About Devsio Services: Websites, SEO & Automation for Small Businesses

About Devsio in one line: it’s a small web, SEO and software studio I started in 2017, while I was still working in electrical trading. I’m Umer Shafique. This page is the plain version of how Devsio began, who does the work, and the few rules we don’t bend on.

Business transparency

Our business registration

DEVSIO SERVICES is listed as a business/branch in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Government of Pakistan, income-tax registration record for Umar Shafique.

Business name in record

DEVSIO SERVICES

Registration date

22 July 2025

Tax office

RTO Islamabad, Pakistan

The supplied registration document records “Income Tax: Active”. Personal identifiers are withheld from this public page. Our agency history begins in 2017; the date above is the tax-registration date shown in the document.

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The short version

Devsio Services builds websites, online shops, custom software and search campaigns for small businesses. Our focus is owners in the UK and Europe, and we also work with businesses in Pakistan, where we’re based.

We’re not a big agency with account managers and a sales floor. The people you speak to on the first call are the people who design and build your project. Nothing gets passed to a freelancer you’ve never met.

On a normal week, the work looks something like this:

• Building and fixing WordPress and WooCommerce sites for shops and service firms.
• Setting up Google Business Profile and local SEO for trades, clinics and salons.
• Writing small tools that replace a messy spreadsheet or a paper order book.
• Automating the boring bits, like enquiry replies and invoice reminders.

None of it’s glamorous, and that’s the first thing to know about Devsio. All of it’s meant to bring in work or save someone an hour.

If you want the long list of what we do, the services page has it. What follows here is the part a services list can’t tell you: where we came from and why we work the way we do.

How Umer Shafique started Devsio in 2017

I didn’t start in tech. People tend to expect a computer science story. I started behind a counter, in the electrical trade, and that’s still where a lot of my working week goes.

The billing desk at IKAS Trading

My first real job was at IKAS Trading, doing billing. Invoices, stock sheets, payment follow-ups, the lot. It’s dull work until you notice how much time a business loses to bad systems.

That’s where I got curious about software. I’d see the same data typed into three places, and a stock count that nobody trusted.

So I started teaching myself how websites and small tools were built, mostly at night after work.

From sales and marketing to the first clients

Later I moved into the role of sales and marketing manager at IKAS. That changed how I thought about websites.

A site isn’t a brochure. It’s the thing that either brings in calls or doesn’t.

In 2017 I set up Devsio alongside that job. I didn’t quit to chase it. I took small projects, did them properly, and kept my salary paying the bills while the skills caught up with the ambition. That slow start explains a lot about how we work now.

Still in the trade today

These days I also manage Star Electric Enterprises in Saddar, Rawalpindi. That surprises people who read about Devsio first.

So when I talk to a shop owner about billing, stock or slow payers, I’m not guessing. I deal with the same problems every week.

It’s also why we built the POS and inventory software that Star Electric runs on. You can read how that went in the Star Electric POS case study, and see the service itself on custom POS software.

No degree, just years of hands-on work

I don’t have a university degree. I’m not embarrassed by that, and I’m not going to dress it up either.

Everything I know about building websites, fixing slow WordPress installs and ranking pages in Google came from doing the work. Tutorials, documentation like the WordPress documentation, broken test sites, and real projects where getting it wrong would’ve cost a client money.

That shapes how Devsio hires and trains too. We care far more about what someone can show us than what’s printed on a certificate.

Can they build it, explain it, and fix it when it breaks? That’s the test.

People ask about Devsio and my background, so I’d rather say it up front than have you find out later.

Three rules we still run Devsio by

When people ask about Devsio and what makes us different, I don’t talk about tech stacks. I talk about three rules. They came from the early years and they haven’t changed.

Start small, but start honestly

We didn’t open with a big office and a list of fake logos. We started with one small job, then another. Each one was done properly and priced fairly.

We tell clients the same thing. You don’t need a huge site on day one.

A plumber in Swindon or a bakery in Ghent is often better off with five good pages that bring in calls than thirty pages nobody reads. Start with what’s needed, then build on it.

Build skills before selling

I wouldn’t sell a service until I could do it myself, properly, on a real project. That’s why our list of services grew slowly over the years instead of all at once.

If a request comes in that’s outside what we do well, we say so. We’d rather point you somewhere else than learn on your budget.

Don’t fake experience

No invented case studies. No stock photos pretending to be the team, and no “trusted by” logos we haven’t earned.

If we haven’t built something like your project before, you’ll hear that from us on the first call. That’s the rule I’m proudest of.

It sounds obvious. It isn’t, in this industry.

A lot of small business owners we speak to have been burned by an agency that promised a lot and couldn’t deliver. That’s exactly what we don’t want to be.

Why a trading background helps

Most agencies learn about small businesses from the outside. I learned from the inside, on a trading counter, chasing payments and answering the phone.

That background shapes the work in a few practical ways:

• We ask about your enquiries, stock and invoices before we ask about colours and fonts.
• We build things your staff can use on a busy Saturday, not just things that look good in a demo.
• We think about what happens after launch, because a site nobody updates slowly stops working.
• We know that owners want straight answers on cost and time, not a slideshow.

So when a small business web agency says it “gets” small businesses, ask what they’ve run themselves. For us, the answer is a real trading business in Saddar, every week.

Ten minutes on a trading counter teaches you more about software than a week of reading about it. Here’s what stuck with me, and what I bring into every Devsio project.

Nobody reads the manual

Staff on a busy counter won’t open a help file. If a screen needs explaining twice, it’s badly built. So we design billing screens, booking forms and admin panels for the person in a hurry, not for the person who built them.

Cash flow beats features

A shop owner cares about getting paid. A fancy dashboard that nobody opens doesn’t help, but an automatic reminder that chases an unpaid invoice does.

So we ask which problem costs you money first, and fix that one.

Customers want a straight answer

When a contractor rings about a cable order, they want price, stock and delivery in one go. Website visitors are the same.

They want to know what you do, where you work and how to reach you, fast. That idea sits behind every small business website we build, from a small business website to a full shop.

Who Devsio is a good fit for

Being honest about Devsio means saying who we’re not right for. We’d rather lose a job at the start than disappoint someone halfway through, and it saves everyone a bad month.

A good fit

• Owner-run businesses that want more enquiries, not just a nicer look.
• Shops and trade suppliers with stock, billing or ordering headaches.
• Firms in places like Bristol, Manchester, Dublin or Rotterdam who want a small team that answers the phone.
• Owners who like plain English and a fixed quote before anything starts.

Probably not a fit

• Large companies that need a supplier on a long procurement list.
• Anyone after a site built in two days with no discovery call.
• Projects where the brief is “copy that competitor exactly”.

If you’re not sure which side you’re on, ask. It costs nothing to find out, and a short call usually settles it.

What working with us looks like

This is the practical side of the story about Devsio. Here’s what you can expect if you get in touch. There’s nothing clever about it, and that’s the point.

A discovery call first

We start with a call about your business, not your website. What brings in money, where enquiries come from, what’s broken. From that we write a short scope in plain English.

Straight talk on timing

We’ll tell you how long the build should take before you agree to anything, and we’ll tell you if a deadline isn’t realistic. A rushed launch that breaks your enquiry form helps nobody. If something outside our control slows things down, like waiting on content or a supplier’s login, you’ll hear about it straight away.

A fixed-price quote

Then you get a fixed-price quote for that scope. No hourly meter running in the background. How it’s worked out is on our pricing page, if you’d like to see before we talk.

Built in-house, by the same people

Design, development and SEO are all done in-house by the team at Devsio. Our main office is in G-15 Markaz, Islamabad, and we have a second office at Hathi Chowk, Saddar, Rawalpindi. We keep working hours that overlap with the UK and Europe, so calls happen at sensible times for you. We run two shifts, so there is someone here around the clock and enquiries are answered within 24 hours.

You own what we build

Your domain, your hosting account, your code and your content stay yours. If you ever want to move on, you can, and we’ll hand everything over.

Five things people get wrong about Devsio

Some assumptions about Devsio come up so often on first calls that it’s easier to answer them here. None of them are unreasonable. They just don’t fit us, and it saves everyone time if I say so now.

That we’re an outsourcing shop

Because we’re in Pakistan, people assume we take a brief from an agency, pass it to whoever is free, and send it back. That isn’t how it works here. The same small group designs, builds and looks after the project, and you know their names.

The truth is we turn work down when the queue is full, rather than subcontracting it to keep the invoice. That’s slower for us and better for you.

That a small team must mean slow

Small teams are usually faster on projects this size, because there’s nobody to hand over to. A question asked at ten is answered by eleven, not routed through an account manager who has to check with the developer.

Where a small team is slower is on very large projects with many parallel workstreams. If that’s what you’ve got, we’ll tell you on the first call rather than take the deposit.

That we only build WordPress

WordPress is a big part of the work because it suits most small business sites and it’s something an owner can update without ringing anyone. But a fair bit of what we do is Next.js, WooCommerce and Shopify stores, and custom software that never touches a CMS at all.

We pick the platform by who has to maintain it afterwards. That’s a duller answer than a strong opinion about frameworks, and it’s the right one more often.

That a lower price means corners get cut

Our rates are lower than a London or Amsterdam agency because we’re based in Islamabad, not because the work is thinner. Rent, salaries and overheads here are a fraction of what they are there, and that difference goes to you rather than into a serviced office.

Judge it on the code, the speed scores and whether the site brings you enquiries. That’s the only fair test, and it’s the one I’d apply to anybody else.

That we vanish after launch

This is the fear behind most of the questions we get, and it’s earned. Plenty of owners have paid a final invoice and never heard from the developer again. It’s the single most common story I hear on discovery calls.

What I can tell you is that we still look after sites we built years ago, and the trading business in Saddar keeps me in one place rather than chasing the next city. Ring the office and somebody picks up.

Ask us the awkward version of any of these

If something on this page about Devsio sounds too tidy, push on it. Ask for a client we’ve worked with for more than a year. Ask what went wrong on the last project and what we changed afterwards. Ask who’ll be writing the code.

Everything I’ve written here about Devsio is meant to survive that kind of question. If it doesn’t, I’d rather know before you’ve paid us anything.

What people usually want to know about Devsio

A few questions about Devsio come up on almost every first call, so here are the honest answers.

Is Devsio a one-person operation?

No. I founded it and I’m still involved in every project, but there’s a team behind the work. You can see who they are further up this page.

Do you only work with UK and European businesses?

That’s our main focus, from sole traders to family firms with a few branches. We also work with businesses across Pakistan, especially in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Can I speak to Umer directly?

Yes. If you’d rather talk to me than to a developer first, just say so when you get in touch and we’ll set it up.

How long has Devsio been running?

Since 2017. For the first years it ran alongside my job at IKAS Trading, which is why it grew slowly and carefully. I’d rather tell you that than pretend we appeared overnight fully formed.

What if my project goes wrong?

Then we tell you early, explain why, and put it right. Most problems on small projects come from missed details at the start, which is why the discovery call and written scope matter so much. We’d rather spend an extra hour asking questions than a week fixing a wrong guess.

Why should I trust a small business web agency I found online?

You shouldn’t, not blindly, and nothing you read online should change that. Ask for a call, ask hard questions, and look at the work.

That’s how we’d want you to judge us, and it’s how I’d judge anyone else. Everything on this page is something you can check on that call.

Straight answers about Devsio before you ring

People do a bit of homework about Devsio before they get in touch, and the same four questions keep coming back. Here they are with the short answers, so the first call can be about your business instead.

How big is the team?

Small enough that you will know everyone’s name by the second week. Big enough that nobody is a single point of failure on a live site. When someone asks about Devsio and expects either a solo freelancer or a floor of fifty, the honest answer is neither.

Do you work weekends?

We run two shifts, so an enquiry sent on a Sunday morning in Bristol gets an answer the same day. We do not promise that a build will move over a weekend just because someone is awake. Rushed work on a Saturday night is how sites break on Monday.

What if I only need a small job?

Then bring the small job. A one page fix, a contact form that stopped sending, a speed problem on a WooCommerce shop. Plenty of what people hear about Devsio from other owners started as a two hour job somebody else would not quote for.

Can I see something that went wrong?

Yes, and that question usually means you have been burned before. Ask it on the call. Everything on this page about Devsio is meant to hold up to that question, and if it does not, I would rather you found out now than after an invoice.

If there is something about Devsio you cannot find an answer to here, ring and ask. A question about Devsio gets a plain answer, not a brochure.

What to take away about Devsio

If you remember one thing about Devsio, make it this: the person who answers your first call is the person who does the work. Everything else on this page follows from that.

The second thing worth knowing about Devsio is that we are still running a trading business in Saddar every week, so the problems we build software for are problems we have on our own counter. That is not a marketing line. It is the reason we ask about your invoices before we ask about your colour scheme.

The third is that nothing here has been dressed up. No invented client list, no borrowed case studies, no team photo of people who do not work here. If you go looking for the least flattering thing anyone could say about Devsio, you will find a project that took longer than we quoted, and you will find us saying so on the call rather than after the invoice.

Anything else you want to know about Devsio, ask directly. We answer awkward questions better than polished ones, and a straight question about Devsio gets a straight answer the same day.

If you’ve read this far and you think we’d get on, get in touch here. Tell me what’s going on in your business, and I’ll tell you straight whether we’re the right people to help.