Unboxed Consulting Ltd

Open source software engineering and development services

Unboxed, specialists in web and API development, with technical expertise in Ruby on Rails, AWS and DevOps. We combine experience in user-centred design and technology delivering solutions driving digital transformation and replacement of legacy technology. We build robust, secure and scalable open source web applications and APIs, providing ongoing support.

Features

• User centred design to fully understand requirements
• Prototyping to verify that the right solution is being built
• User testing to produce the best product
• Fast efficient development of APIs and web applications
• Pragmatic infrastructure design and implementation with AWS or Heroku
• Security and testing central to our approach
• Performant and scalable solutions to handle any number of transactions
• Fast agile development, adapting to feedback as we go
• Upskilling of existing customer teams
• Ongoing support once the solution is live

Benefits

• Simple solutions to complex problems
• High quality, robust and secure digital applications
• Performant solutions capable of scaling to any number of users
• Flexible delivery approach adapting to changing requirements
• Thoroughly understood user and organisational needs
• Early mitigation of technical and organisational risks
• SC cleared team members, working on high security projects
• Built with accessibility in-mind, following GDS standards
• Open source development whenever possible
• Cyber Essentials Plus certification

£700 to £2,000 a unit a day

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales-team@unboxedconsulting.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

916541411562250

Contact

Jo Oliveira
+44 (0)20 7183 4250
sales-team@unboxedconsulting.com

Planning

• Planning service: Yes
• How the planning service works: We offer a comprehensive cloud planning service tailored to meet the diverse needs of our clients. From conception to retirement, our service covers all phases of the cloud journey, leveraging both our expertise and existing tools to ensure positive, impactful outcomes. Our approach is built on collaboration, facilitating seamless cooperation among all parties involved.; Our extensive planning experience allows us to adapt our processes to the context of your organisation. Through a series of research activities and collaborative co-design workshops, we thoroughly understand user needs and business requirements, aligning stakeholders around a shared vision for the project. We create robust and adaptable transition plans that are constantly reviewed within an agile sprint process, with progress assessed and work reprioritised every two weeks to ensure value is constantly being delivered.; With experienced delivery managers leading the way, we ensure smooth and timely delivery of exemplar cloud solutions in place of outdated legacy technology. ; Our approach to planning is highly aligned with the Government Digital Service Standard and Technology Code of Practice. Our focus is on designing intuitive, accessible, secure, and scalable solutions that adhere to open standards, make optimal use of open-source technology and align with organisational goals.
• Planning service works with specific services: No

Training

• Training service provided: Yes
• How the training service works: We work side-by-side with your internal teams and provide training and upskilling alongside delivery of outcomes to ensure your transition to cloud services is successful and sustainable. “Learning by doing” is a core Unboxed principle and we believe that this informal, on-the-job training, in combination with more formal learning, is the most effective way to build digital capability and confidence within your organisation. Our training can be delivered in-person, remotely or a hybrid combination of the two. Our adaptable training methods include:; Coaching and mentoring to provide support and transfer knowledge directly to in-house staff as part of the day-to-day delivery.; Facilitated group training sessions covering subjects such as: user research; user-centred design; service design; product management; prioritisation; agile principles and processes and Lean Startup.; Shadowing individuals to support them in their day to day activities, and providing real time guidance in new roles, with new responsibilities and ways of working as a ‘critical friend’.; Creation of a shared knowledge repository including resources such as: blogs; weeknotes; onboarding guides; demonstration videos; templates; case studies.
• Training is tied to specific services: No

Setup and migration

• Setup or migration service available: Yes
• How the setup or migration service works: Our comprehensive setup and migration service facilitates a smooth transition to cloud hosting or software. With extensive experience in complex legacy migrations, we guide clients through the transition from traditional on-premise IT to cloud environments safely. ; ; Our process begins with understanding or developing a cloud strategy and assessing organisational cloud maturity. We design a migration approach tailored to each client's needs, following a structured multi-stage migration path that ensures secure and managed migration with minimal disruption to operational services and reduced risk of outage or data loss. We conduct detailed assessments and planning, including code audits, digital maturity assessment, and strategic recommendations.; ; We prioritise long-term user adoption by embedding new practices within the organisation, fostering further development and preventing regression to outdated methods.; ; Our services cover setup and migration for organisations of all sizes and complexities, across major cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Our technology-agnostic approach ensures unbiased advice and support, enabling seamless transitions regardless of the chosen cloud services. creating secure cloud platforms and modernising legacy applications. Throughout the process, our experienced team ensures minimal disruption, ensuring a smooth and successful migration experience.
• Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services: No

Quality assurance and performance testing

• Quality assurance and performance testing service: Yes
• How the quality assurance and performance testing works: Our service integrates quality assurance and performance testing into an agile delivery approach, ensuring high-quality, well-tested products from the outset. We prioritise fast value delivery and customer feedback through phased, incremental delivery methods.; Throughout the project lifecycle, we employ rigorous quality assurance practices, including collaborative creation of test strategies and acceptance criteria. Performance testing is tailored to client requirements, utilizing optimal tools and processes for efficiency.; Automated testing, continuous integration, and delivery are standard in our approach, facilitating rapid software releases and ensuring code quality. We utilize quality practices like pair programming, Test-driven development (TDD), and peer reviews, supported by automated load testing and code analysis tools for enhanced maintainability.; Our quality assurance services extend to all phases of product development, offering robust, secure, and scalable solutions tailored to client needs. We conduct code reviews, cloud environment assessments, and architectural reviews to ensure both our work and our clients' meet the highest standards of quality and reliability.

Security testing

• Security services: Yes
• Security services type:
  • Security strategy
  • Security risk management
  • Security design
  • Security testing
  • Security incident management
  • Security audit services
• Certified security testers: Yes
• Security testing certifications: CREST

Ongoing support

• Ongoing support service: Yes
• Types of service supported:
  • Buyer hosting or software
  • Hosting or software provided by your organisation
  • Hosting or software provided by a third-party organisation
• How the support service works: We offer ongoing support, guidance and assistance for various cloud hosting and software services, tailoring our provision to meet your specific needs. We're experienced with a range of cloud options, including AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Heroku, and Cloud Foundry. Our preference is to use automated tools to set up infrastructure on AWS, but we're flexible and can work with other providers too.; Our service is customised to fit your business requirements, whether you need help at the system or application level. We can provide standalone support or complement your internal teams.; For technical assistance, our network of specialists in Digital, Data, and Technology (DDAT) is available. We handle support inquiries through email, phone, and Slack during agreed hours. We operate an in-house support rota to identify who is on support duties at any one time and have a proven track record of providing weekend and out of hours support. Our services include incident management, maintenance, patch fixes, and both off-site and on-site support as negotiated in service-level agreements. Additional charges may apply for complex issues, which we'll discuss with you before starting any resolution work.

Service scope

• Service constraints: There are no constraints to this service.

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Response times vary between support agreements.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Support levels: We provide Priority 1 (P1), Priority 2 (P2) and Priority 3 (P3) support levels. Our managed support services costs are £6,300 per month for 24/7 support or £3,150 per month for office-hours support.

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: NHS DSP Toolkit

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Unboxed is working across a wide range of areas to combat climate change, from small incremental changes within our office processes to larger, national level activities. We are committed to minimising our environmental footprint and supporting the UK Government’s sustainability goals. ; ; Activities include:; ; Creating Char.gy (https://char.gy/), an electric vehicle lamppost chargepoint solution and digital application, supporting the end-to-end EV charging experience, and uptake of EVs in residential areas through on-street charge points, using 100% renewable energy; Supporting local green initiatives - in 2022, we ran a campaign to help young aspiring football players reduce their use of single-use plastic. #PlayersAgainstPlastic encourages players to think about how they can take small steps to improve their impact on the environment.; ; Raising money for charity - in 2022, we joined Ride the Change, a 225 mile cycle tour raising awareness about positive climate solutions and connecting with our local like-minded community; ; Providing teams to work with other organisations (e.g. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) on projects that are working towards fighting climate change; ; Using a green energy company to provide all of our office electricity; ; Providing a ‘Cycle to Work’ scheme to support employees with an alternative to private and public transport, and reduce personal carbon footprints; ; Zero waste to landfill - we work with First Mile to fulfil our zero waste to landfill commitment. This involves being careful about the choices we make when it comes to office supplies, thoughtfully selecting our materials and suppliers to make it easy for our team to reduce energy use.; ; Giving unused equipment a second life - we use Freecycle to give away any office equipment and furniture we no longer need. We’re also committed to fixing and refurbishing phones and laptops for our team members, rather than buying new ones.

  Covid-19 recovery

  Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond, we continue to adapt and iterate our working processes to support our employees and customers, and meet government guidance.; ; Activities to support Covid-19 recovery include:; ; Prioritising engagement with local community groups affected by the pandemic, ensuring their voices shape our design and development practices. Through workshops, we empower community members to actively participate in the design process, fostering inclusion; ; Providing a hybrid working environment to all employees, enabling people to work from a combination of our office, their home, on-site, and from other locations (e.g. working spaces); ; Creating opportunities for fully-remote employment; ; Ensuring the wellbeing of employees who may need to shield through additional support channels; ; Giving employees the flexibility to decide when, and how often they would like to work from our office; ; Supporting our customers with hybrid working practices, working with them to decide the best appropriate cloud-based communication tools and systems to collaborate, and support our work; ; Developing skills and building capabilities by working with individuals from underprivileged backgrounds, providing expertise in user experience design and digital innovation.

  Tackling economic inequality

  Unboxed has a track record of providing tangible opportunities to support new businesses, jobs, and skills through a variety of channels.; ; Activities include:; ; Job and skills training - partnering with local organisations and educational institutions, Unboxed team is consistently involved in local programmes that provide training, mentoring and coaching specifically targeting communities facing economic challenges. These programs will equip participants with in-demand skills relevant to the healthcare technology sector, such as user experience design, service design and coding, thereby enhancing their employability and facilitating upward mobility. Some of these programmes include: Rails Girls London, BeMe Mentoring, Tutorfair (underprivileged kids in coding), Young Green Britain Challenge, Codebar, Service design network UK; ; Upskilling within organisations that we’re working with “on the job” in agile, user-centred and digital skills through one-to-one working, pairing, coaching, mentoring, running workshops, and other methods to build sustainable in-house teams, skills, and capabilities; ; Always considering digital inclusion and accessibility - we ensure our work prioritises accessibility, providing guidance and resources to bridge the digital divide for vulnerable populations. Partnering with local authorities through our project work, we promote digital inclusion and reduce health disparities.; ; Creating and running an in-house development bootcamp (“Unbootcamp”) to support cohorts of individuals from non-development backgrounds into development roles through a structured, hands-on, and supportive programme; ; Regularly organising and running Techqala (https://www.techqala.com/), a Cape Town-based startup accelerator/business innovation camp/team-bonding experience, created to bring together local South African startups (with complimentary places), and international corporate innovators for a week of learning and creative business thinking

  Equal opportunity

  Unboxed is committed to equal opportunity for employees, partners, and the wider community. We actively address the disability employment gap and promote a diverse, inclusive workplace where all can thrive. We understand the importance of building a diverse, inclusive team, recognising that this directly improves the quality of insights delivered through our work.; ; Activities include:; ; Supporting students by providing ‘on the job’ work experience, enabling them to gain hands-on experience by joining our project teams for periods of time (e.g. ‘My Year 11 work experience with Unboxed’: https://unboxed.co/blog/my-year-11-work-experience-with-unboxed/) and ‘Working with Unboxed’ https://unboxed.co/blog/leyarnis-work-experience/); ; Working with apprentices through joining our project teams, and collaborating on a day-to-day basis to upskill in-house teams, and build internal capabilities through one-to-one working, pairing, coaching, and other techniques; ; Ensuring our culture, the way we promote ourselves, and the recruitment process, are all focused on increasing the diversity of the organisation. One result is that the company has shifted from being very male dominated, as is typical in the tech sector, to being over 50% female including senior technical roles.; ; Holding ongoing inclusion training with external facilitators for our employees, covering areas including inclusion within our recruitment processes, intent and impact, psychological safety, and how you want to be treated in the workplace; ; Successfully shifting our organisational demographics to be over 50% female, including senior technical roles, challenging the male-dominated norms prevalent in the tech sector. We conduct ongoing inclusion training facilitated by internal wellbeing experts to educate our employees on topics such as kindness at work, psychological safety, and creating inclusive work environments.

  Wellbeing

  Unboxed is actively working to maintain an inclusive workplace with a culture and environment that strives to promote the wellbeing of our people so that everyone has a sense of belonging and feels involved, empowered to do their best, and be successful.; ; We work hard to maintain our culture of openness through promoting a positive work-life balance, remaining open in communication, creating positive working relationships, and encouraging diversity of thought and behaviour.; ; Activities include:; ; Employing a dedicated wellbeing and people role to provide wellbeing support to our whole team; ; Facilitating monthly wellbeing drop-in sessions across a variety of mental and physical wellbeing topics, including how to listen well, gratitude, and more, to support people with communication, and managing relationships; ; Holding third-party mental health awareness workplace training courses, with topics including intent and impact, and signs and symptoms of wellbeing issues, to support our employees; ; Monthly one-to-one personal reflection sessions, as a way for each employee to reflect on, and progress their personal and career development; ; A wellbeing Slack channel to share articles, resources, tips, and other content as additional support; ; Regularly writing, and publishing blog posts to share what we’re experiencing and learning with the wider world (e.g. ‘Supporting the wellbeing of a remote digital team’: https://unboxed.co/blog/supporting-the-wellbeing-of-a-remote-digital-team/)

Pricing

• Price: £700 to £2,000 a unit a day
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales-team@unboxedconsulting.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.