The Emberly team has worked with every size client—from massive organizations like NASA to mom-and-pop coffee shops, and everything in between. Over more than a decade of experience, our team has worked to scale businesses, remaining a technical and marketing partner along the way. We have been a full marketing and development partner for a handful of businesses that went from no logo to multimillion-dollar enterprises with multiple locations, giving us an excellent sense of what scaling looks like. And with our low turnover, our core team has been there for the entire ride.
Building a stable tech stack is mission-critical for any organization that relies on digital content, digital assets, or digital software. We speak with business owners every day who are experiencing massive frustrations that limit their business growth—from debilitating bugs and mission-critical security problems to devastating hacks and technical challenges that place a chokehold on their scale and growth. There’s no doubt that every business struggles with the technical throttle. Yet, a good tech stack is challenging to define.
But building an excellent tech stack is not as simple as following best practices and doing it the “right way” the first time, as might be a more realistic expectation in industries like construction or engineering. Technology is ever-changing, with a million different applications and languages all clamoring to be the solution for a single task.
As a technical partner, we are dedicated to helping organizations make wise choices for their business’s unique needs. We focus on implementing minimum viable solutions that still take into consideration long-term organizational vision.
How do you build a great tech stack in a sea of ever-changing options and pitfalls?
Dedicated core team with experience at every scale
The tech field has constant turnover, with developers and engineers regularly jumping ship. At Emberly, we recognize the importance of observing developers in the field before we know if they’re the right fit. Rather than contracting overseas or relying on external vendors, we contract new potential hires for supporting roles on projects for several months to assess their capabilities and their ability to understand business goals. Only then do we bring them on board. This helps ensure that we have a development team that not only talks the talk but walks the walk.
Triaged, sprint-based implementation
Many legacy systems are sprawling and deep-rooted. Ripping them out and starting fresh would not only be incredibly expensive, it could disrupt a myriad of teams and processes, wreaking havoc across an organization. Even for small businesses, changing a tech stack can be remarkably consequential. In these cases, our team works in triage. We meet with all team members who touch the system, ensuring we understand their goals and processes. Then, we make a triaged plan that implements sprints, modernizing one piece of the tech stack at a time.
Strategic integration of business planning and technology architecture
When many agencies begin a project, they simply collect the project requirements and start building. We take a more active role as a technical partner—collaboratively talking with your team about long-term vision and future development sprints. That way, we know what scale and functionality changes may be anticipated down the road. We communicate the entire operational business strategy of your organization to our engineers, ensuring that we receive their feedback on potential pitfalls. Then, we choose a technical solution that is appropriate for both short-term and long-term goals.
Detailed, discovery-led technical planning
During our initial planning phase, we take you through our critically acclaimed wireframing process—a collaborative experience between our teams, creating clear, low-fidelity mockups of the entire project before we begin design, let alone development. During this phase, we also carefully map out database architecture and tech stack integration.
This initial planning helps us understand exactly what we’re building before we begin development, massively saving time and budget while significantly reducing the risk of miscommunication or unexpected issues.
We are dedicated to being an exceptional technical partner who can give you a scalable, high-performance tech stack that grows with you. Get in touch with our team today—we’d love to connect you with one of our engineers or team leaders to discuss your project goals and find the best fit for your needs.