What we do

Tapiki is a senior technology practice in Hawaiʻi, founded in 2002. We help set the direction, do the work, and stay accountable for what we build. Engagements run from a four-week assessment to multi-year partnerships.

From the first decision to the years after launch

Advice, development, and maintenance work best when the same team connects them. On every engagement, we help set the direction, do the work, and plan for what the system needs after launch.

Experienced technical leadership

Make the right decisions before committing to the build.

We help you define the problem and choose a practical path before anything is built. We explain the tradeoffs in plain language and give your team and partners direction they can act on.

Practical engineering

Turn sound decisions into systems that work.

We design and build websites, applications, and integrations around the job they need to do. We pick technology for how well it fits that job, and we build for reliability, accessibility, security, and maintainability.

Long-term responsibility

Keep the system useful after launch.

We plan for maintenance and change from the start, and each engagement defines who supports the system after launch. Many clients keep us on to maintain and improve what we built, some for more than a decade.

Three ways to work with us

Whether you need ongoing technical leadership, a custom application, or a better public website, the same practice sets the direction, does the work, and plans for its care after launch.

Technology Partnership

Senior technical leadership, connected to delivery.

Senior technology leadership on retainer, for organizations without a CTO or leaders who want a peer. Brian works with your executive team as its technology leader. He sets priorities, evaluates systems and vendors, holds vendors to their contracts, and reports to your board in plain language.

He stays close to implementation and does the hands-on technical work that matters most, such as architecture and security reviews, so his recommendations stay grounded in the work.

Examples include Mission Management Company, where Brian is CTO

Platforms & Applications

Software built around the work your organization needs to do.

Custom platforms, mobile apps, integrations, and AI-integrated systems that solve specific operational problems, from architecture through production. SaaS platforms, internal tools, field data apps, and on-device machine learning, built around your organization’s workflows and data. Mobile apps ship on iPhone, iPad, and Android, with cross-platform frameworks such as Flutter where one codebase should serve both.

We add AI where it does a specific job, such as reading documents or recognizing images, and test it like any other part of the system. We build each system so it can be maintained as your needs change.

Examples include Mission Management Company, iFirst Medical, Ecobot, StormWatch

Web & Digital Presence

Public websites built for the people who depend on them.

We design, build, and modernize custom websites for usability, accessibility, and performance, and for the staff who keep them current. We audit them against WCAG 2.2 AA and keep them current with hosting, security updates, and content changes long after launch.

Many of our web relationships are in their second decade. Shinnyo Lantern Floating Hawaiʻi has been with us since 2013.

Examples include Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Central Pacific Bank, Charles Schwab, Alexander & Baldwin, Hawaii Department of Transportation

Where engagements begin

A new build

You know what you need and don’t have it yet. We scope and build it, and we can run it after launch if you need us to.

A modernization

You have systems that work but hold you back, such as an aging website, a member-facing app that lags behind what members expect, a platform nobody fully owns. We modernize in phases so your staff can keep working.

A rescue

A project stalled, a vendor didn’t work out, or a legacy system needs a new owner. We review what exists, tell you plainly what is worth keeping, and take it to production.

How the practice works

Brian leads the technical work on every engagement and stays hands-on in the code. Design comes from Hawaiʻi agencies, led by iQ 360, and development capacity comes from US-based partners Tapiki has worked with for nearly 20 years, led by TechRiver.

Clients own their code and accounts from day one, on standard, documented stacks. WCAG 2.2 AA is the accessibility baseline for everything we build.

  1. Assess

    We learn how your organization works, review the existing systems, and find the problem worth solving. We identify constraints and risks before anyone commits to a solution.

  2. Architect

    We define a practical approach, explain the important tradeoffs, and agree on who owns each part of the work.

  3. Build

    We design, build, and test the system, and refine it against the needs it serves.

  4. Maintain

    When an engagement includes ongoing support, we keep the system supported, fix issues, and plan improvements as your organization and its technology change.

You should know what we recommend, why we recommend it, and who is responsible for what comes next.

Capabilities statement (PDF)