Strategy to operations

Digital Strategy, UX/UI and Web Engineering — One Accountable Team

Enterprise web projects rarely fail inside one discipline. They fail at the hand-offs: the strategy deck that design cannot use, the design the developers cannot build as drawn, the build that nobody owns after launch. The alternative is one team accountable for the outcome from the first workshop to continuous optimisation.

Short answer

MadeByCat covers digital strategy, discovery, UX research, UX/UI design, content and UX writing, CMS, front-end and back-end engineering, integrations, QA, accessibility, SEO migration, launch and managed services within one team. The practical value is accountability: instead of dividing responsibility between a strategy consultant, a design agency and a software vendor, one team owns the result and the decisions between those stages. Scope, roles and boundaries are still written down for each project.

01

Who this is for

This model suits organisations that want fewer vendors to coordinate and a single point of accountability for a website or digital platform.

  • Enterprises replacing a corporate website where strategy, design and build were previously split across suppliers.
  • Marketing and IT teams that need a partner able to speak to both, without an internal integrator in the middle.
  • Groups and holdings planning a platform that must be designed, built and then operated over years.
  • Teams that have been burned by a launch that nobody maintained afterwards.
02

What the one team covers

The capabilities are the same ones you would buy separately; the difference is that they are planned together.

  • Digital strategy and discovery — goals, audiences, success measures and a prioritised roadmap.
  • UX research and UX/UI design — structure, flows, prototypes, visual design and a design system.
  • Content and UX writing — voice, microcopy, page content models and migration guidance.
  • CMS — selecting whether to keep your system, use an enterprise CMS, a custom panel or a headless approach, then configuring it for editors.
  • Front-end and back-end engineering, and integrations with CRM, ERP, PIM, DAM or other APIs.
  • QA and accessibility — functional, device and WCAG 2.2 AA checks before every release.
  • SEO migration and launch — redirect maps, metadata parity and a controlled go-live.
  • Managed services and continuous optimisation — releases, monitoring and a reviewed improvement backlog.
03

Why single accountability matters

When strategy, design and software sit with different suppliers, each is accountable for its own deliverable but nobody is accountable for whether the parts fit. Decisions get re-opened at every hand-off, and problems are argued over rather than fixed.

With one team, the same people who define the goal review the design against it and see it through build and launch. Trade-offs between ambition, budget and technical constraints are made in one conversation, and the team that launches the site stays responsible for how it runs.

04

Buying criteria to check

Whether you choose us or another partner, these questions separate a genuinely integrated team from a bundle of subcontractors:

  • Are strategists, designers and engineers in-house, and who leads the project day to day?
  • Can the team show published cases where it carried the work from design through launch and operation?
  • How are scope, change requests and acceptance handled in writing?
  • What happens after launch — who maintains, measures and improves the site?
  • Which responsibilities stay with you or with other providers, and are they written down?
05

Working model

Projects follow the Madebycat Loop — align, discover, architect, design, engineer, operate and evolve — with decision gates between phases and a named lead on both sides. Delivery governance, reporting and change control are described in the delivery and managed services playbook.

06

Scope and what is not included

Included: the disciplines listed above, as agreed in a written scope for each project.

Not included unless contracted separately or with the relevant provider: hosting and infrastructure contracts, domains and licences, penetration testing, security certification, 24/7 staffed cover, legal approval of content and paid media buying. Where core systems such as banking, payment or API back-ends are owned by the client or another vendor, our role is limited to the experience and integration layer we build.

Frequently asked questions

Do we have to buy every stage from you?
No. Some clients start with discovery or design only. The benefit of one team is greatest when the same people carry the work into build and operation, but each stage has its own deliverables.
Can you work with our internal IT team or other vendors?
Yes. Responsibilities are split in writing, for example your team owning infrastructure or a core system while we own the experience layer.
Do you handle SEO during a migration?
Yes. Redirect mapping, metadata and structured-data parity and post-launch monitoring are part of launch planning. We do not guarantee rankings.
Which CMS do you use?
We start from the business need. Keeping the current system, a custom panel, an enterprise CMS or a headless approach are all options; the choice is made after discovery.
What happens after launch?
A stabilisation period follows go-live, then the site can move into managed services with scheduled releases, monitoring, reporting and an improvement backlog.

One team, from first workshop to continuous improvement

Tell us what you are replacing, who is involved today and what has not worked before. We will propose a scope with clear responsibilities.

Contact us→