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I founded Blackball Software way back in 2004, a great challenge and adventure in your 20s, and a remarkable journey since. Over two eventful decades, I have had the privilege of working with some wonderful people and getting to spend my “working” life playing with cool new toys and exploring cutting-edge technology.

There are many aspects - good and bad - to running your own business. But the absolute best for me at Blackball has been the freedom to pick and choose the fields that we work in, and the subsequent innovation and work this allowed. I have used this freedom to its fullest over the years, keeping Blackball on the forefront of the latest technology trends and attracting a steady stream of customers both here in New Zealand and around the world. I’m sure that this forward-focus - combined with a genuine love of our craft and of helping people - has been the reason Blackball has been able to thrive for 20 years in a notoriously fickle industry.

So, we come to 2024 and I find myself looking ahead again. But this time, it feels different.

In the past, the art has been in grasping evolving trends - discarding the fads and committing to truly useful technology. Now, Artificial Intelligence, No-Code and Virtual/Augmented Reality find me reimagining the entire future of my industry every few months. It is the most exciting time in Blackball’s history and after carefully observing for the last year or so, it’s starting to feel more revolution than evolution.

In this post, I'd like to share the next chapter for Blackball, the reasoning behind it, and my vision for the future. But before I can explain where we’re going, you need to see where we’ve been. So for context, I’ve broken this post into three parts: the past, the present, and the future.

The past

When I founded Blackball, the software industry was a completely different landscape. Over the decades we have forecast and adapted for several technological shifts that have allowed us to thrive. From the ascendency of the internet to the mobile era and now beyond, we have consistently embraced change, transitioning from desktop to web, servers to serverless, startups to enterprise and back again. We even flirted briefly with Silverlight development somewhere in the middle there (can’t get it right every time).

The rise of cloud computing and the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) era marked further exciting pivotal moments for us. Blackball played a central role in building platforms that powered businesses across a huge variety of sectors. We love designing niche, forward-thinking solutions for long-standing customers and innovators. We became increasingly passionate about the potential of these tools.

Now, in 2024, our journey has culminated in software integration services, where we not only build large SaaS platforms, but also connect them all to each other to share data, increase business efficiency and elevate the customer experience. As I write this article, our software is quietly running in the background on servers around the world, syncing tens of millions of data points and enabling millions of dollars in daily revenue and cost savings for our customers. Exciting stuff.

Finally, our skillset has also coalesced perfectly to a SaaS platform of our very own - SyncHub - whose ever-growing success and technical prowess continues to be a source of pride and motivation for our entire team. SyncHub’s core competency - syncing cloud service data like Hubspot or Xero into popular reporting tools like Power BI or Excel - leverages every strength that Blackball has developed over the preceding decades.

The present

By definition, to be an in-demand developer of bespoke software, you must be able to build software that others cannot. At a minimum, this means operating beyond the ever-improving DIY solutions available to the non-technical population. Software like Frontpage and Dreamweaver, then later SaaS platforms like Shopify or Zapier have kept us constantly thinking ahead of the game - beyond the bounds where off-the-shelf-solutions fall short. Embracing and adopting change has kept our services in high-demand and allowed us to grow for so long.

But here’s the thing. While “embracing change” and “playing with new toys” sounds fun and easy, it can also be stressful and difficult. It means constantly reevaluating and redesigning what you know “just works.” It means discarding proven and efficient processes and relearning skill sets. It means investing time and money back into research when the temptation is to hire more staff and double-down on what’s currently making money. It’s pioneering.

The deluge of opportunities coming in 2024 and beyond are only going to exaggerate these challenges - not just for Blackball, but for the entire industry and any business wishing to develop software.

It’s a revolution, but I feel inspired and resourced for it all. Blackball has a proven track record of adapting and evolving, and I can think of no company with better credentials than us to help shape the industry through the coming years.

The future

So, what lies ahead? AI, XR and no-code platforms are certain to completely change the nature of software development over the next decade. Blackball has already shown it can thrive through change - now it’s time to truly lead through change.

Therefore, in 2024, we are pivoting Blackball Software from development-first to research-first.

This change will reshape our daily operations, freeing our time to design forward-facing systems and allowing us “room to breathe” as we evaluate the changes hurtling towards the software industry.

So, how does all this actually look?

Our valued clients: We will continue to support our long-standing clients and projects. If larger extensions or functionality are required, we will gracefully assist in transitions to other trusted developers who can better dedicate the time & resources needed.

New clients: We will no longer accept new software development projects - at least, not for the foreseeable future. We will however share our work and innovation in the form of technical articles, open-source projects or consultancy services.

Staff: Our talented team will transition their skills to a variety of R & D areas - including a number of data-related technologies inspired by the ongoing growth at SyncHub.

Myself: I will raise a glass to the last 20 years of Blackball and eagerly anticipate the next 20 at the forefront of the industry I love. And, of course, I’m looking forward to playing with a few more new toys :)

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been a part of the Blackball journey over the years. Your support and dedication have been invaluable, and I look forward to what new adventures await.