Development
Development is the technical work that makes everything else possible. It's the code, platforms and systems behind a website or application, the parts nobody sees. The part that makes what's in front of you, work.
Your technical foundation
It’s either moving your business forward, or getting in its way.
There's no neutral.
If you feel like you’re working around your current site, platform or systems rather than them working for you, that’s not a design problem or a marketing problem. It's a development problem, and it's fixable.
We build new platforms when you need one. More often, we go in, work out what's wrong with what you've got, and fix it properly.
This is Development at Rain: the technical work behind transformation.
A platform that was right, then
Is rarely right today
Traffic grows. Teams change. The systems you bolted on along the way start working against each other instead of with each other.
None of that shows up as one dramatic failure. It shows up as slow growth, frustrated editors, rising costs nobody can quite explain, and a technical debt bill that gets bigger the longer it's left.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Your website is slow, hard to update, or both
Your systems don't talk to each other, so someone's re-entering the same data twice
Hosting and licensing costs keep climbing, and nobody's sure why
Every small content change needs a developer, when it shouldn't
You're planning to grow, and you're not confident the platform underneath will keep up.
If you recognised more than one of those, that's the conversation worth having.
What we deliver
Development at Rain isn't one service, and it isn't only new builds. Whether you're fixing what you've got or starting again, if your project touches code, or your problem is buried somewhere in your current setup, it touches this team.
Understanding what's going wrong before recommending anything.
From content-managed sites to fully bespoke builds.
Software shaped around how your business works.
CRMs, ERPs, payment gateways and third-party tools, connected properly.
Stores that handle payments, stock and customers without falling over under real demand.
The infrastructure that keeps it all live, secure and fast.
How we work
People buy confidence, not code. We keep the process visible at every stage, and we start by understanding what you've got.
Discovery & Audit
We get into the detail of what's working, what isn't, and why
Architecture & Planning
A clear recommendation, against what you need.
Design & Build
Agile development, secure coding, accessibility built in from the start.
Integration & Testing
Every connection and every page template tested before it goes near a customer.
Deployment & Support
Live, monitored, and looked after long after launch.
Whether you're fixing what you've got or starting again
Technical audits & modernisation
Before we build anything, we look at what you've already got. What's worth keeping, what's quietly costing you money, and what needs to change. You get a straight answer, not a sales pitch for a full rebuild you don't need.
Website & Digital Platforms
Content-managed, headless or fully bespoke, built on the platform that fits the job, not the one that's easiest to sell. We work extensively in Umbraco, alongside Sitecore, WordPress, Shopify and custom-built CMS platforms, and we build them to give your team real control over content, not a set of workarounds.
Custom web applications & Portals
Bespoke systems and secure login areas for customers, staff or members, built around your processes rather than forcing your processes to bend around off-the-shelf software.
API & Systems Integration
We connect the software you already rely on. CRMs, payment providers, booking systems, ERPs. Your systems should share data automatically. We make sure they do, and untangle the ones that don't.
eCommerce Development
Secure payments, inventory that stays accurate, and customer accounts that don't get in the way. Built to convert on launch day and to keep working as volume grows.
Cloud hosting & Support
Secure, monitored infrastructure with the backups, patching and performance tuning that keep a live site live. Long-term support, not a handover and a goodbye.
Front-End Development
Responsive, accessible, fast. We build the interfaces that carry your brand, translating design into interfaces that hold up on every screen and every connection speed.
Back-end development
The part nobody sees, and the part everything else depends on. Databases, business logic, authentication, security. We build it to hold up under real traffic.
Quality Assurance
We test functionality, performance and security, so that what goes live works the first time, for every user, not just the one we tested with.
Why work with Rain
You talk directly to the people writing the code.
We build with Technology, Creative and Marketing in the same room, so any recommendation we make accounts for the whole picture, not just the technical fix that's easiest for us to sell you.
And we don't disappear after launch.
Support, security and performance stay our problem for as long as they're yours.
Not sure where the problem sits?
That's exactly the kind of conversation to have with us. Tell us what's not working, and we'll tell you what it'll take to fix it, and what success should look like from here.
FAQs
Not always. Sometimes the fix is targeted, not a rebuild. We'll tell you if a smaller change solves the real problem, rather than recommending the biggest job available.
Yes, and it's a large part of what we do. We'll assess what's worth keeping and what isn't before we recommend anything.
That's a fair question, and one worth asking us directly. Often it's a mix. Because Technology, Creative and Marketing sit together at Rain, we can tell you which lever needs pulling.
It depends on the scope. A targeted fix might take weeks. A full re-platform takes longer. We'll give you a realistic timeline once we understand what you're dealing with, not before.
It varies with complexity, not with how long we can spin the conversation out. We scope properly before we quote, so the number you get is one you can plan around.
That's usually the aim. We build and configure with your editors in mind, so day-to-day changes don't need a developer on standby.
Yes. Have a look at Hosting and Maintenance & Support for the detail. In short, we don't fix something and walk away.
Almost always. CRMs, payment providers, booking systems, ERPs. Have a look at API Integrations for how we approach it.
No. Umbraco is where a lot of our CMS work happens, and it's worth a look at our Umbraco page if that's relevant to you. We also build on Sitecore, WordPress, Shopify, headless architectures and fully custom platforms, depending on what the job needs.
