Claris FileMaker · UK-wide
Twenty-five years of FileMaker, including the systems nobody else will touch.
We build new bespoke FileMaker solutions, rescue inherited ones, and modernise systems that still run the business but have not been maintained in years. Certified, experienced, and honest about when FileMaker is the wrong answer.
- Audit & documentation
- Upgrades and hosting
- AI-enabled extensions
Services
Wherever your system is now.
New bespoke systems
Job management, quoting, inspections, stock, CRM, compliance — built around how you actually work, on desktop, browser and iPad, with a usable version in weeks rather than quarters.
Inherited system rescue
No Full Access account, no documentation, no developer. We take control of the assets, audit the schema and scripts, stabilise the risks and write it all down.
Upgrades & migration
Stuck on an unsupported version, or on a server under someone's desk? We move systems onto current, supported, properly backed-up infrastructure with a tested restore.
Integration & AI
REST connections to your accounts package, e-commerce platform, website and AI services — so an established system gains genuinely new capability without a rewrite.
Support & maintenance
Retained development time for bug fixes, small enhancements and someone reachable when it matters. As close to an in-house developer as you can sensibly get.
Independent review
An objective second opinion on a system, a quote, a licensing position or a proposal to replace something. Sometimes the useful answer is 'leave it alone'.
Rescue plan
You have inherited a FileMaker system. What now?
- 01
Establish control
Full Access credentials, the Claris licence in your company's name, hosting access, and a backup you have personally restored — not merely one that exists.
- 02
Audit
A structured review of schema, scripts, layouts, security, integrations and hosting, delivered as a written document that says what is dangerous and what is simply untidy.
- 03
Stabilise and document
Fix the real risks first — unsupported versions, missing backups, shared logins, unpatched servers — then document enough that any competent developer could take over.
- 04
Decide the direction
Only now is it sensible to ask whether to extend, modernise or replace. Very often the right answer is extend.
Where FileMaker wins
- Bespoke internal systems for roughly 10–200 staff.
- Requirements that will change — FileMaker absorbs change cheaply.
- Desktop, browser and iOS from one solution, including offline field work.
- Speed to a working, in-use version.
Where it does not
- Public-facing, high-traffic consumer applications.
- Thousands of concurrent anonymous users.
- Mass-market SaaS products you intend to sell.
- Anywhere per-user licensing makes the arithmetic wrong.
Questions
FileMaker, answered.
Will you take on a system you did not build?+
Regularly. Most of our FileMaker enquiries are inherited systems — the original developer has retired or moved on and nobody dares change anything. No judgement about the state of it; we start with an audit and a written plan.
Is FileMaker still a sensible choice in 2026?+
For bespoke internal systems used by roughly ten to two hundred staff, it is still hard to beat on delivery speed and tolerance of changing requirements. For public-facing, high-traffic consumer products it is the wrong tool, and we will say so.
Can our FileMaker system be modernised rather than replaced?+
Usually. An existing system encodes years of hard-won business logic, and rewriting that is expensive and risky. Version upgrades, a proper security model, managed hosting, a modernised interface and new API integrations typically deliver more for less.
Can FileMaker connect to AI and other systems?+
Yes. Modern FileMaker talks comfortably to REST APIs, so we can add document classification, data extraction from supplier paperwork, drafted correspondence and record summarisation to a fifteen-year-old system without a rewrite.
Where do you host, and where do you work?+
We advise on properly managed, backed-up hosting with a tested restore process — never an office machine under a desk. We work with clients across the UK, remotely and on site.
Further reading
On FileMaker
You Have Inherited a FileMaker System. What Now?
The developer has gone, nobody documented anything, and the business runs on it. A calm, ordered way through.
9 July 2026 · 7 minClaris FileMaker Development in the UK: Is It Still the Right Choice in 2026?
FileMaker is neither dead nor the answer to everything. Twenty-five years of building UK systems, summarised.
4 June 2026 · 9 minTell us about your FileMaker system.
New build, inherited mess, or something that simply needs to survive the next five years. We will give you a straight assessment, including when the answer is that FileMaker is not right for you.
Talk to us