Internal tools & workflow automation
Replace the spreadsheet, Access database or email loop that your operations secretly depend on with a tool built for the job.
Service 01
Customer and partner portals that replace email threads with self-service
A portal is only useful if it is wired into the systems that hold the truth — orders, contracts, claims, documents. We build that wiring, and the secure, multilingual interface on top of it.
Problem
The problem a portal solves
Your customers, brokers, dealers or suppliers ask the same questions by email and phone: Where is my order? What is the status of my claim? Can I get last year’s invoices? Each answer costs a person twenty minutes and is a chance for an error.
Off-the-shelf portals rarely fit, because the valuable part is not the login screen — it is the logic that connects your ERP, CRM, document archive and identity provider to one coherent, permission-aware view for an external user.
You are probably ready for a portal if
- A team answers status, document or order questions by hand every day.
- Partners or customers submit structured data (orders, claims, applications) via PDF, Excel or web forms that someone re-types.
- You need an external login with roles: customer admin, user, partner, auditor.
- Your ERP or core system has APIs or a database you can expose safely — or you are not sure and want that checked first.
Approach
How we build it
Portals fail on integration and permissions, not on pixels. The sequence below front-loads those risks.
Discovery sprint (2–3 weeks, fixed fee)
We map users and roles, the 10–20 journeys that matter, the systems of record and their interfaces. You receive a scope, target architecture, integration map and a priced, phased plan — documents you own even if you build elsewhere.
Foundation first
Authentication (SSO, MFA, invite flows), the integration layer to your core system, audit logging and environments go live before any feature — on your cloud accounts.
Journeys in priority order
Each journey (e.g. “view and download invoices”, “submit a claim”, “change a delivery address”) ships as a complete, tested slice with acceptance criteria you sign off.
Handover and evolution
Documentation, runbooks, monitoring and a defect-warranty period. Afterwards: a retainer or in-house takeover — your choice.
Deliverables
What you get
- A web portal in English and German (more languages as needed), responsive, accessible (WCAG 2.2 AA target).
- Authentication with SSO (Microsoft Entra ID, Google, or your IdP), MFA, role-based permissions, invitation and offboarding flows.
- Integration layer to ERP/CRM/DMS (REST, SOAP, database, file-based or event-driven — whatever your systems support).
- Document access, forms with validation, status tracking, notifications by email.
- Audit log, monitoring, backups, infrastructure as code in your cloud account.
- Source code, documentation and admin guides — owned by you from day one.
Indicative range
- Investment
- CHF 60,000 – 200,000
- Duration
- 3 – 6 months to first production release
Indicative, for planning. The discovery sprint produces a fixed price for a fixed scope. Ranges are not a quote. How pricing works →
Typical technology
TypeScript/React or server-rendered front ends; Node.js or Java/Kotlin services; PostgreSQL; OpenID Connect; hosted on AWS, Azure or a Swiss provider, depending on your data-residency needs. We choose mainstream, well-supported tools so that any competent team can maintain the portal after us.
A representative engagement
Illustrative scenario — not a client case study
Before
A B2B manufacturer’s 300 dealers email order status and warranty questions to a four-person back-office team. Answers require looking up two systems and a shared drive. Response time: hours to days. Errors: regular.
After
Dealers log in with their own accounts, see orders, shipments, invoices and warranty cases pulled live from the ERP and CRM, submit warranty claims through a validated form, and receive status emails. The back office handles exceptions instead of lookups.
We publish real case studies only with written client permission. Until then, this section shows the shape of the work, not a result we claim.
Led by a software engineer (since 2008) with roles at
- Deutsche BörseGerman stock exchange, 2014–2018
- SAPSenior Software Engineer, 2019–2022
- UnbluSenior Software Engineer, 2022–2024
- InfosysSoftware Engineer, 2008–2012
Founder’s employers — not Monolith clients.
FAQ
Common questions
Can our customer data stay in Switzerland or the EU?
Yes. Production systems are deployed in your cloud account in a Swiss or EU region by default. Development uses masked or synthetic data. If you need engineering access restricted to Switzerland/EU, say so in the enquiry — we will tell you honestly whether we can staff it that way for your project.
We already have an ERP with a “portal module”. Why not use that?
Sometimes you should, and we will tell you so in the assessment. Vendor modules usually fall short when you need a polished external experience, data from more than one system, custom workflows, or partner-specific permissions. The discovery sprint includes a build-vs-buy recommendation.
How do you handle security for an external-facing system?
Threat modelling in discovery; authentication delegated to a proven identity provider; least-privilege roles; input validation; dependency and container scanning in CI; audit logging; penetration test by a third party before go-live (budgeted separately). We do not hold certifications such as ISO 27001 today and will not claim otherwise; we work within your security policies.
What happens after launch?
A defect-warranty period is included. After that you can choose a monthly support and evolution retainer, or take the system in-house — the documentation and infrastructure-as-code are written to make that realistic.
Other services02 03 04
Related services
System integration & APIs
Make your ERP, CRM, shop, banking or insurance platforms exchange data reliably — with monitoring, retries and an audit trail, not nightly CSV hope.
Legacy modernisation
Move off the application nobody dares to touch — incrementally, with the business running, instead of a big-bang rewrite that never ships.
Planning a customer or partner portal?
Describe the users, the systems involved and what they should be able to do. You receive a written assessment with approach options and an indicative range within two business days.