Extend enterprise experience with modern applications, APIs and connected cloud services.
Para builds and integrates modern applications where portals and packaged platforms need to be extended, connecting users, services, enterprise systems and data through APIs, SaaS integration and cloud-ready application patterns.
The focus is on solving the parts of the business problem that existing platforms cannot address cleanly — without introducing unnecessary applications, duplicated data or another disconnected technology layer.
Para's enterprise services include Custom Apps & APIs, covering modern applications, portals, integration services, APIs and enterprise UX, alongside Cloud & Integration, covering hybrid deployment, integration patterns, application modernization and platform services.
The capability spans modern web applications, mobile experiences, APIs, enterprise integration and cloud-enabled services, with the architecture shaped around the business requirement and target operating model.
The right platform should carry the common capability; custom applications should solve the gaps that still matter to the business.
Why This Matters
Collaboration and experience programs often reach requirements that cannot be solved cleanly by one platform.
An organization may already have a digital experience platform, Microsoft 365 environment, workflow solution, CRM or enterprise application, but still require a specific service, integration, mobile experience or business capability that does not fit naturally within those platforms.
This creates an architectural decision:
Should the capability be configured, integrated, extended, replaced or built?
Para's broader capability includes modern.NET and web applications, mobile experiences, APIs, integration, SaaS products and cloud services. Its technology profile includes.NET enterprise applications, React and modern web, Java/open source technologies, APIs and integration, alongside cloud and platform capabilities.
The emphasis is on extending the enterprise architecture without creating another isolated tool.
This means considering:
- Which capabilities already exist.
- Which platforms should remain the system of record.
- Where integration is preferable to duplication.
- Where a purpose-built application is genuinely required.
- How identity and access should work across the experience.
- Where data should be owned and maintained.
- How applications communicate through APIs and integration services.
- How the resulting solution will be deployed, supported and evolved.
This aligns with Para's broader architectural principle of architecture before build: define the target state, information, integration and delivery choices before implementation.
What the Work Looks Like
We define the application boundary first: which capabilities should stay in existing platforms, which should be integrated, which should be extended and which genuinely require purpose-built software.
This prevents custom development from becoming the default response to every requirement.
Define the role of the application
Para assesses the business capability the application needs to support, its users, information requirements, dependencies and relationship to existing enterprise platforms.
The result is a clearer boundary between:
Configure → Extend → Integrate → Build → Modernize
rather than treating every requirement as a standalone application project.
Design the application around enterprise context
Para then designs the application, API and integration model around enterprise identity, data ownership, security, integration dependencies and operational support.
This can include:
- Modern web applications.
- Mobile experiences.
- Enterprise portals.
- Purpose-built business applications.
- APIs and integration services.
- SaaS connectivity.
- Identity and access integration.
- Data and system integration.
- Enterprise UX patterns.
Para's documented technology capabilities include building cloud products and applications using.NET Core, TypeScript, MVC, React and NodeJS, as well as modern applications for iOS, Android and Windows using.NET, Xamarin and open-source technologies.
Connect rather than duplicate
Historical Para integration evidence includes connecting enterprise-system context into collaboration and experience environments.
The modern approach is to establish clear APIs, integration services and information ownership rather than reproducing data and business logic across multiple applications.
This is consistent with Para's architecture material, which identifies point-to-point integrations as a source of increasing complexity and recommends governed interfaces, reusable integration patterns and clear dependency management.
Modernize where the existing architecture becomes a constraint
Modern applications can also provide a path for addressing legacy application constraints.
Para's architecture approach assesses applications according to business value, lifecycle, duplication, technical condition, strategic fit and future role, then considers whether capabilities should be retained, modernized, replaced, consolidated or retired.
Use cloud and SaaS deliberately
Cloud and SaaS capabilities are used when they improve delivery, interoperability, scalability or operations.
Where cloud is introduced, the solution needs a corresponding approach to:
- Deployment.
- Security.
- Integration.
- Monitoring.
- Support.
- Lifecycle management.
- Ownership.
- Future modernization.
Para Point of View
Para's approach is therefore not custom-first or platform-first. It is business- and architecture-first.
Use the platform where it fits
Common enterprise capabilities should remain in the platforms designed to provide them when those platforms meet the requirement.
Build where differentiation or fit requires it
Purpose-built applications become appropriate when a business requirement cannot be addressed effectively through configuration, extension or integration.
Integration is part of the application
An application that works in isolation may solve a local requirement while creating an enterprise problem. APIs, identity, data flows and system dependencies therefore form part of the solution architecture.
Information ownership matters
Applications should consume and update information according to clearly defined ownership rather than creating competing versions of enterprise data.
Design for operation from the beginning
Deployment, monitoring, support, releases, security, service ownership and lifecycle management should be considered before the application reaches production.
Custom software creates value when it closes a real business gap without creating a new integration problem.
What You Get
Application and platform boundary assessment
A clear view of what should remain within existing platforms, what should be integrated or extended, and where purpose-built application development is justified.
Modern application and API architecture
A target architecture for applications, services, APIs, interfaces, identity, data and the relationships between the solution and existing enterprise platforms.
SaaS and enterprise integration design
An integration approach connecting SaaS services, enterprise applications, portals, data sources and external services through appropriate interfaces and reusable patterns.
Identity, data and security dependency map
A view of the identities, information domains, access requirements, system dependencies and security considerations that shape the application.
Cloud-ready deployment and operational considerations
Direction for deployment, environments, monitoring, support, lifecycle and operational ownership where cloud-enabled delivery forms part of the target architecture.
Phased build, integration and modernization roadmap
A sequenced path from architecture into implementation, integration, modernization and operational support, including dependencies and transition considerations.
These outputs align with Para's broader advisory approach, which moves from current-state assessment and capability gaps to target architecture, prioritized roadmap, governance and delivery handover.
Where It Fits
Modern Apps & Cloud extends Sitecore/DXP, Microsoft 365, workflow, analytics and other enterprise platforms.
It is also a delivery path for:
- B2B portals.
- Mobile experiences.
- Customer applications.
- Employee applications.
- Enterprise integration services.
- API-enabled services.
- Purpose-built business applications.
- SaaS-connected solutions.
- Modernization of existing applications.
The capability connects directly to Para's wider enterprise-service model:
Digital Experience → Applications → APIs & Integration → Data → Cloud/Platform Services → Operations
Para's enterprise-service portfolio explicitly places Custom Apps & APIs alongside Microsoft 365 & SharePoint, Sitecore & Digital Experience, Data/BI, Power Platform & Automation and Cloud & Integration.
Explore how Modern Apps & Cloud can support your next enterprise initiative.
Talk to Para about the business need, current environment and the practical next step from assessment into delivery.
Whether the requirement is to extend an existing platform, modernize a legacy application, build a customer or employee application, connect SaaS services, introduce APIs, enable a mobile experience or establish a more connected application architecture, Para can help determine what should be configured, integrated, extended or built.
The path can move from architecture and application-boundary decisions into application development, APIs, integration, cloud-enabled delivery and managed application support, depending on the target state.
Para's managed application support capability includes application support, SLA management, health checks, releases and continuous improvement, allowing the delivery relationship to continue beyond implementation.