Equal Care's technology journey
From the outset, Equal Care was designed to be a platform co-operative: a democratically owned and governed digital platform business that combines the principles of traditional co-ops with the infrastructure and reach of modern online platforms.
From the beginning, the goal was to use technology to support the act of care - enhancing autonomy and equity while reducing administrative overhead, so that more time could be spent where it matters most: on the relationships within our Teams.
The Beginning of the Journey
Early on, the founding team faced a strategic decision: Should we develop our digital infrastructure in-house or buy in a ready-made service?
Each option had its own trade-offs:
In-house (Custom Development):
✅ The product can be tailored to fit the needs and values of the co-op.
✅ The co-op retains ownership of the platform.
❌ Requires time, funding, and a dedicated development team.
❌ Long-term support and management needed.
Bought-in service (Full Service)
✅ Lower up-front costs.
✅ Can be deployed quickly, accelerating growth.
✅ Maintenance, updates and customer service are included.
❌ Hard to find a product that fits the co-op's needs without compromise.
❌ No ownership — reliant on the provider for improvements and support.
The Decision
The team opted to develop in-house. This path aligned more closely with Equal Care’s values and long-term aims - particularly our commitment to autonomy, co-production, and ownership.
With the pilot fast approaching, we launched two workstreams in parallel:
Low-code/No-code “Frankenstein’s Monster” A temporary digital setup using off-the-shelf tools to get the pilot underway.
Custom Platform Discovery Requirements were gathered and several agencies were approached to scope the build. When none could fully meet the brief within budget and timeframe, we made the decision to build the platform ourselves, in-house using Agile methods.
Building the Roadmap
The first step was assembling a core platform team - a project manager and technical architect - to work with Equal Care’s founders to define a clear Product Roadmap.
This roadmap:
Articulated the vision and outcomes for the platform.
Prioritised work based on member needs, not just features.
Created a structured backlog for the development team.
A designer and developer were then recruited to begin delivery.
Incremental, Rapid Releases
The low-code 'Frankenstein’s Monster' setup allowed us to start quickly, but it was never meant to last. Each service in that setup came with a cost - both financial and operational.
To replace it, we released new platform features incrementally:
Gradually phasing out paid tools
Testing with real users in real-time
Reducing time to market
Increasing adoption and feedback
Responding directly to what our members need
Lessons
Technical capacity is vital
Most social care founders aren’t experienced in product development. Hiring experienced technologists or upskilling internally is key.
It’s hard to attract tech talent
Developers and designers are in high demand. Competing with commercial tech salaries is a challenge, especially in a social care context.
You can’t plan for everything
Even the best-designed systems will face bugs, outages, and unexpected issues. Developing strong quality assurance and testing practices is essential to build resilience into the product.
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