You have a process no packaged product fits: a quoting tool held together by spreadsheets, a booking system the staff work around, a customer portal that has been on the wish list for three years. You have spoken to an agency nearby, and now you are wondering whether a team abroad could build it instead. This guide sets out what changes, and what must stay the same, when the people writing your software sit in Karachi instead of in your own town.
Three ways to get bespoke software built
Most owners weigh the same three options. The table compares them on the points that decide whether a project ends well. Cost is left out on purpose: quotes vary so widely inside each group that a general figure would mislead.
| Question | Local UK agency | Freelance developer | Offshore company |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you meet | In person when it helps, in your own time zone | Flexible, often outside office hours | Video only, in the hours the two working days share |
| Who does the work | A team: designer, developers, tester, project lead | One person covering every role | A team, as with an agency |
| If someone leaves or falls ill | The agency covers the gap | The project waits | The company covers the gap |
| Knowledge of UK rules | Usually strong on VAT, payments and privacy practice | Depends on the person | Comes from you and your advisers, then goes into the scope |
| The contract | A UK contract between two UK companies | A UK contract with one individual behind it | A cross-border contract, harder to enforce, so milestones and ownership terms carry more weight |
| Suits | Work that needs workshops on site or deep sector experience | Small, well-defined jobs and fixes | Systems that can be specified in writing and reviewed on screen |
No row decides it for you. If the project needs someone in the room with your staff for a week, hire locally. If it is a two-day fix, a freelancer is enough. An offshore company fits the ground in between, provided you are willing to do your thinking on paper.
How the time difference works in practice
Karachi is four hours ahead of the UK in summer and five in winter. Nine in the morning in Manchester is early afternoon in Karachi, so the UK morning and early afternoon overlap with the Karachi afternoon and evening. Calls, demos and anything that needs a quick answer are booked inside that window. A problem you report late in your day can be looked at during the Karachi morning, before your next day begins.
What a custom software development company should put in writing
With a supplier abroad, the documents carry the weight that a handshake and a nearby office carry at home. Four of them deserve your attention.
The scope
A list of screens, user roles, reports and integrations in plain words, each tied to a milestone. Operix shows every screen as a clickable design before building it, so the scope is something you have seen and not a paragraph you have had to interpret.
Ownership
The code repository, the hosting account, the domain and any Apple or Google developer account should be set up by your own company and billed to its card. The supplier is invited in as a user. If the relationship ends, you remove that access and keep everything. The contract should say that code and data pass to you with each milestone payment.
Personal data
If the system stores names, emails, addresses or anything else about living people, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act apply to it, and the regulator is the ICO. Hiring a supplier in another country does not move those duties off your business. How that supplier may handle the data is a legal question with rules of its own, and the answer belongs in the contract. Take legal advice before you sign, and expect a serious supplier to welcome the clause. In day-to-day terms, four habits reduce the exposure:
- Build and test on made-up records, not on a copy of your customer list.
- Host the live system in the region you choose, on an account you own.
- Give each developer a named login that can be switched off; no shared passwords.
- Write down who may see live data and for what reason, and keep a log of when they do.
The same habits are covered for any business system in the security basics an owner should check.
Payment
Pay by milestone, against working software you have tested, and not by calendar date. The written quote should name each milestone and what will be working when it is reached. Do not pay the whole sum in advance to anyone, at home or abroad.
How to test an offshore supplier before committing
Open their live work yourself
Ask for links, not screenshots, and click through them on your own phone.
Hold the first call in your working hours
Notice whether they are on time and who attends: the people who will build, or only a salesperson.
Ask for a written scope before a price
A supplier who quotes without asking questions has priced a guess.
Send the ownership and data clauses to your solicitor
Watch how the supplier responds to the changes that come back.
Start with one paid milestone
A small first module shows how they work before the larger sums fall due.
Where Operix stands
Operix Systems is a software company in Karachi. The work for UK businesses is delivered remotely; we have no UK office, and we have not published a project for a UK client. Our portfolio is mostly businesses in Pakistan and the UAE, with some international work, such as Zoya Couture, an online store for a new Belgian fashion label in Dutch, French and English. The largest system we show is an ERP that runs Sea Keepers' work from the first enquiry email to the final delivery documents. Judge us on those, and on how the first two calls go.
What we build for UK businesses is set out on the UK solutions page, including ERP software and website development. If you are still deciding whether to build anything, read the signs that you need custom software first. Once you have a process in mind, book a demo, choose a morning slot and bring it along.
Questions people ask
Is outsourcing software development outside the UK safe?
It can be, when ownership, data handling and payment terms are written down and the accounts are in your name. The risk rises when a supplier keeps the code, wants full payment in advance or avoids questions about personal data.
Who owns the code when an offshore company builds it?
You should, and the contract should say so. Keep the repository, hosting and domain on accounts your company opened, with the supplier added as a user who can be removed.
How do meetings work with a team in Pakistan?
Karachi is four hours ahead of the UK in summer and five in winter. Calls are held in the UK morning or early afternoon, which is the afternoon and evening in Karachi.
Does Operix have a UK office or UK clients?
There is no UK office and no published UK client project. Everything is delivered remotely from Karachi, and most of the portfolio is in Pakistan and the UAE, alongside a few international projects.
How much does bespoke software cost?
That follows from how many screens and user roles there are and what the system must connect to. Operix publishes no price list; a discovery call comes first, then a written scope with a figure against each milestone.
