Johannesburg is South Africa's financial centre and home to the JSE, the country's stock exchange. Banks, insurers and asset managers buy software and services from smaller companies: fintechs, specialist consultancies, payroll and HR providers, agencies. You can start with an app to deliver your service or with a supplier assessment from a customer's procurement team; each is a separate engagement with a written scope.
Supplier reviews: answer the questionnaire with evidence
The questions repeat across institutions: who can reach production data, how access is granted and removed, whether data is encrypted at rest, where the servers are, what is logged and for how long, and how the bank gets its data back when the contract ends. A good answer points to something that exists, such as a configuration, a log or a written procedure. The vendor security review works from that material and names the gaps it finds instead of papering over them.
Building for a financial customer from day one
When the app is still to be written, the review questions become design requirements. Role based access with an audit trail, separate environments for testing and production, secrets kept out of the code, and a documented exit path are cheaper to build in than to bolt on. The result is an app that can be shown to a risk committee without a separate project to explain it.
Mining and industrial sites
Gauteng's mining houses, contractors and engineering firms run inspections, permits to work, equipment checks and incident reports that still start on paper. The field app replaces the form, not the process: the same checklist, captured on a rugged phone or tablet, with photos and signatures attached and no dependence on coverage. Records sync when the device reaches a network and land in a central system the safety team can query. The general pattern is described under apps for field documentation.
Planning for personal information
Projects involving personal information may fall within the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). We identify the relevant processing activities and requirements during scoping and agree access, retention and hosting arrangements. The South Africa overview gives further context on POPIA and hosting.
Without a technical lead, you can bring the form or workflow you want to replace: I turn it into a written scope, explain the design choices and prepare each milestone for your acceptance. We agree who will run the app and what the handover must include before launch.
For teams with their own IT
Large organisations here often have capable internal IT and a backlog that leaves no room for a new mobile product. The architect can build that one product against your APIs, inside your repository and your change process, or review an app a third party has delivered before you accept it.
Scope and price
- Answers for an open supplier questionnaire, scoped and priced in writing
- Field or inspection app as a First Version (MVP) from $27,800 in two to four weeks
- Client-facing market-ready app with its server side from $83,300
- Takeover of an app whose developer has gone: how it works