Frequently asked questions

No. That is what the introductory call is for: you tell us how you work now and where it pinches, and we tell you honestly what makes sense. Sometimes that is an AI assistant or a custom system, sometimes a link between the tools you already have, and sometimes the answer is that you don’t need anything new.

It depends on what is needed, which is why By SBS has no prices on its site. What shapes the work: how much is done by hand now, how many programs it has to work with and how many people use it. The introductory call is no-obligation. If you want to go ahead after that, you first get a tailored plan with a quote, and nothing starts until that is right.

Your data is yours, and it stays that way. Before By SBS builds anything, you hear where your data will be stored, who can access it and what an AI application will and will not do with it. If you later want to carry on without us, your data simply goes with you.

Yes, with the practical side. By SBS sets out which data you keep, where it is stored and who can access it, checks what is left open and builds new software with security in it from day one. The GDPR applies to every business that processes personal data. NIS2 is the European directive on digital security; it mainly applies to medium-sized and larger organisations in sectors such as energy, transport, healthcare, digital services and manufacturing, and their suppliers are affected through them too. We are builders, not lawyers: for legal advice we refer you on.

By SBS chooses that per task: what suits the work and how sensitive the data is. You hear beforehand what we want to use, where it runs and what happens to your data, and we only build it once you agree. Where AI adds nothing, we say so too: sometimes an ordinary integration is the better choice.

By SBS does not give a fixed lead time, because it differs per project and a made-up promise is worth nothing. What always holds: we build in working pieces, and the first piece is the one you get use from soonest. So you see it while it is being built, and you can adjust course along the way.

Yes. By SBS works for business owners and SMEs: clients include a sports shop, a gym, a diving school, a holiday rental and a bookkeeping firm. You can start small: a single integration or a single AI application is a project too.

No. Everything By SBS builds is yours, your data included, with the explanation to go with it so someone else can carry on with it too. We are happy to keep it running, maintain it and build on it, but that is a choice, not an obligation.

We help businesses keep up with AI and digitalisation: we look at how you work now, advise on what could be smarter and safer, and then build it too. That might be an AI assistant on your own documents, custom software, an app, a link between your programs, security or a website. You can also take just one part.

Both. Websites here are built by hand, not clicked together in a page builder — that’s why they’re fast and why there’s nothing in them that doesn’t need to be. And with bespoke software the split doesn’t exist at all: it’s thought up and written here.

Yes — it’s what people mostly call us for. The system a business runs on, built around the way you work instead of the other way round: a CRM, a till, a booking system, the database behind the admin, stock and time tracking, dashboards, a portal for your clients, an app for iOS and Android, or an AI model running on your own server so your data stays in house. There’s a longer list on /custom-software/, and even that isn’t complete — if what you’re after isn’t on it, just ask. And if an off-the-shelf package works out cheaper, you’ll hear that from us.

With bespoke software there’s no platform — it’s your own code on your own database, so there’s nothing to get locked into either. For websites and webshops we choose what suits the project: WordPress and WooCommerce, or Shopify where that works out better. Which platform it becomes is a decision that follows the project, not the other way round, and you’ll hear which one before anything gets built.

Often, yes. Sometimes a refresh is the cheapest route, sometimes starting over is — and we’ll say so plainly before anything is decided. Show us the current site and you’ll hear what makes sense.

Entirely dependent on what’s needed, which is why there are no fixed packages or rates on this site. Tell us what you have in mind and you’ll get a tailored quote — no obligation.

There’s deliberately no lead time here, because it differs per project and a made-up promise is worth nothing. What does always hold: you see it while it’s being built. We deliver in working pieces instead of going quiet for months and then putting something down — so you can steer along the way and never find out at the very end that it should have been different.

You do. The code, the data and the documentation belong to the project, not to us. We’re happy to host and maintain it — on our own servers — but that’s a choice and not a lock: you can take it to someone else at any moment. That’s the difference with software you rent by the month per employee and can never get out of.

It sits in what we build, not in a package you buy on the side: permissions per user, updates that keep running, and connections that give away no more than they need to. Is something already running — ours or somebody else's — then we can check it over, try to get in the way someone with bad intentions would, and write down what needs closing. We also keep an eye on systems and look after backups that we have actually restored at least once. What we do not do is promise that something is unbreakable; that does not exist, and anyone who does promise it should not be believed.

Yes. There is no studio to drop by, and that has never been a problem: our work was made partly in the Netherlands and partly on the other side of the world.