Insights

Notes from building and running software.

Practical answers to the questions people actually ask us — costs, timelines, and what works in this region.

Mobile Applications

What does it cost to build a mobile app in 2026?

A straight answer on mobile app budgets — what drives the number up, what a first version should actually include, and where money gets wasted.

Shard Soft 2026-08-04 2 min read
Software Development

How to choose a software development company

Seven questions that separate a development partner who will still be there in year three from one who disappears after launch.

Shard Soft 2026-07-28 2 min read
AI Automation

AI automation for small businesses: where it actually pays

Which business processes are genuinely worth automating with AI, which are not, and how to tell the difference before you spend anything.

Shard Soft 2026-07-21 2 min read
Sales Automation

Selling on WhatsApp: turning chats into a real pipeline

How to automate WhatsApp sales without losing the personal touch that makes it work in the first place — and without getting your number banned.

Shard Soft 2026-07-14 2 min read
Marketplaces

Building a marketplace: the problem is liquidity, not software

Why most marketplaces fail before they launch, and what a supply strategy actually looks like.

Shard Soft 2026-07-07 1 min read
Software Development

How long does it take to build custom software?

Realistic timelines for a first release, what makes projects slip, and why the estimate you were given is probably the optimistic one.

Shard Soft 2026-06-30 1 min read
Mobile Applications

Native or cross-platform? A practical answer

When one codebase for iOS and Android is the right call, when it is not, and why the debate matters less than it used to.

Shard Soft 2026-06-23 1 min read
Product & Design

Arabic interfaces: why mirroring an English design does not work

Right-to-left is an architecture decision, not a translation task. What breaks when you retrofit it, and what to decide at the start.

Shard Soft 2026-06-16 1 min read
Banking & FinTech

Building software for banks and FinTechs: what is different

Money software has a different failure profile from everything else. What that changes about how it has to be built.

Shard Soft 2026-06-09 2 min read
Marketing Automation

Why your website gets no traffic — and what to fix first

The technical and structural reasons a company site is invisible, in the order worth fixing them, including the AI answer engines now sending real traffic.

Shard Soft 2026-06-02 2 min read