SIC 62012
Software development
Business and domestic software built to your requirement — publishing tools, internal systems, member portals, integrations, and the small applications that quietly hold an operation together.
MPH Media & Tech Ltd · Est. 2026
Media runs on software.
We build it, advise on it, and keep it running.
A small British technology company for organisations whose work reaches an audience — publishers, studios, agencies, membership bodies and the businesses that serve them. We write the software, give the counsel behind it, and stay on to run the platform once it is live.
Direct
You speak to the person who writes the code and signs the advice. No account layer in between.
Fixed scope
Written scope and a written price before any work begins. Changes are re-quoted, never assumed.
No lock-in
Your code, your repositories, your accounts, your data — documented so another firm could take over.
Independent
We take no reseller margin or vendor commission. What we recommend is what we would use.
Four registered activities
One company across the whole life of a system
Most organisations buy these four things from four different suppliers, then spend their time refereeing between them. We hold all four, which means the advice is written by someone who will have to live with it.
SIC 62020
IT consultancy
Independent counsel before the money is spent: architecture, build-or-buy, supplier selection, technical due diligence and second opinions on work already under way.
SIC 62030
Facilities management
Running the platform day to day — hosting, deployment, monitoring, backups, patching and the unglamorous discipline that keeps a live service boring.
SIC 62090
Other IT services
Everything adjacent: migrations, rescues of half-finished projects, documentation, handover to an in-house team, and support arrangements sized to what you actually need.
Why it is one company
Advice is cheap when nobody has to implement it
The failure we see most often is not bad code. It is a strategy deck written by a firm that will never open the repository, handed to a build team that will never operate the result, handed again to a support desk that was not in either room.
We deliberately do not split those roles. The person recommending an approach is the person who will build it, and the person who will be paged at seven in the morning when it misbehaves. That single fact changes what gets recommended: it rules out the clever answer that cannot be maintained, and it makes the honest answer — this does not need building at all — much easier to say.
- One accountable party from first conversation to live service
- Recommendations you can check, in writing, before you commit
- An exit written into the arrangement, not bolted on at the end
Service lines
What we are asked for most
Six recurring pieces of work. Each sits under one or more of the registered activities, and each can be bought on its own.
Bespoke applications
Web applications, internal tools and back-office systems written for one organisation's requirement rather than adapted from a template that fits nobody.
62012Media & content platforms
The machinery behind publishing: editorial workflow, asset handling, scheduling, distribution to the channels an audience actually uses, and the analytics to see whether it landed.
62012 · 62090Technology reviews
An independent read on a system, a supplier or a proposal — what it costs, what it risks, and what a reasonable alternative looks like. Delivered as a document you can hand to a board.
62020Managed platform operations
Hosting, deployment pipelines, monitoring, backup and restore testing, patching and incident response for a service that has to stay up.
62030Migrations & rescues
Moving a system to somewhere better, or taking on a project that has stalled — starting with an honest assessment of what can be salvaged and what cannot.
62090Resilience & continuity
Backups that have been restored from, access that survives someone leaving, and a written plan for the day the main system is unavailable.
62020 · 62030How an engagement runs
Five stages, each one a place you can stop
Nothing here is unusual. It is written down because most disappointment in technology projects comes from a stage that everybody assumed had happened.
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Conversation
Half an hour on what the problem actually is. No fee, no obligation, and sometimes it ends with us saying you do not need us.
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Written assessment
What we would do, what it will cost, what could go wrong, and what the alternatives are — in a document, before you commit.
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Agreed scope
A fixed scope and a fixed price for the first stage. Anything outside it is re-quoted in writing rather than absorbed silently.
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Build or advise
Work delivered in reviewable increments, in your repositories and your accounts, so progress is visible rather than reported.
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Operate or hand over
We run it under an agreed support arrangement, or we document it and hand it to your team. Both are normal endings.
What we commit to
Promises you can check
MPH Media & Tech was incorporated in April 2026. We are not going to claim decades of history or a wall of testimonials we do not have. What we can offer instead are commitments that are verifiable on the first engagement.
A supplier should be judged on what they promise in writing before you pay them, not on what they say about themselves afterwards. Mark Peter Humphreys · Director
Standing commitments
ALL ENGAGEMENTS
- Scope in writing first. No work starts on a verbal understanding.
- Fixed price per stage. Variations are quoted, agreed, then done.
- Your accounts, your code. Everything created is yours, in repositories you own.
- No vendor commission. We are paid by you and only by you.
- Documented handover. Written so a competent third party could take over.
- Plain-English reporting. Status you can forward to a board without translation.
- An honest no. If the work is outside what we do well, we say so.
These are the terms we offer as standard. If any of them do not suit your procurement process, say so at the first conversation and we will tell you plainly whether we can work another way.
Who this suits
Organisations with an audience and a system between them
We are a small company and we work best where a single accountable technologist is an advantage rather than a limitation.
- Independent publishers
- Production & post houses
- Creative and marketing agencies
- Membership & trade bodies
- Training and e-learning providers
- Charities and trusts
- Professional practices
- Owner-managed businesses
- Startups past the prototype
- In-house teams needing a second pair of hands
Based in Danbury, Chelmsford. We work with clients across Essex, London and the East of England in person, and anywhere in the United Kingdom remotely.
Questions
Asked before the first meeting
A software company that works largely for media and content organisations. We do not write copy, design campaigns or buy advertising. We build and run the systems that editorial, production and distribution teams depend on — and we advise on the technology decisions around them.
Because the risk is managed by how the engagement is structured, not by the age of the company. Work is staged, each stage is fixed-price, and everything we produce lives in accounts and repositories you own. If we disappeared tomorrow, you would still hold the code, the documentation and the credentials.
We would rather you tested us on a small, self-contained piece of work than took a large one on trust.
Yes, and it is a large share of what we are asked for. A rescue always starts with a paid assessment rather than a promise: we read the code, the infrastructure and the contract, and then tell you honestly whether it is cheaper to finish, to replace, or to negotiate with the incumbent.
No. Code is written in your repositories, hosting sits in your accounts under your billing, and every engagement ends with documentation intended for somebody else to pick up. Support arrangements run on a rolling basis with a short notice period — we would rather keep clients because leaving is easy.
Fixed price per stage for defined pieces of work, a fixed fee for written assessments and reviews, and a monthly retainer for ongoing platform operations and support. Day rates are used only where a client specifically prefers them. Every figure is agreed in writing before work starts.
Our registered office is 8 Mildmays, Danbury, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 4DP. We meet clients in person across Essex, London and the East of England, and work remotely with clients anywhere in the United Kingdom. The registered office is an administrative address rather than a walk-in reception, so please arrange any visit by email first.
Next step
Tell us what you are trying to build or fix
One email is enough to start. Describe the situation in your own words — we will reply with what we think it involves, what it is likely to cost, and whether we are the right people for it.