A bit about us
Many of us have been at Isotoma for years, and we think that kind of loyalty shows it's a good place to work. We care about each other – and we put that care at the top of our list of priorities.
Our team includes lots of people who've decided on a career change, so we've got insight and real-world experience beyond our current roles. It's how we make sure our products will survive out in the wild.
Meet the team
Better people. Better systems.
Our process
Every project is different and we might spend more or less time on each element,
but you can expect yours to play out something like this.
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Discovery
Understanding your unique needs, exploring outcomes and impacts, and defining the right systems for you.
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Build
Agile and focused, with a commitment to excellence at every step
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Support
DevOps and management for continuous improvement.
How we work
Over the years, we've learned a few things about software development consulting. And a fair bit about enabling people to do their best work. We don't just say these things; they live and breathe in everything we do.
Our working practices
Agile at the core
Each project's unique nature means we don't adopt Agile end-to-end in every case but we uphold an Agile ethos internally. We champion self-governing teams of developers, UX architects, and QA experts, giving them autonomy to assign tasks and hone details.
This trust in our people is the foundation of Isotoma.
Open source
When we founded Isotoma as an OSS business in 2004, everyone thought we were mad.
Though much of our work is bespoke and client-owned, we're committed to open-sourcing everything possible, fostering shared growth and stimulating internal idea exchanges and collaboration.
Team driven
Everything we do is a team effort. Success is a collective endeavour.
Despite our varied backgrounds, with different skills and specialisms, we're united by our curiosity, lack of judgement and – crucially – our commitment to the best possible result. Our close-knit teams encourage collaboration and innovative thinking.
Our expertise
Consultancy
Our ISO27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications, alongside our NHS DSP Toolkit registration, make sure we comply with the UK's most rigorous security requirements.
These accreditations do more than just enable us to handle sensitive health, legal, and financial data; they're the foundation for us to construct systems robustly designed to withstand fraud and attacks.
Security
As experts in digital products, we'll leverage our expertise to make your vision a reality. We take our work – and our relationships with our clients – very seriously (even though we've got a sharp sense of humour about ourselves).
No matter what phase your project is at, honesty is our guiding principle. We won't sugarcoat – we're experts in our field and not necessarily in yours. Our goal is delivering results properly, just as we promise.
Quality
While our ISO9000 certification stands as a testament to our dedication, it's more than just a badge on our wall.
For us, it encapsulates a deep-seated ethos of relentless improvement and an unwavering focus on quality management and assurance.
It's not just about meeting standards; it's about setting them and making sure that high quality is woven into every facet of our work.
Our toolkit
Tools
- Git for version control
- JIRA for ticketing
- CircleCI for CI
- CloudFormation for resource control
- AWS and Azure for hosting and delivery
- Serverless for Kubernetes for code execution
We use automated tools to create environments swiftly and effortlessly (usually with a single command), so our team can each run a full production-like environment on their desks, making sure that developing and testing are realistic. It also makes releasing easier too.
Speaking your language
When it comes to programming, we use Typescript and Python exclusively. As two of the most popular languages in the world, they have great support from cloud services and toolchains.
When we've built your product, we'll happily maintain and run it for you. But we don't have to. The tools we use are accessible to a huge number of developers, so you'll always have freedom of choice when it comes to who can work on your codebase once it's delivered.
What we believe in
We've got five values that we live by – and you'll see these in action when you work with us.
Trust
We foster honesty in our relationships and that honesty is reciprocated. This culture empowers our team to make vital decisions and express their ideas freely, as well as promoting a balanced work-life environment.
Inclusive and open
Inclusion is more than a word for us – it's a commitment. We create an environment where everyone can be themselves, contribute freely, and perform their best, without judgement.
Detail
We believe the devil is in the detail. Small elements can have large impacts. This is why we meticulously scrutinise every aspect of our work, earning our reputation for producing well-thought-out products.
Curiosity
Continuous learning is our mantra. From exploring the latest tech innovations to understanding diverse ideas, we stay curious. We foster this by encouraging – and funding – our team to do the training they need to help them excel.
Creativity
We push the boundaries of creativity in our solutions. Whether it's reimagining an architecture or devising a revolutionary interaction, we strive for the best. Our emphasis on user-centric discovery means our output remains relevant for years to come.
Our services
From our software architecture consulting services through digital technology strategy to expert devops and cloud management services, we're with you every step of the way.
Case study
The Key: Seek first to understand
As schools become less dependent on local authorities, The Key – a national information service for school leaders – has become an increasingly important source of knowledge and ideas for education professionals. It provides instant answers to their questions on every aspect of managing a school.
We were there for its launch in 2007 and we were proud to have helped it evolve over the years. But by 2016, we knew this was a transformation whose time had come. The Key needed to present new types of information in new ways. The answer was a better content management system that recognised how people were actually using it. In this case, that meant moving from Plone to Wagtail.
Get in touch
We craft tailored solutions for unique challenges, not off-the-shelf or one-size-fits-all. We thrive on finding beautiful answers to complex challenges, using our experience and expertise to create results you can rely on.
The Isotoma way
Teamwork is at the heart of everything we do – trusting our people has always been one of our key values. With mixed-function development teams, we run our projects along agile lines.
