About Us - The Scotland-Based Tech Team Serving UK & USA Businesses

We're Dataface. We Build Software That Fits.

We're a specialist software development team operating from Glasgow and Livingston, Scotland. We've served 50+ businesses across the UK and USA since 2021. No off-the-shelf compromises. No "nearly fits" workarounds. Just systems built specifically for how you actually work.

Why We Started Dataface

Before starting Dataface, Steven Sharp spent over a decade building systems for some of the largest financial institutions in the UK - including Standard Life, Scottish Life, and Royal London. Working across both technical and senior roles meant living inside complex, high-stakes systems where bad software cost real money. Big budgets, serious compliance, software built around the people using it.

Then he kept seeing the same pattern outside that world. Brilliant small businesses running operations on Excel files held together with hope. CRMs that nearly fit. Off-the-shelf tools that forced the team to bend around the software instead of the other way round. People doing on Friday what a computer should have done on Tuesday.

That gap bothered him. The big institutions got software built around them. Smaller businesses got told to make do.

So in 2021, Marta and Steven started Dataface to fix that. The idea is straightforward: smaller businesses can't afford a 50-person in-house dev team, but they deserve software that fits the way they actually work. Same engineering standards as the financial institutions. None of the enterprise overhead. None of the jargon.

That's still the job.

What That Means in Practice

• We explain things in plain English. No jargon. If we use a technical term, we translate it.
• We show working software every 2 weeks. Not slide decks. Not status reports. Actual software you can click on.
• We build around your process, not ours. If your way of working is sensible, we codify it. If it's painful, we fix that bit.
• We stick around after launch. Need a feature next year? We'll build it. Something broken? We'll fix it. No support ticket queues.
• We tell you when not to build. Sometimes a £40 SaaS subscription does the job. We'll say so before quoting £40,000.

The Official Bits

• ISO 27001 compliant (serious about security)
• GDPR compliant (your data stays yours)
• AWS Advanced Partner (we know cloud)
• 50+ projects delivered (UK & USA clients including Just Recruit UK, Urban Retail Group, Chrono Curiosity)
• 99.5% client satisfaction
• Average savings: £45,000/year per client
• Average ROI: 3-12 months
• 15+ hours/week typically saved on manual work
• Registered: Dataface Ltd, SC631408, Glasgow

Common Questions

Q: Why should I trust a small team with a project this important? A: Fair question. Steven spent 10+ years building systems for Standard Life, Scottish Life, and Royal London - software where mistakes had regulatory consequences. We bring that engineering discipline to smaller projects. You also get senior people on your project, not junior staff doing the work while a senior occasionally checks in.

Q: What happens if Dataface goes bust? A: You own the code. Full source code, documentation, and infrastructure access handed over at every milestone. We host on AWS in your account or ours - your choice. Worst case, any competent developer can pick it up. We're not a SaaS lock-in.

Q: Can you handle our security and compliance needs? A: Yes. ISO 27001 compliant, GDPR compliant, AWS Advanced Partner. Steven's background is financial services where compliance is non-negotiable. We've built systems handling sensitive data for finance, healthcare, and recruitment. Pen testing, encryption at rest and in transit, audit trails - standard, not add-ons.

Q: Do you work outside Scotland? A: Yes. Most of our clients are outside Scotland - across the UK and the USA. We run discovery calls over video, ship working software every fortnight, and you see progress in real time. Distance has not been a problem on a single project.

Q: Can I see your work before committing? A: Yes. We'll walk you through case studies relevant to your industry, show working systems we've built (with client permission), and connect you with existing clients for a reference call. Real businesses, real names, real results.