About
A small studio for systems that matter
Zaspys is a South African custom software development studio working with businesses across the country. We build and maintain the systems companies run on. We are deliberately small, which means the person who writes your code is the person you talk to.
Why systems, not websites
Plenty of studios build good-looking websites. Far fewer will take on the part underneath: the logins of a client portal, the data, the integration with the system you already run, the reports that have to be right at month end.
That work is where the risk sits, and where most of the value is. It is also what keeps needing attention after launch, so we build it to be changed safely rather than delivered once and abandoned.
Built on senior PHP and Symfony experience
Zaspys rests on years of senior backend development in PHP and Symfony: the part of a system that holds the data, enforces the rules and talks to everything else, rather than the layer people see. That experience runs across accounting platforms (Xero, QuickBooks, Exact, AFAS), booking channels (Booking.com, Airbnb, Ivvy) and payment providers (Adyen).
It is a deliberately narrow focus. We are not the studio to call for a brand and a brochure site. We are the one to call when the logic underneath has to be right, when several systems have to agree with each other, and when it all has to keep working long after the people who built it have moved on.
How we work with clients
Most projects start with a short paid discovery: we map how the process runs today and write down what the system must do. You own that document, whether you continue with us or not. From there we build in slices, with a test environment you can open at any time.
After launch we stay involved rather than disappear. We host and run the system on our own infrastructure for a monthly fee, which covers the server, updates, monitoring and backups as well as our time. That is how we prefer to work, because it is after launch that the real questions show up.
Your data is always yours: ask and we export it, in a usable format, no argument. The software itself stays ours to run unless you buy it out, which we quote separately if and when you want it. We will tell you that up front rather than leave it in the small print.
What we hold to
Small pieces, delivered often
You see working software early and often, on a test environment you can open yourself. No six-month silence followed by a surprise.
Boring technology
Well-supported tools with long lifespans, so the system stays maintainable and another team could take it on if you ever buy it out.
Deployment is part of the job
Every project ships with automated tests and a deployment pipeline. Releasing a change should be ordinary, not an event.
Plain language
We explain trade-offs in terms of cost, risk and time, not jargon. You should be able to make decisions without a translator.
Want to talk it through?
Send us the shape of the problem. We'll reply within one business day.
Contact us