they’re searching for quicker. In doing so, your users are able to access information and products quicker, meaning there’s less time spent supporting customers behind the scenes.<a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">We’ve done it for clients like </a><a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">Harwin</a>, and they’ve seen some outstanding results. For example, thanks to the ElasticSearch database with Salesforce, we’re able to return filtered results of their 7,000+ products almost instantly.

Speedier user experiences

With so many SaaS systems available, it’s highly likely your business has the same data in multiple places. When this data needs updating, it has to be done manually, which often leads to mistakes that cost time and money.Integrating your SaaS systems helps to centralise all your data into one place, like Salesforce. So if there are updates, you only need to make the change once. This then synchronises across all the various different places the data is used, like your website. By only updating the data once, you massively reduce the risk of human error. It also means you know the data is always consistent and up-to-date across the board, so there shouldn’t be any discrepancies in data across different platforms.

Reduce costly errors

Did you know that <a href="https://zylo.com/blog/reducing-saas-license-waste/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">over 50% of SaaS licences go unused</a> because of duplicated functionality? This costs businesses on average about £15m+ each year. A lot of SaaS systems provide similar tools and services, and with disjointed SaaS systems, you’re more than likely duplicating functionality, so you’ll essentially be paying twice (or more) for services that do the same thing. For example, both Salesforce and Sage CRM offer marketing automations and sales forecasting. But because they’re not talking to one another, you could be stuck using both systems.Integrating your SaaS systems means you’ll no longer need to juggle multiple platforms because you can consolidate some of them into one, which then reduces your software costs.There are more benefits here too. Beyond cost savings, you’ll also be cutting back on the risk of data entry errors and streamlining the tools your team needs to use to do their jobs.

Fewer software licences

When it comes to business decision making, time can be a key factor in ensuring the decision is relevant and effective. Sometimes, these decisions are based on data, so accessing up-to-date data quickly and efficiently can be make or break when it comes to decision making.With a fully integrated SaaS system, you’ll be able to access real-time data as it’s shared between each system, giving you the data insights you need—fast. This results in quicker, smarter decision-making, and fewer costly misjudgements.

Faster decision making

Many CRM SaaS systems like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Monday.com can play a key role in your customers’ experience when dealing with your business, even if you think they don’t realise it.Disjointed SaaS systems often lead to an equally disjointed customer experience. Integrating your SaaS enterprise systems can help to improve this by streamlining support and communications, and simplifying and speeding up invoicing. Your customers will undoubtedly see the benefits, helping to retain your customers and reduce churn.

Better customer retention

While the upfront cost of integrating your SaaS enterprise systems might seem daunting, it pays for itself in benefits by boosting efficiency, reducing human error, and optimising resources. And all of this gives you and your team back the time to focus on growing the business and building on relationships with your existing customers and clients.At Si digital, when we integrate your SaaS systems, we use our <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">Faraday™ framework</a> to define tangible goals and KPIs that align with your business to help you maximise efficiency and effectiveness across the board.If you want to up your integration game, <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">check out our services</a> to see how we can help. Or <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">get in touch</a> if you’re ready to start a conversation.

The bottom line

Have a read of some of our other articles

How integrating your SaaS systems can save you time and money

Lead Backend Developer

Richard Keen

Middleware is the software that acts as a <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">bridge between systems</a>, applications and services, helping play a critical part in how digital ecosystems work. Or, in even simpler terms, it&#39;s the translator that helps different processes, systems, components and applications talk to each other.Think of it like a computer hub connecting your mouse and keyboard to your laptop, helping all the different components talk to each other so you can enjoy a smoother experience.

Let&#39;s first ask another question: &quot;Can operating systems, IT, software and apps run without middleware?&quot; The answer is yes. But without middleware, developers need to find a way to connect their systems together, usually by bespoke connectors. That doesn&#39;t sound too bad for one or two implementations, but it can end up feeling overwhelming and chaotic to run in no time.Rather than having to navigate the mess to find the connection between your start and end point, middleware provides the common layer that understands what either end needs. It ensures that systems can interact without having to know each other&#39;s complexities, making development simpler, more flexible and scalable.

Why use middleware?

As digital worlds develop and customer expectations rise, the days of simply-connected websites are long gone. Now with various different platforms and SaaS tools, every change could mean a costly redevelopment. But middleware unifies these services to all users. Meaning that when changes happen, such as moving your website from HubSpot to Salesforce or upgrading your warehouse management system, your customers won&#39;t even notice. Done and dusted.Middleware integration improves communication and acts differently depending on what job you need it to do. Enterprise middleware, for example, is designed to connect various business systems and business software integration like CRM, inventory, and accounting. Helping data flow seamlessly between them so that when a sale happens, inventories update and finances adjust – all without manual input.From message-oriented middleware (MOM) and games engines, to transaction processing (TP) and portals, middleware is the ultimate solution to modern digital challenges. Regardless of whether you&#39;re running a legacy system or starting from scratch and whether your business is large, medium or small.Another important category is application programming interface (API) middleware, which is commonly used in modern applications. Where API gateways act as an entry point to access backend services, middleware often manages these interactions and checks for anything out of the ordinary. Making sure communications stay secure, efficient and consistent.

An unseen hero

Where middleware is designed to sit in the background, you might not realise how or where it helps in the day-to-day running of your business. From mitigating complexity to reducing development time, it does more than simply streamline operations.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Consistent, accurate data</h3>Having a centralised system means you don’t have to hunt for up-to-date data through multiple streams, reducing admin time for manual entry. Your data will be correct in real-time, everywhere you need it to be. For example, if you update your address on your website, that is then synced across the CRM, accounts platform, warehouse platforms, and more. And like most great things in life, consistency is key for better processes and fewer headaches.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Flexible and adaptable</h3>A unified system means changes and updates are no longer a pain to deal with. Your business can switch platforms with ease as you grow and your needs change, such as moving from a digital asset management (DAM) system like Frontify to Bynder. This flexibility gives you more freedom to move to what works best for your business without having to worry about being locked in, scaling with you as and when your business grows.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Cost efficiency</h3>Fewer services to manage means you can reduce unnecessary spending. In establishing middleware, sometimes it turns out that some SaaS systems your business has in place overlap. In these cases, middleware can help you trim the fat. Likewise, with fewer specialised processes and customer applications needed, it may reduce project costs and be less expensive to maintain overall.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Making the complex, clear</h3>Reducing operational chaos means fewer tangles and less overall confusion when it comes to processes and data. For your business, that might look like using standardised tools and templates, simplifying messaging, and helping your teams know that they can trust that the data they’re seeing is accurate.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Connecting bespoke products</h3>Middleware also provides the ideal option for getting more tailored products to work with the rest of your infrastructure. Steering you away from being blocked in by a one-size-fits-all solution and allowing more personalised integration. In fact, we used middleware to help BMW connect their app to an API for a telematics tracking product that people fit in their cars. Allowing us to surface information like car vitals, speed data, cornering data and more directly into an app for users. Read the full case study here.

The benefits of middleware

A fantastic example of this is when we used our own <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">secure Faraday</a> middleware to help one of our clients – leading connector <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">manufacturer Harwin</a> – refresh their online presence, modernise their platform and fix technical issues that had built up over time. And with 4,000+ products to sort through, they needed a website that would make finding the right product clear for customers, too.Now Harwin&#39;s website syncs website data with their Salesforce database, always keeping details up to date. Whenever the team updates a product, those changes appear almost instantly, and with Salesforce in the loop all data is easy to find.

Future-proofing digital presence

It&#39;s only natural that, since middleware bridges communication, it also shines when it comes to improving security. As it sits between systems, it&#39;s in the perfect position to implement security policies and protect against threats. From authenticating users to authorising access, encrypting data and verifying credentials, requests reach this digital checkpoint before they can pass on to the juicy, more valuable areas.Another concern with having various different systems and SaaS tools is dealing with dozens of access points connected directly to your website. That&#39;s a lot of potential vulnerabilities. This is also where Faraday works in our clients&#39; favour, centralising those connections. A single, middleware layer means fewer entry points and total control over how your data flows and what each system can access. Keeping things visible and secure.

Critical security

Got a project in mind that could use some middleware intervention? <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">Drop us a line. We&#39;re always keen to chat.</a>

Middleware made simple

5 key considerations for digital transformation

Founder & Managing Director

Steve Piper

What happens when your website stops working for you and starts working against you? Whether it&#39;s a reduction in time spent on the website, low conversions, or you&#39;ve simply moved on in your business&#39;s wants and needs, it&#39;s best not to bury your head in the sand. Have a look for these 8 signs it&#39;s time for a website redesign.

As much as we’d like to think people can look past it, first impressions of your website absolutely matter. If you find your bounce rates are higher than you&#39;d like – and you&#39;re sure it’s not because visitors found what they needed in record time – it&#39;s worth investigating why. Elements like trustworthiness, confusing layouts and buried information can make all the difference between users clicking through to the next page or tapping out altogether. Time is precious, especially in the eyes of customers.

01. People visit but they don't stay

If you&#39;ve built a website and customers or potential clients still have little or no idea what your business does, it&#39;s not only a big problem but a missed opportunity. Rather than having at least basic understanding on first contact, your sales team has to pitch and explain the &#39;why&#39; instead of following up with the &#39;wow&#39;. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/uk/business/software/website-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">As 78% of small business owners</a> in the UK have a website for their business, with 83.5% of those saying it plays a big part in their business, websites should qualify leads and build confidence. All while providing a reliable point of reference for further reading, ideally before anyone picks up the phone.

02. Your sales team is doing the heavy lifting for your site

Following that point, making users hunt for information is tedious, frustrating, and a surefire way to have them backing out before they find what they need. Likewise, outdated information leaves them with an untrustworthy impression of your business and the experience they can expect by engaging. As you change products or services, update details, and find new ways to <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/design/digital-design">improve the user experience</a>, the best thing to do is keep your website up to date. For more information on why UX and UI iteration is so important, <a href="https://sidigital.co/lab-notes/iterative-ux-and-ui-practices">have a quick read here</a>.

03. Your website doesn't say what you do

If you&#39;re going through the effort of making an up-to-date site that looks great on a large screen, it&#39;s vital you&#39;ve also considered your mobile users. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1358314/online-shopper-device-preference-uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">As reported in the second quarter of 2025</a>, mobile phones were the preferred device among online shoppers in the United Kingdom. So if you’re not considering all audiences, especially those used to a smooth mobile experience, an outdated, pinch-to-zoom design that&#39;s a pain to navigate and tough to read will likely turn people away. Your mobile site should be optimised to fit the format, allowing potential customers to focus on what they&#39;re reading rather than trying their patience with inaccurate hit targets and microscopic text.

04. It's not made for mobile

If there&#39;s one unignorable death rattle for websites, it&#39;s wheezing loading times. In the current technological age we&#39;re living in, users just want things to work – and when they don&#39;t, they&#39;ll find something else that will. <a href="https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/7450973?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">As Google notes</a>, 53% of visits are likely abandoned if pages take longer than three seconds to load, so if your team notices your site is slow, visitors will too. And their first instinct won&#39;t be to give it a moment, it&#39;ll be to leave. A few seconds of loading time might not sound like a lot, but it&#39;s enough for people to get an impression of your brand, and that&#39;s not fair to you or them. Google&#39;s also not a fan and will penalise websites as a result, favouring sites that perform better.

05. It's slow and not subtle about it

Though we&#39;ve already covered why it&#39;s important to keep your website up to date, in this case it&#39;s about keeping up with your competitors as well. You might be updating information or considering your brand position in the market, but if you&#39;re still working with a website that looks like it belongs in a different age you&#39;ll stand out for the wrong reasons. Regardless of how strong your information is, your site design is what users will initially focus on, even if they&#39;re not aware they&#39;re doing it. A site that doesn&#39;t keep pace may get left behind altogether.

06. Your website and business are out of sync

Nothing shouts &quot;you might need a website redesign&quot; quite like cringing when it&#39;s shared with current or prospective clients. If sales conversations are bracketed with apologies, URLs are shared with caveats, or you’re just linking users to the information they need rather than the homepage for a browse, you don&#39;t need a diagnosis – you need a plan. On the sunny side, this means you can spend your time thinking about what you want your new site to look like instead of debating whether you need a website refresh at all. And that’s the fun part.

07. You're embarrassed to send people to it

With cyber attacks more active than ever, cyber security is a justifiable concern for businesses internet-wide. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2025/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2025#chapter-6-cyber-crime" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Approximately 283,000 businesses</a> have been a victim of at least one cyber crime in the last 12 months, with phishing as the most common type (93% of affected businesses). From spam emails and untrustworthy links to database breaches, it&#39;s in your interest to keep your business, customers and users safe online. That means even after considering and implementing the right cyber security for your needs, anything you have in place should always run in its latest version. Elements like outdated plugins and software provide an easy entry point for cybercriminals, opening your operation up to compliance risks, financial loss, malware, and more.

08. You've had a security scare

<h3 style='text-align: start;'>How do you know when your website needs a redesign?</h3>If it&#39;s been a few years since you reviewed your website, it&#39;s a good idea to evaluate performance, UX and UI to improve outdated design. Think about your business needs and whether they’re being met.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>What is the three-second rule for websites?</h3>A well-known principle, the three-second rule for website design reflects how long you&#39;ve got until users hit the back button and continue on their way. Three seconds. If your website doesn&#39;t make a good first impression, it probably won&#39;t get the chance to make a second one.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>What are the main signs of an outdated website?</h3>Besides telltale visual elements that date websites like a time capsule, outdated information and poor responsiveness and loading speeds are your biggest red flags.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Should I redesign or rebuild my website?</h3>Be honest, you&#39;d be creeped out if we said yes and how. The best thing to do if you&#39;re asking this question is to evaluate your site performance from a technical, visual and experiential level. Are there just a couple of areas that you can improve on or do you need to start from scratch?

FAQs

See whether a website redesign or refresh is for you. If you get top marks, well, feel free to brag.

Download our free UX & UI Self-Assessment tool

Your company might already have security policies in place, but a quick refresher ensures nothing slips through the cracks. For Data Privacy Day this year, we’re giving you a checklist of security policies you need to keep on top of.

Grab your free checklist. No forms, no faff.

Download our free 8-point security checklist

These are our recommendations for all our clients. Depending on the value and sensitivity of your data, you might want to adjust the frequency to suit your needs.

How to ensure your apps and websites are secure

An annual penetration test from an independent third party identifies weaknesses in your code and server configuration. We always recommend one after completing a website or app build, plus annual reviews or tests following significant code changes. If you need help finding a pentest company, <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">get in touch</a>.

1. Get a pentest – Yearly

Check who has admin access to your CMS or back office systems. Do they still need it? Could their permissions be downgraded from Admin to User level?And, every six months, have a spring clean. Review everyone with CMS or back office access. Ask if they still need it. Are their details current? When did they last change their password? If you have a Leaver Policy, add system removal to your off-boarding checklist.

2. Review CMS access – Quarterly

<a href="https://haveibeenpwned.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Have I Been Pwned</a> lets you search data breaches to see if your email or phone number has been compromised. This matters less if you use unique passwords for each account, but if you&#39;ve reused passwords, a quick check here is worth five minutes.

3. Check if you’ve been Pwned – Bi-Yearly

2 Factor Authentication (2FA) requires a randomly generated code from your phone alongside your password. Once you&#39;ve entered your credentials, you&#39;ll need your 2FA app to get the unique access code. Some of our top 2FA apps include <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/mobile-authenticator-app" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Microsoft Authenticator</a>, <a href="https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447?hl=en&amp;co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google Authenticator</a>, and <a href="https://getaegis.app/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aegis Authenticator</a>.While you&#39;re at it, check your 2FA app and remove any old devices.

4. Use 2 Factor Authentication

We&#39;ve all reused passwords or used obvious variations like &#39;Sunsh1ne&#39;, &#39;Sunsh2ne&#39;. Password managers eliminate this risk by securely storing your passwords and auto-filling them. They&#39;re built into operating systems like macOS and browsers like Microsoft Edge. At Si digital, we use <a href="https://1password.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1Password</a>.

5. Use a password manager

Complex passwords take longer to crack. Mix upper and lowercase letters, special characters, numbers, and punctuation. With a password manager handling the heavy lifting, you won&#39;t need to remember them anyway.

6. Have a minimum password standard

Public Wi-Fi at coffee shops, hotels, or airports is convenient but risky. Hackers can intercept your data on unsecured networks. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts your connection, keeping your browsing and login credentials safe. This is particularly important when accessing your CMS or business systems remotely. Many businesses provide VPN access to their teams. If yours doesn&#39;t, ask your IT department about setting one up.

7. Use a VPN

This one&#39;s on us, and we often do it without you noticing. Keeping software, packages, and plugins current with the latest security patches is essential. Sometimes these updates happen in the background; other times they need thorough implementation and testing.

8. Carry out general updates

Data breaches happen almost daily. Even to the world&#39;s biggest and supposedly most secure companies. Just look at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/20/jaguar-land-rover-hack-factories-cybersecurity-jlr" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jaguar Land Rover</a> or <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93x16zkl9do" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marks &amp; Spencer</a>. There&#39;s never been a better time to review your security setup. These steps could prevent a serious headache.Got questions or need help? <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">Get in touch</a>.

What are you waiting for?

8 ways to tighten website and app security

Lead Frontend Developer

Danny Walker

Payload is a <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/develop/payload">modern headless CMS</a> that uses powerful technologies like TypeScript, Node.js, and React—technologies that form the core of our frontend development stack. Its endless customisation options enable us to build tailored APIs and flexible content structures that perfectly match our clients&#39; specific requirements.

What is Payload CMS?

We’ve seen countless benefits from Payload since we’ve been using it, and they’re benefits to both us and our clients. We’ve picked out our top seven benefits below:

The benefits of Payload CMS

A lot of our clients often come to us with a website and a few third-party SaaS systems they want to speak to their website, portal, or app, like <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate/salesforce">Salesforce</a> or a <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate/payment-gateways">payment gateway</a>. Payload’s headless CMS features an Application Programming Interface (API) endpoint, and when paired with our Si Middleware, we can integrate systems into websites, portals, or apps with ease. It means data can be fetched, updated, and created quickly and easily, so our clients can access their data from the CMS anywhere they like.<a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">We integrate all sorts of third-party systems</a> into our client websites, and Payload makes the process a lot quicker and easier for both our clients and us. It’s a win-win situation.

1. Integration

Nobody wants to have to rebuild their website every year. Not only would it be costly and time-consuming, but it can be a jarring experience for your users too. Payload is a future-proofed CMS option. Using the latest TypeScript and Node technology, Payload is built to be secure and reliable. It receives regular updates as well, keeping everything running smoothly on your site.

2. Longevity

Websites can often be left in the same state for long periods of time, and this is often due to the pain of trying to get changes and code updated. Payload is built around flexible content modelling, which means it’s easier for our developers to quickly add features and fields to your website. This means websites can grow and scale at the same rate as your business, so your website never falls behind.

3. Flexibility

Security is normally our clients’ top priority. Over the last few years, cyber attacks and hack rates have rocketed, meaning there’s more focus than ever before on keeping your website’s sensitive data safe and secure.Payload is self-hosted, which means you have control and oversight of all the data that the website holds and accesses. This is a huge benefit for companies that have websites that contain sensitive user data such as personal information. Your data is fully controlled by you, not a third-party service.

4. Security

Website performance is essential for success in the world of digital. Studies have found that around <a href="https://prerender.io/blog/page-speed-tips-and-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">40% of desktop users</a> will leave a website if it takes more than three seconds to load - and this number rises to 53% for mobile users. It’s also worth noting that search engines like Google <a href="https://www.debugbear.com/docs/page-load-time#what-is-a-good-page-load-time" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">penalise websites that take over 4 seconds to load</a>, pushing you further down the results list. The message is clear: the faster your website performs, the better chance you have of keeping visitors engaged with your content.Payload&#39;s headless CMS is optimised to load content and images quickly, especially when combined with Next.js static site generation. Users expect to find content quickly and easily—it&#39;s a fundamental UX principle that leads to higher conversion rates, and this performance boost ensures your users are getting to where they want to be quickly.But it’s not just your website’s users that can benefit from the performance boost. The backend of the CMS is lightning quick as well. Building out new pages can take a matter of minutes. Adding in blocks is instant, uploading images is rapid, and saving your page between edits is speedy, meaning clients spend less time waiting around for content and blocks loading in.

5. Performance

Quality is at the heart of everything we do here. Payload supports TypeScript, a powerful enhancement of JavaScript created by Microsoft, to ensure our code meets the highest standards. Its strict typing system helps us catch errors early and write more reliable code, resulting in robust and maintainable websites for our clients.

6. Quality

It’s important as ever to ensure your site performs well from an SEO perspective to ensure the correct users are finding your site. Improving rankings on Google and other search engines means more traffic to your site. Payload comes with a whole host of SEO tools built-in as standard, and they’re super easy to use.Its visual-led design tells you how your meta descriptions and images are performing, as well as giving you an SEO check score out of three. You can upload a custom meta image too to maximise impact. Payload will even give you a preview of how your page will look when it shows up on search listings.

7. SEO

Thanks to Payload’s flexibility, it’s a great option for many different types of websites across all sorts of industries. We’ve built massive websites with complex SaaS integrations like Harwin, to smaller brochure sites like our own. But Payload CMS is also a great option for content-rich websites and blogs, membership platforms, internal enterprise tools, and much more.

What type of site would benefit from a Payload CMS?

From flexibility to security to SEO, Payload excels at being a slick, optimised CMS for our clients that lets them reap the rewards of a fully optimised website. Moving CMS is never an easy decision, and usually involves a full website rebuild and redesign, but the benefits can be huge. Payload is an excellent example of how a CMS should be, and as a modern agency, we’ve loved every minute of our move across to Payload.If you’ve got a website you’re thinking of rebuilding and want to move across to Payload, <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">get in touch</a>.

Conclusion

The benefits of choosing Payload CMS for your business’s next website

8 signs it's time for a website redesign

Say hello to Faraday, our custom middleware solution to connect your SaaS systems with your website or app. In a world full of software, subscription services, and SaaS products, it’s easy to watch your business&#39;s infrastructure go from zero to 100 overnight. You might use one CRM service here, an ERP there, a stock management system elsewhere, an accounting package somewhere else. Each platform selected carefully to fit the business&#39;s needs. But it can feel like it’s all held together with string.Data duplication across systems, manual re-entry that nobody wants to do. A website that knows less about your customers than your CRM does. Why? Because nobody’s figured out how to connect them all properly.Most businesses accept this kind of friction as ‘normal’. It’s not seen as a solvable problem. The SaaS integration issue isn’t line one on the budget; it’s buried in development hours, support tickets, and the quiet decision not to upgrade a platform because it’ll break the website.This is where <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">Faraday fits in</a>. A custom middleware hub that connects your SaaS systems with your website or app for smooth data transfer. No more duplicated data, no more manual re-entry.

It’s a pattern we’ve seen time and time again across all sorts of different client projects. <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">SaaS tools that power the business</a>, but they’re stuck in data silos. Or websites hardwired to a single system that held the business back when it was time to evolve and grow.The real cost of those problems goes beyond just development and build time. It’s lost agility, data inconsistencies, and businesses making platform decisions based on what their website or app could handle, rather than what the business actually needs.When clients came to us with problems like this, we used to go away and look at off-the-shelf solutions like Zapier or native API connections, but it always became obvious quickly that these just weren’t up to the job. They’re designed for simple point-to-point integration. They can’t handle the complex, bespoke digital products we were going to connect them to.So, we built our own, totally bespoke solution to this problem. A custom middleware integration that acts like a data hub, connecting all these disparate SaaS products with a <a href="https://sidigital.co/develop">website, or app, or portal</a> for seamless, reliable data flow and workflow automation.It’s this that separates Faraday from off-the-shelf options like Zapier. Built bespoke to connect your digital world completely.This is Faraday.

The origins of Faraday

It all <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover">starts with discovery</a> and asking the questions that matter. “When did you last audit your tech stack?”, “how many places does your team manually re-enter data that already exists somewhere else?”, “how many third-party systems have direct access to your website&#39;s database, and could you list them all right now?”.It’s these questions that tease out the real pain points. And they might be difficult to answer, but it all plays into a comprehensive solution.Once we’ve got a solution everyone is happy with, we begin working out how the data is mapped across different systems and platforms. Customer emails input into the website need mapping across to your CRM, but also your accounting portal. Order numbers need adding to your stock management system and your ERP, but it needs formatting differently. It’s this step that reduces the need for manual re-entry of data across platforms.Then, we begin making the connections. We bring the data through Faraday and out into the respective website, CRM, DAM or ERP in the correct formats and in a way that individual platforms need it. No compromises on data integrity or quality. It just works.

How custom middleware works

Faraday sits between your systems, just like a hub for your computer. It stops systems talking directly to one another and acts as a central dock to control data flows and ensure they go to the correct places every time. It allows all your data points to flow into a central place and back out, keeping your data clean, secure, and up-to-date.And it all works in real-time. No delays. A customer updates their address on your website? That goes straight to your warehouse management system ahead of shipping their order, and to your accounting platform for invoicing.

A lot of our client websites handle sensitive user data, and it can be worrying to let a third-party system manage that data. But even though Faraday is handling the data, it’s working using a centralised connection model. Instead of having dozens of direct API connections, each of which is a potential security vulnerability, Faraday creates a single, GDPR-compliant middleware layer. Fewer entry points mean tighter data control, giving you a secure SaaS integration.Then there’s data access permissions. Faraday is built around your business and your systems, so we work with you and your team to define precisely what each system can see and do with the data. No system gets more access than it needs, helping reduce the risk of data leaks or information being shown to people it shouldn’t be.And if your business is compliance-conscious, Faraday gives you visibility over what data moved where and when, giving you a complete audit trail to work against.For the security-conscious, direct integrations can be a headache. If a data breach occurs in one system, it can quickly cascade across everything connected to it. Your website, your app, your CRM. Everything. So custom middleware can help alleviate those headaches from the get-go.

Security at the core

We’ve been <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">working with Harwin</a>, a global connector manufacturer, to connect their complex Salesforce CRM system with their website. But we didn’t stop there. We also integrated their Bynder DAM to pull through product imagery, TraceParts to display 3D product models, SamacSys for CAD drawings, and a whole host more. And we connected it all together using Faraday.Faraday is ultimately the reason Harwin has seen a 97% increase in filter interaction time. It allows products to pull through faster and more accurately from Salesforce and Bynder, giving users what they want, when they want it.If you’ve got a SaaS set up similar to Harwin and want to connect it with your website or app, <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">get in touch</a>.

Harwin, powered by Faraday

<h3 style='text-align: start;'>What is custom middleware?</h3>Custom middleware is a layer that sits between two or more systems, allowing them to share data and communicate quickly and easily. Think of it like a translator.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>How is custom middleware different from Zapier or Make?</h3>Off-the-shelf Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) systems like Zapier and Make are built for simple point-to-point integrations and often don’t extend beyond that. Custom middleware is built around your business’s tech stack, handling complex logic, proprietary APIs, and multi-system environments to seamlessly flow data between various SaaS platforms and end points like your website.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>How long does it take to build a middleware integration?</h3>This depends on the complexity of the build and tech stack. But we run a <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover">rigorous discovery process</a> to get a full understanding of how your business’s systems are built and work before we write a single line of code. This ensures the architecture is correct from the start.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>How much does it cost to build a custom integration?</h3>Again, this depends on the complexity of the build. As it’s completely custom and bespoke to your business, SaaS integrations using Faraday aren’t a one-cost-fits-all scenario.If you want to discuss your project in more detail, <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">get in touch with us</a>.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Is my data secure when using middleware?</h3>Yes. Custom middleware is built with security as a core requirement. Data passing through the integration layer is encrypted, access is controlled through authentication protocols, and audit logging provides visibility over every transaction. With Faraday, that also means GDPR compliance is considered by design. So, sensitive data moves between your systems safely and accountably.If your SaaS systems won’t talk to your website or app, we should talk. <a href="https://sidigital.co/contact">Get in touch.</a>

Introducing Faraday: the custom middleware built to connect SaaS systems with your digital world

Compatibility is probably one of the most common issues when it comes to <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">integrating your SaaS system</a>, especially if you’re trying to integrate with other third-party software. So, compatibility problems like mismatched naming conventions, syncing issues, or poor lead segmentation can create endless headaches or require lots of fiddly admin to resolve. Some SaaS systems, like Salesforce, can also have problems connecting with some older versions of Microsoft Outlook.An advanced bespoke integration can help mitigate compatibility issues because you have complete control of where the data points to and from. And there’s also functionality to manually—as well as automatically—synchronise data, so data transfer is seamless.

1. Compatibility

Depending on the SaaS enterprise software you’re using, accessing API documentation can be tricky, and then trying to find the details you need within that can be time-consuming. This can cause lengthy delays, bugs, and other technical issues. This can be even more complex if you’re trying to share data between different SaaS systems, for example, HubSpot and <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate/salesforce">Salesforce</a>.When we build our advanced bespoke integrations, we use our custom Si Middleware to facilitate the connections, so we don’t need to track down API documentation, and more importantly, our clients don’t need to worry about finding it either. Our Si Middleware is built and maintained by us, so we know it like the back of our hand, so if there are any issues, we can quickly identify and fix them without having to refer to complex documentation.

2. API Documentation

As your business grows and expands, you’ll more than likely come to rely on your SaaS software more and more. So, your integration needs to scale and adapt to suit. This can bring with it some very technical challenges, and often out-of-the-box API integrations limit what you can do, or your agency will struggle to push beyond the boundaries of what they’re already using. This leaves you with one option: advanced bespoke integration.With an advanced bespoke integration, you can introduce or remove SaaS system connections, so as your business grows, you can keep your data flowing smoothly between your various SaaS solutions. And, if you find the business needs to move to a different SaaS system, that can easily be connected too. So you won’t need to go through the pain of a full rebuild, or spend more of your marketing budget on rebuilding parts of your existing system.

3. Scalability

When it comes to data capture via forms, out-of-the-box integration solutions seem like a great option, but what about security? Data that’s collected from forms using out-of-the-box integrations can easily be manipulated and modified, which creates all sorts of data security issues for businesses, especially when it comes to GDPR. These standardised forms are also susceptible to spam bots, meaning your database will quickly fill up with useless data.An advanced integration improves security by allowing for secure authentication and spam protection, so you won’t have to spend hours sifting through data to ensure it’s valid. You’ll also know the data is secure and safe. One less thing to worry about.

In terms of performance, fetching and serving data is a key area where your integration needs to be quick and seamless. Relying on an out-of-the-box integration means you’re also relying on a third-party API, which can be slow at getting the data you and your users need to the right places.We’ve built our <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">Faraday Middleware</a> to handle all of this for us with our advanced bespoke integrations. We’ve streamlined the API so it’ll only be using what it needs, so data transfer is rapid with little to no delay. This has a huge benefit for both your business and your users. For you, it means the data you update elsewhere is virtually instantly updated everywhere else, and for your users it means they’re always seeing the latest, most up-to-date information available.

Maintaining your SaaS integrations is vital to ensuring it works at peak performance, is keeping data secure, and is aligning with any changes the SaaS system implements. But maintaining your integration can be complicated and time-consuming, especially when you’re dealing with a standard API provided by the SaaS developer.Here at Si digital, we provide ongoing maintenance and support to ensure your business’s SaaS integration with your website, portal, or app is always up-to-date and running efficiently. Thanks to our bespoke Si Middleware, this is mostly under our control, so we keep on top of maintenance for you regularly. Find out more about our <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/support/retained">ongoing support services here</a>.

6. Maintenance

When it comes to advanced <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">bespoke SaaS integrations</a>, we know it can be complex, and it has to be beneficial to your business’s growth plans. So we take a consultative approach to bringing your integration to life. We’ve worked with <a href="http://sidigital.co/work/harwin">clients like Harwin</a> and Norbain so they can maximise their SaaS software throughout their business to improve internal processes, reduce admin, and cut costs, leaving them with more time to focus on business development, new products, and lead generation.If you want to capitalise on your SaaS enterprise software integration, you can <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">find out more about how we can help here</a>, or <a href="http://sidigital.co/contact">get in touch to book a consultation</a>.

How we can help your business solve these challenges

The top 6 SaaS integration challenges and how to solve them

It’s estimated that <a href="http://pages.bettercloud.com/rs/719-KZY-706/images/2020_StateofSaaSOpsReport.pdf?mkt_tok=NzE5LUtaWS03MDYAAAF8LQdmoC7u54xbqxNwp0au4Zk7SiYaaqq2vupXFxCvaP5vY8gSQtlGFsUsRI8oj5Fl2m5PwIZUUAlzVZL_-hUEQ2RdNqgEzDAmZA5bZtowS_v-zMs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">85% of business apps will be SaaS-based</a> by the end of 2025, so keeping all your data, information, and details in check could become a more time-consuming headache very soon. So it’s ironic that <a href="http://pages.bettercloud.com/rs/719-KZY-706/images/2020_StateofSaaSOpsReport.pdf?mkt_tok=NzE5LUtaWS03MDYAAAF8LQdmoC7u54xbqxNwp0au4Zk7SiYaaqq2vupXFxCvaP5vY8gSQtlGFsUsRI8oj5Fl2m5PwIZUUAlzVZL_-hUEQ2RdNqgEzDAmZA5bZtowS_v-zMs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">54% of businesses</a> introduce SaaS systems to help improve productivity, but the more systems they add, the less productive they become. That’s why integrating your SaaS enterprise software could be the solution to reducing admin, cutting costs, and increasing productivity across the board. Goodbye admin, hello business growth.We’ve worked with various clients over the years to help them integrate their third-party SaaS services and CRMs into their business’s website, app, or portal. And we’ve seen just how beneficial it can be for the client firsthand.

A growing trend 

When it comes to deciding how to integrate, there are three options: out-of-the-box integrations that use the SaaS platform’s pre-built features, a standard API integration, or an advanced bespoke integration. Let’s break them down…

Types of integrations

An out-of-the-box integration essentially takes a SaaS platform’s pre-built features and connects it with your website. This can be a relatively straightforward task that’s easy to set up and could be implemented by internal teams or by working with some agencies. But there are some drawbacks, including:<ul class="list-bullet"><li value=1>Limited data handling</li><li value=2>Poor user experience</li><li value=3>Reduced security</li><li value=4>Single-direction data transfer</li><li value=5>Limited customisation</li></ul>While this might seem like a quick win, the limitations can become tedious and challenging, preventing your business from really utilising the full potential of your SaaS platform. And you could still be left with lots of backend admin and housekeeping, so you might not even save your company much time.

Out-of-the-box integration

Most SaaS enterprise software products will provide their own APIs that users can use to connect their SaaS platform with their website, portal, or app. Compared to an out-of-the-box integration, this can have benefits including:<ul class="list-bullet"><li value=1>Better data handling</li><li value=2>Improved user experience</li><li value=3>Tighter security</li><li value=4>Improved customisation</li></ul>But these integrations still have some serious drawbacks. For example, they’re very complex to set up, so your team will need a good level of technical knowledge about the API and platform you’re using. You may even need a specialist to help you out. And it gets even more complex if your business needs the API to connect to other third-party systems. So this can quickly become a complicated and time-consuming task that still won’t offer you the best utilisation of your SaaS platform.

Standard API integration

If you want to make full use of your SaaS platform, beyond standard form handling or CRM syncing, an advanced bespoke integration is the way to go. Using a completely custom API, you can connect more than just your core SaaS software to your website—you can also connect with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, Product Information Management (PIM) software, <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate/asset-management-software">Digital Asset Management (DAM) software</a> and custom APIs, creating a central, automated hub for all your data that then powers your <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/develop">websites, apps, portals</a> and internal tools. This comes with countless time-saving and cost-saving benefits:<ul class="list-bullet"><li value=1>Flexibility – supports any custom use case</li><li value=2>Centralised – use your main SaaS system, like Salesforce, as a single source of truth for all your data across different systems</li><li value=3>Real-time – enables real-time, personalised updates</li><li value=4>Automated – enables the use of automation tools that are built into the SaaS system</li><li value=5>Complex relationships – supports complex object relationships and workflows</li><li value=6>Scalable – can be scaled up and down as your business grows and changes</li></ul>Advanced bespoke integrations are highly complex because they’re built around your business’s unique needs, so they need some level of ongoing maintenance to ensure the integration works efficiently and correctly all the time, but the benefits speak for themselves, especially when it comes to cutting back on tedious admin so you can focus on business growth.

Advanced bespoke integrations

Here at Si digital, we believe that if you pay for a SaaS service like Salesforce or HubSpot, you should be able to utilise every aspect of it, so fully bespoke integrations with your <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/develop">website, app, or portal</a> are the way to go. But integrating your SaaS enterprise software can be a daunting task.We’ve been working with our clients for the last two decades to build them bespoke websites with complex integrations, and we use a tried and tested framework to work efficiently and effectively. This allows us to bring our clients solutions that help them to meet their internal business targets, KPIs, and goals, so they know we’re all working in the same direction.When it comes to <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">bespoke integrations</a>, we’ve built our own custom <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">Faraday Middleware</a>. It works a little like a connection hub for your computer. We use it as a central point to connect all your business’s SaaS systems to your website, app, and portal, so data can flow quickly and easily between your various systems and platforms. Our Faraday Middleware is also scalable and flexible, so if your business finds it needs to use a new SaaS system, we can easily connect it up with everything else. Check out the diagram below to see how all the different elements of our Si Middleware work.

How advanced bespoke integrations work

One of our biggest SaaS successes has been our <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">work with Harwin</a>, where we not only designed and built them a new website but also integrated their <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate/salesforce">Salesforce system</a> with their new website.Beyond the standard integration functionality, we built a bespoke integration that synchronises over 4,000+ products with their CRM and website, as well as integrating with other SaaS systems like Bynder (DAM), TraceParts (3D CAD models) and SnapMagic (PCB Footprints). And the benefits have been outstanding.

Results

The integration has also had benefits internally. It’s dramatically reduced the amount of admin the team has to carry out to update product details, allowing them to focus on growing their business and following up on valuable leads. Harwin proves exactly how a seamless Salesforce integration can help to drive business growth.Read more about <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">how we helped Harwin here</a>.If integrating your SaaS systems sounds like something your business could benefit from, you can <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/integrate">find out more about how we can help here</a>, or <a href="http://sidigital.co/contact">get in touch to book in a consultation</a>.

What is a SaaS enterprise system integration and how can it drive business growth?

Lead Designer

Sam Leonard-Rendell

In an ever-changing digital world, the last thing you want to do is stand still if you&#39;re looking to stand out. Your website might be the first impression for visitors to learn about what it is your business does and we know how much weight negative experiences hold, whether it&#39;s an accurate representation of your services or not. That&#39;s why making UX and UI improvements to refine your website, rather than simply launching it and moving on, is an invaluable practice.Take the opportunity to show users that you care about their experience as much as you care about presenting yourself in the best light. A killer way to do that is through iterative design.

It might seem counterintuitive, but there&#39;s a crucial difference between improving your website and fixing it: the latter meaning you’re making it better without it first being broken. You&#39;re ahead of your game rather than trying to catch up. In other words, you&#39;re in control of what you&#39;re changing, why you&#39;re changing it, and how you&#39;re going to do it – and that is an exciting place to be.With digital environments constantly shifting, adaption shouldn&#39;t be a knee-jerk reaction. Using iterative UX and UI improvements, it becomes a steady evolution over time based on user testing, feedback and research from platforms like Hotjar, Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity. This means that you&#39;re not just addressing changes as and when your business grows, but focusing heavily on what users want most from your site and responding to it in good time.Our work with Wightlink is a fantastic example of how iteratively updating websites based on user feedback improves performance and overall experience for visitors in the same breath. First, we successfully redesigned a user-centric website built around how ferry passengers actually plan and travel. Where holidaymakers look for reassurance and clarity, regular commuters need speed and efficiency, so it was important to consider the individual requirements from each group as well.

Improve, don't fix

Then, by working closely with Wightlink, we uncovered persisting pain points and the solutions needed to fix them, resulting in the addition of Best Fare Finder and Wightlink Explorer post-launch. <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/wightlink">Read the full case study here to learn how our research shaped three core design principles that made all the difference</a>.

On top of overall user experience, iteratively updating your website means you can also make processes more efficient. When we rebuilt leading connector company Harwin&#39;s website from the ground up, we brought together their Salesforce system for product data with Bynder for digital assets, supported by a Payload CMS for content management, all through our secure <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">Faraday middleware</a>. It&#39;s not only made operations smoother, but more adaptable too. For example, switching out different tools based on changing business needs, and automatic syncing of new products to ensure everything is always up to date on the site.We also continue to launch new updates as and when they&#39;re needed for Harwin, including the helpful Cable Configurator – a user-focused experience for specifying bespoke products for customers’ projects. Plus, by using Microsoft Clarity session recordings, we&#39;ve made significant UX improvements to a whole host of features, such as a clearer navigation bar, better drop-down menus, improved type hierarchy, a more user-friendly contact page, a clearer layout for complex data on product pages, and plenty more.<a href="https://sidigital.co/work/harwin">And see how we slashed website load times by 90% for Harwin here</a>.

A streamlined evolution

Cohesion is key when it comes to having a recognisable business. As it grows, it&#39;s inevitable that your brand look and feel might change with it, so clear alignment is crucial to instill both trust and confidence in your customers. Plus, by updating iteratively in-step with competitors&#39; sites and user feedback, it doesn’t have to be a huge overhaul – small changes are just as effective as the big ones.We mentioned at the start of this article that the last thing you should do is stand still as the digital world continues to move forward – that applies to us as well. Besides regularly improving our own site, we have a proactive approach when it comes to our clients&#39; needs. Rather than waiting for them to discover a pain point or issue that needs addressing, we&#39;re already thinking about what solutions would work best for them next.As long-term partners, our clients know we have their interests in mind and trust that we&#39;ll bring something to the table that doesn&#39;t just solve a problem, it&#39;s already part of a larger iterative approach strategised to improve their product.

Always looking ahead

Totally free, no strings attached, we promise.

Download our UX & UI Self-Assessment 

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We’ve seen it happen too many times. You’ve invested in a <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/develop/mobile-apps">new app</a> or <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/develop/websites">website for your business</a>. The team is excited and everyone’s ready to launch. Then six months in, your budget has been blown, key features don’t work the way users need them to, and the project that was supposed to transform your business is now back down at the foot of the mountain.But the problem isn’t bad design or poor code. It’s much simpler: you started building before you knew what to build.Back in the early 2000s, we did the same thing. We’d come out of a client meeting and jump straight into design and development. We’d ask all the obvious questions, “who’s your target audience?”, “what does success look like?”, but we were only skimming the surface. We weren’t really digging into what their users actually needed. We had no idea what problems we needed to solve.Our clients loved what we delivered. But a few months down the line, they began to realise what features their users actually wanted. And adding these in post-launch would cost them more money. The smiles turned to frustration. The excitement turned to firefighting.It was time to take a step back and change our approach. Instead of jumping into design and build, we slowed down to understand. We asked tougher questions. We mapped out future needs. We analysed data. We did our research. We stopped treating <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover">discovery phases</a> as a nice-to-have and started treating it like an insurance our clients had to have.Around <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/transformation/our-insights/common-pitfalls-in-transformations-a-conversation-with-jon-garcia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">70% of digital products fail to hit their desired targets</a> according to research from McKinsey. Companies wasted tens of thousands of pounds designing and building features that their users simply didn’t want. And the cost of fixing those problems post-launch can be up to 100 times more expensive.This isn’t about adding time to projects. It’s about not wasting the time you’ve already got. So let’s talk about why discovery phases aren’t just valuable. They are a must-have.

We've seen it happen too many times

Skipping discovery phases is an industry-wide problem, affecting projects big and small. And it’s leaving some interesting stories in its wake.Remember Quibi? You’ve probably never heard of them. And that’s exactly the point. In 2020, former Disney Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, former HP CEO, launched a mobile-first streaming platform for premium short-form video. They had around $1.75 billion in funding, and an impressive list of A-List celebrities like Dwayne Johnson, Chrissy Teigen, and Steven Spielberg behind them to create the content.But six months later, they shut down.Quibi didn’t fail because of bad execution or poor timing. They failed because they didn’t validate that anyone wanted what they were building. They spent over $1 billion creating content before even asking their audience a single question. They assumed users would pay for paywalled videos when YouTube and TikTok were already delivering free, sharable content. By the time they realised their users wanted social features rather than premium isolation, they had already burned through nearly $2 billion.Another example is Google Wave, an ambitious project launched back in 2009 that survived just over a year before being shut down. Why? Because Google didn’t figure out what users needed. Wave was billed as a groundbreaking new communication platform that would reimagine email by combining real-time collaboration, instant messaging, and document editing in one place.But Google skipped the vital discovery project phase and brought a product to the market with no foundation to give users the answers to their problems and no clear value proposition. They made assumptions without validating them with users, which resulted in a product that users simply didn’t need. And, as it turns out, users don’t want a platform that merges all their communications into one place.One last example is Panels, an app from YouTuber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marques Brownlee</a>. The app was built on a simple idea – premium subscription phone wallpapers, and launched in September 2024. The app was born from comments on his videos, often pointing out how nice his wallpapers were.Are comments on videos enough information to warrant building an app? No. In a world where background images are readily available for free on platforms like Unsplash and Pexels, it turns out nobody wanted to pay $50 a year for a subscription to get “premium” ones regularly.Panels closed down in December 2025, and it ultimately boils down to skipping that key discovery phase. If the Panels team had conducted proper user research, they would have found out before even starting to write a line of code that there was simply no market for a premium subscription wallpaper app.

An industry avalanche

It’s easy to sit here and analyse failed digital product launches, but why does it keep happening? And to projects funded by big and small companies?<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Pressure to move quickly</h3>Key stakeholders are driven by results. They want to see tangible output from their investment. Discovery can feel like standing around when everyone wants to sprint. So teams often skip it and dive straight to design and build, only to discover six months in that they’re building the wrong thing. And what they end up missing is the key foundational information that underpins the entire project.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Discovery gets mistaken for delay</h3>Nobody wants project delays. And stakeholders can be sensitive to this. They often see the research phase as a stalling tactic rather than essential groundwork. This is a dangerous misconception. Skipping discovery phases isn’t efficient; it’s a false economy that compounds into blown budgets and wasted time.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Activity gets confused with progress</h3>Wireframes feel like progress. Code feels like progress. Research? That just feels like more meetings. Stakeholders confuse visible activity with actual value, ignoring the fact that building the wrong thing quickly is worse than building the right thing thoughtfully.The result? Teams rush into execution, only to spend months, and tens of thousands, correcting avoidable mistakes.

So why does this keep happening? 

The most obvious cost of skipping a discovery phase is the failure of the project. But that’s not the case with most teams. There are more discreet, invisible costs involved. Most teams finish their project, but they finish with something that cost them twice as much, took significantly longer than it needed to, and doesn’t actually solve all their users’ problems.These are the invisible costs. The ones that don&#39;t show up until you&#39;re deep in development. And by then, they&#39;ve already compounded.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Stakeholder misalignment</h3>Everyone thinks they&#39;re on the same page. They&#39;re usually not. The managing director has one vision, the project manager another, and the development team a different vision again. And these differences all stay hidden during the honeymoon phase of the project, the phase where everyone’s excited and inspired. But when real decisions need to be made, everything explodes. You’re three months in, the budget half spent, and stakeholders are arguing over features that should have been agreed on from day one.<a href="https://teamstage.io/project-management-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Research backs this</a>. Lack of senior management involvement in projects is the primary reason that 33% of projects fail. And 78% of project managers say they want stakeholders to be more involved and engaged. A clear sign that plenty of projects suffer from a lack of alignment.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Technical surprises</h3>When you skip discovery phases, you fail to uncover the technical landmines until it’s too late. That seemingly easy integration you thought would be a quick win? It needs <a href="https://sidigital.co/faraday">bespoke middleware</a> to work. That feature the client requested? It doesn’t work with the platform architecture. These kinds of discoveries when a project is in full motion mean more than just delays; they force costly reworks and scope creep.Fixing these kinds of issues during development phases can <a href="https://www.blackduck.com/blog/cost-to-fix-bugs-during-each-sdlc-phase.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cost up to six times</a> more than catching them during a discovery phase. <a href="https://www.blackduck.com/blog/cost-to-fix-bugs-during-each-sdlc-phase.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">15 times more</a> during that testing phase. And post-launch? <a href="https://www.blackduck.com/blog/cost-to-fix-bugs-during-each-sdlc-phase.html">Up to 100 times the cost</a>.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Unvalidated users need</h3>Around <a href="https://www.pendo.io/resources/the-2019-feature-adoption-report/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">80% of software features are rarely or never used</a>. Why? Because teams build in functionality they assume the user wants based on internal logic and stakeholder preference, not actual user research. And this results in bloated products full of features that nobody asked for. As for the things users genuinely need, these get deprioritised or forgotten completely.If you’re a startup, this can have detrimental effects on the business. Around 42% of startups fail because of “no market need”. It’s the number one cause of failures according to <a href="https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/startup-failure-reasons-top/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CB Insights’ report</a>, which analyses nearly 4,000 failed startups. Teams assume, users needs aren’t met, and money gets wasted.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Scope creep</h3>Requirements are often vague without a discovery phase. And vague requirements mean endless clarification needs during build. Every clarification then opens a door to a new idea, which in turn shifts priorities and even “while we’re at it” additions. Before you know it, your project has ballooned into a bloated mess that’s missed the deadline and blown the budget.<a href="https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/pulse" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Research from PMI suggests</a> that organisations can avoid budget loss and project failure by investing in communication and alignment work upfront, which is exactly what discovery phases provide.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>The real cost</h3>These issues each feed into one another. Misaligned stakeholders result in woolly requirements. Woolly requirements create scope creep. Scope creep leads to technical limitations. Technical limitations force rework. Rework burns through budget. Suddenly, your project is 45% over budget. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/delivering-large-scale-it-projects-on-time-on-budget-and-on-value" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Research from McKinsey</a> shows this to be the average budget overrun on large-scale digital projects.While discovery phases don’t mitigate all the problems, they do help to surface them before they get expensive. And that’s the difference between a successful project and one that can barely make it across the finish line.

The invisible cost

If you’re unsure if your agency is carrying out a thorough and full discovery phase, download our free checklist to see what your agency is (or isn’t) doing right. 

Download our free discovery checklist

Agencies all work in different ways, ask different questions, and present their findings differently. So how do you know if yours is doing it properly? Let’s break it down:<h3 style='text-align: start;'>A proper workshop, not just a kick-off call</h3>A good <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover/workshops">discovery workshop</a> shouldn’t feel like a glorified briefing session. It’s where your agency digs into the detail, like your business goals, your users, your constraints, and any assumptions you have. By the end of it, they should understand your problem as well as you do. If they’re not asking uncomfortable questions, they’re simply not going deep enough.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Research that goes beyond your brief</h3>Your agency should be doing the heavy lifting you have time for. That means <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover/research">market research, competitor analysis, and most importantly, user research</a>. This is where assumptions are validated or killed. If your agency is skipping straight ahead to a solution without speaking to real users, that’s a huge red flag.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Analysis that rules things out</h3>Proper discovery doesn’t just generate ideas, it eliminates them, too. By the time your agency comes to present their findings, they should be able to confidently tell you what will and won’t work and why. If everything is still on the table, the analysis hasn’t been rigorous enough.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Evidence-backed solutions</h3>Any <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover/solutions">proposed solutions</a> should be connected to and backed by the research. Every feature, design decision, and technical choice should have a valid reason behind it. If your agency can’t explain why something’s included, it probably shouldn’t be.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Genuine alignment, not just sign-off</h3>Discovery works if everyone’s genuinely on the same page, not just nodding along. This is the time to discuss disagreements, clarify priorities, and make sure leadership, and stakeholders, project managers, and delivery teams share the same vision. Skipping this step is how you end up with arguments three months in.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Measurable success metrics</h3>Success needs to be measurable. Not vague goals like “better user experience”, but real numbers. Conversion rates, task completion times, order values, support ticket reductions. If you can’t measure it, you can’t prove the project worked.That&#39;s the theory. Here&#39;s what it looks like in practice.

What good discovery looks like

Let’s <a href="https://www.wightlink.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">look at Wightlink</a>, an award-winning ferry service connecting over 4.3 million passengers a year between the Isle of Wight and Hampshire.Their website is enormous. It features complex booking functionality, multiple user types, time-sensitive travel decisions, and a user base with varied needs. From daily commuters to holidaymakers. A project of this scale can’t afford assumptions.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>So, we didn’t assume anything</h3>Before we even opened Figma or started writing a single line of code, we ran an in-depth <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover">discovery phase</a> with the team at Wightlink. We also ran <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/discover/workshops">workshops during actual ferry crossings</a> to understand how their customers interacted with the service. We asked what we thought were obvious questions: does this page layout work? Is the price displayed clearly? Are booking tools prominent enough? Turns out the answers weren’t so obvious after all.<h3 style='text-align: start;'>What we discovered was invaluable</h3>We discovered different user groups had very different needs. Daily commuters needed speed. Holidaymakers needed reassurance and detail. Staff needed CMS functionality that streamlined their workflow. None of this was insight we could have guessed. It came from asking and listening.Our research directly informed both our <a href="https://sidigital.co/services/design/digital-design">UX decisions</a> and technical architecture. We validated every feature to ensure it was there for a reason, not because we thought it was needed. Every design decision connected back to real user insight and behaviour, not our own assumptions. The outcome is a website that actually serves users properly because we knew what their users needed before we started design and build.

Discovering Wightlink

It’s easy to say in hindsight, but we know if we’d skipped the discovery phase and gone straight into design, we would have built a website that wasn’t what users wanted or needed. And the project would have become another expensive statistic.Instead, it’s a case study in what happens when you invest in discovery upfront.You can read more about <a href="https://sidigital.co/work/wightlink">how we helped Wightlink</a>.

Ensuring discovery phases happen, and happen properly, can be a bit daunting. It’s often difficult to justify the expenditure, so here are some tips for getting it across the line:<h3 style='text-align: start;'>Pitching discovery to leadership</h3>Most projects run aground here. Key stakeholders and decision-makers see discovery phases as a delay, not an investment. To make it smoother:<ul class="list-bullet"><li value=1>Make sure you position the discovery phase as risk mitigation, not just research. Leadership tends to understand the value of insurance.</li><li value=2>Throw stats their way. Tell them fixing the problems post-launch could cost up to 100x more than catching them during discovery. And use case studies like Quibi and Panels to demonstrate the value of user research and insight.</li></ul><h3 style='text-align: start;'>When budgets are tight</h3>The luxury of a discovery phase isn’t an option for everyone, especially when it comes to project budgets. If you’re worried about budget:<ul class="list-bullet"><li value=1>Opt for a minimum viable discovery. This should cover a stakeholder alignment workshop and at least one round of user validation. This helps to reduce the risk when budgets don’t allow for a full-blown discovery phase.</li><li value=2>Prioritise the riskiest assumptions first. If you know you’re assuming key features, validate those before anything else. You can shut down unfounded ideas before they get too set in.</li><li value=3>Approach discovery proportionately. Cut your cloth to suit, and carry out a discovery phase that both fits your budget and your project needs.</li></ul><h3 style='text-align: start;'>Red flags to watch out for</h3>Keep an eye on any red flags as you work through the project. Self-diagnose as your project progresses if you start to see:<ul class="list-bullet"><li value=1>Disagreements between stakeholders relating to priorities three months in.</li><li value=2>Knee-jerk requests, and “while we’re at it” asks becoming constant.</li><li value=3>Unanticipated technical blockers, like platforms that don’t support what your users need.</li><li value=4>Features built on opinion rather than evidence.</li></ul><h3 style='text-align: start;'>Get outside help</h3>If you find your project going off the rails, it’s time to get external help. This is key when:<ul class="list-bullet"><li value=1>Internal teams are too close to the problem to be able to work out a solution.</li><li value=2>You need specialist skills and insight that you don’t have in-house.</li><li value=3>An external perspective on the problem can challenge assumptions that internal politics won’t allow.</li></ul>

Lab Notes