About CDE Systems

CDE Systems was set up in 1999 to design, build and maintain bespoke database applications.

Over 25 years later we’re still doing it — for businesses, for local and central government, and for organisations that depend on a system somebody else built and nobody else will touch.

Working across the public and business sectors, we’ve built a reputation for the quality and the speed of our service.

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Who we work with

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Alt: Organisations CDE Systems has worked with

We’ve worked with organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors — some for over twenty years.

Central government
Department for Work and Pensions · Department for Education · Department of Trade and Industry

Public sector and education
National Health Service · Sheffield City Council · Sheffield Hallam University · Northumbria University

Business
E.ON UK · Scania Trucks UK · Yorkshire Building Society · DDB London · Aire Valley Catering · Cascade Water Systems · Dearson Winyard International · Delta Resins · Ellis Fairbank · Firebrand Live · Lilleker Engineering · Newland Chase · Portobello-RMF Engineering · Resolve IT Solutions · Richardson Racing · T&C Training Services · Trakker Products · Venuemasters · Walker Bros (Elland) · Yorkshire Building Society

Big organisations and small ones. Quite a few started with one problem and stayed.

We specialise in systems that already exist

Most technology companies focus on new software. We focus on the systems businesses already depend on.

Microsoft Access databases · SQL Server applications · bespoke business software · operational databases · reporting systems · legacy applications · mixed desktop, web and cloud environments.

We’re usually called when an existing system needs expert attention — because it’s broken, because nobody understands it, because it can’t do what the business now needs, or because the person who looked after it has gone.

→ legacy software rescue

Behind every database is a business process

Technology problems are rarely only technical.

Behind every database is a process. Behind every report is a decision. Behind every application is a team relying on it to get through the day.

So we start by understanding how the system supports the organisation, not just how it’s built. That’s what makes the advice practical and commercially sensible rather than technically correct and useless.

What happens if we’re not here?

A fair question to ask any small supplier, and one most avoid.

We offer software escrow. The source code for systems we build is deposited with an independent third party, and released to you if we’re unable to continue supporting it. Your business isn’t dependent on our continued existence.

You own your data, in a format you can use, wherever you want it hosted.

We document what we build, so another competent developer could pick it up.

We’ve been here since 1999 and intend to be here for a while yet. But you shouldn’t have to take that on trust, and with escrow in place you don’t have to.

Quality and credentials

• Microsoft Certified Professionals on the team
• Stringent quality assurance standards — testing with the people who’ll use the system, before go-live rather than after
• Software escrow available on bespoke development
• Over 25 years of continuous trading, through several recessions and a pandemic

→ how we work

Long-term relationships

Most of our client relationships start with a problem — a system down, a recovery, an urgent change, or a developer who’s disappeared.

They tend to become something longer. As we get to know a business, support gets faster, development gets more efficient, and planning gets easier. Understanding the history of a system, the people using it and where the organisation is going produces better results than starting from scratch every time.

Continuity is the thing clients mention most, and it’s the thing we’ve built the business around.

→ support 

References

The quotes on this site are all from genuine clients.

We’re happy to arrange relevant references by phone, email or post on request — from organisations doing similar work to yours, at a similar size.

→testimonials · case studies