--- title: "Why ELFO" description: "Why ELFO. Year Founded. 0. Team Members. 0. +. Development Hours (2025) 0. k. Training Hours (2025) 0. k. R&D Hours (2025) 0. K. Year Founded. 0. Team Members. 0. +. Development Hours (2025) 0. k. Tra..." url: https://www.elfo.net/en/why-elfo/ date: 2024-12-02 modified: 2026-06-16 author: "Admin" type: page lang: en --- # Why ELFO ## Why ELFO Year Founded 1988 Team Members 110 + Development Hours (2025) 130 k Training Hours (2025) 5 k R&D Hours (2025) 12 K Year Founded 1988 Team Members 110 + Development Hours (2025) 130 k Training Hours (2025) 5 k R&D Hours (2025) 12 K ## Every day, we work to push the innovation horizon for our clients, starting from their growth objectives. ## WHO WE SERVE ## Our Clients Our clients are medium-large to large companies with an international structure, often **operating in complex organizational environments**. Their main need is to **create, modify, integrate, improve, or innovate** a software application in a way that is unique and specifically designed to achieve their goals. ELFO’s clients value ongoing collaboration with a reliable partner who combines deep technical expertise with a thorough understanding of process, production, and service dynamics. ## Unique Needs, Unique Services! Our clients have specific and unique requirements. Over the years, we have honed our ability to deliver tailored solutions. ## We have knowledge and expertise across various domains, including: Architectural Design Adoption of Innovative Technologies and Methodologies Development and Deployment Environments Cloud Platform Solutions Performance Monitoring and Optimization Cybersecurity ## We know how to select and apply the right tools and strategies ## necessary to achieve the often "unique" goals of our clients. [Discover how](https://www.elfo.net/en/custom-software-en/) ![](https://www.elfo.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Firefly-An-image-that-represents-a-business-challenge-such-as-a-handshake-and-includes-elements-re.jpg) ### Do you have an idea, a project, or a specific need? [Challenge us!](https://www.elfo.net/en/contacts/) Within 72 hours, we’ll present a project proposal and the roadmap we’ve designed to help you achieve your goals. ## What sets us apart? ## Our Added Value Thanks to the experience gained through years of collaboration and partnership with both SMEs and large international companies, we represent a solution to the problems of the companies and we can satisfy the needs at the basis of the custom requirements. ## We don't "reinvent the wheel" ![Perchè ELFO](https://www.elfo.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/perche-elfo5.svg) With **automation tools, libraries and frameworks, **we can **quickly develop **significant portions of applications, without reinventing the wheel every time. This means **less implementation time and lower project costs.** ## Minimized time to value ![Perchè ELFO time to value](https://www.elfo.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/time2value.svg) Our **organizational and production model allows us to minimize **time to value. Using the **Agile Methodology **and the **company’s own software production tools**, the time needed to build and deploy an MVP is usually just few months (3-5). ## No dependency on supplier ![Perchè ELFO nessuna dipendenza dal fornitore](https://www.elfo.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/nessuna-dipendenza-dal-fornitore.svg) We believe that **we will be chosen again **thank to our skills, our expertise, the success of our work, not because we create dependencies. **The code produced within our partnerships is always conferred to the client.** ## No need for over budget ![perchè ELFO - eliminazione-di-over-budget](https://www.elfo.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eliminazione-di-over-budget-1.svg) The budget is spent where it creates value to the end-user, **since the customer decides the design and implementation process**. The result is to deliver value iteratively and incrementally, defining from time to time what to develop and how. ## Take care policy ![Perchè ELFO - take care policy](https://www.elfo.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/take-care-policy.svg) **Our secret ingredient!** A modular package of hours to spend for small changes development, additional reports and features, etc … This gives **fast and timely answers to business needs**. Unused time is not billed. Since this time is managed within a specific area of our organization, these additional requests are always placed on a **fast track, **which avoids waiting for scheduled production activities to be completed. ## Are always present: ### Expertise ### Presence ### Innovation ### Cost/Value ## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ### ELFO highlights ### Why choose ELFO over an offshore software house? ELFO pays off when you look at **the total project cost**, not the lowest hourly quote: software tied to your processes only matters if it ships and actually works. The hourly rate is a small piece. The rest comes from **deep context**, fast feedback and **continuity over time**. You work with a team that speaks your language, understands how **manufacturing companies** operate and talks directly to production, quality, engineering and sales: fewer misunderstandings, less rework, shorter alignment cycles. Add **geographic proximity**, in-person meetings and **European regulations**. Your **code always stays yours**, with no **vendor lock-in**. We do more than just write software: we are a **long-term partner**, with clients who have stayed with us for **over 10 years**. ### Why choose ELFO over a standard ERP? A **standard ERP** handles common processes well, but forces the business to adapt to its modules exactly where your processes are **differentiating**. ELFO builds **custom software** that adapts to how you work and, instead of replacing the ERP, **integrates** with it: the ERP stays the data backbone, the custom layer covers what the ERP does poorly. Often the choice is not ERP **or** custom, but ERP **plus** a tailored extension where it counts. ### Why has ELFO worked for over 15 years with clients like Ferrero and Emerson? **Relationships lasting more than 15 years**, with companies like **Ferrero** and **Emerson**, are the most concrete proof of reliability: you keep a software supplier that long only if it keeps its promises, evolves the systems over time and deeply understands your processes. For ELFO it means **team continuity** on the project and knowledge that does not restart from scratch at every engagement, an advantage over large system integrators where staff turnover wipes out accumulated experience. ### How do you reduce project risk? Risk drops when you **deliver value early and often**: with the **Agile** method ELFO ships an **MVP** typically in 3-5 months, then usable increments at every **sprint**, so you see the software working before the whole budget is spent. The client **decides iteratively** where to invest, the **code stays yours** (no lock-in), and the **Take Care Policy** covers small changes with modular hours, billing only those actually used. Less tunnel effect, more control across the whole project. ### What happens if requirements change during development? It is expected. ELFO works in **Agile** precisely where requirements evolve: at each **sprint** priorities are re-planned, so a change becomes the next thing to build rather than a contractual problem. The **Time & Material** model gives the flexibility to move effort where it is really needed, while **Waterfall** is kept for stable, regulated scopes. The point is not to freeze requirements, but to have a method that absorbs change without blowing up time and cost. ### Do you provide support after release? Yes. Software in production is covered by an AMS (Application Management Services) contract: support and maintenance with defined SLAs, from response time to resolution, written into the contract rather than promised on a call. It includes ongoing enhancements and continuous improvement, so the software grows with your business instead of aging. And one firm rule: bug fixes are always on ELFO, at no extra cost to you. For us, go-live opens the relationship, it does not close it. ### Can you take over software built by someone else? Yes, and it happens more often than you’d think: if the vendor who built your software has vanished, slowed down or stopped answering, **you are not stuck**. For ELFO, adapting to **existing code and processes** is routine work: the typical path is a review of code and documentation, **stabilization**, then development picks up where it left off, modernizing **legacy software** step by step. And from there the rules change: with ELFO the **code is always yours**. No **vendor lock-in**: this is the last time you’ll need to ask this question.