✦ The Halo development model

How Halo Builds.
Fewer engineers. Faster delivery.

Most enterprise software vendors solve problems by adding people. Halo does the opposite — and after eight years of continuous development, the results are on the record.

Talk to a Halo specialist
420+
Improvements shipped
8yrs
Continuous development
2wks
Average release cycle
v02.234
Versions shipped

Brooks' Law: why bigger teams ship slower

In 1975, software engineer Fred Brooks published The Mythical Man-Month — one of the most important books ever written about how software actually gets built. His central finding was blunt:

"Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later."
— Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month (1975)

The reason is mathematical. As a team grows, the number of communication channels between people grows exponentially — not linearly. Every new person added doesn't just add work; they add coordination overhead, meetings, misalignments, and handoff delays that dwarf their actual contribution.

Brooks identified this in the 1970s. Most enterprise software vendors still haven't learned it.

Communication channels: n × (n−1) ÷ 2

Team sizeChannels
5 people 10
10 people 45
50 people 1,225
100 people 4,950
1,000+ people 499,500

The formula: n × (n−1) ÷ 2. Double the team and you don't double the overhead — you quadruple it. At enterprise scale, most of a developer's time isn't writing code; it's spent in coordination.

Legacy vendors vs. the Halo approach

When a software company reaches enterprise scale, something starts to break. The headcount grows, the org chart deepens, and the roadmap slows to a crawl — not because of lack of talent, but because of the physics of how large teams communicate.

✕ The legacy enterprise model

  • Thousands of engineers spread across dozens of teams and time zones
  • Major releases once or twice a year, named after cities or seasons
  • Features announced years in advance, regularly delayed or descoped
  • Customer feedback travels through layers of product management before reaching a developer
  • Upgrades require lengthy professional services engagements and regression testing
  • Pricing reflects the overhead of maintaining a vast engineering organisation

✓ The Halo model

  • Tight, focused development team — all based in Stowmarket, all Halo's own people
  • Releases every two weeks, with specific improvements visible to every customer immediately
  • Roadmap published openly — what's coming and when, not vague promises
  • Feedback from partner teams flows directly into the development room
  • Updates apply automatically — no upgrade projects, no disruption, no version lag
  • Leaner organisation means investment goes into product, not overhead

Small team. Clear communication. Fast progress.

Halo's development philosophy is built around the same principle Brooks identified fifty years ago: keep the team tight, keep the communication lines short, and ship continuously. It's not a compromise — it's a deliberate competitive advantage.

🏠

One location

The entire development team is based in Stowmarket, Suffolk. No remote handoffs, no timezone delays. Ideas move from conversation to code in hours, not weeks.

🔄

Fortnightly releases

Every two weeks, new functionality ships to every customer simultaneously. No waiting for the next major version. Features just appear — and they're real.

📡

Direct feedback loop

Partner and customer feedback reaches the development team directly. No product management layers translating the message and losing the detail. What matters gets built.

🗺️

Published roadmap

Halo shows you what's coming and when — in specific features with target quarters, not vague promises. Customers can plan around it. That level of transparency is rare at any price point.

No upgrade tax

Updates are applied centrally. Customers don't pay for upgrade projects, don't retest custom workflows, and don't fall behind on versions. Everyone is always current.

🎯

Quality over quantity

Tight teams build fewer things, but the right things. Brooks' Law works in reverse too — less noise, better focus, and more pride in what ships. The product shows it.

Right now: Halo's development team is working on the next release. It will ship within the next two weeks.

Talk is easy. Halo publishes everything.

Every meaningful update Halo has shipped since 2018 is documented and publicly accessible. The numbers below are the actual record — not marketing copy.

420+
Notable improvements documented since 2018
40+
Significant updates shipped in 2025 alone
8–17
Notable updates per quarterly release window
197
Individual tracked versions from v0.12 to v2.234

Documented updates by year

The most recent release highlights

Real updates from Halo's most recent release windows — representative of the breadth of development happening every fortnight.

Coming soon — v2.238.1
Added functionality to automatically flag potential PII data for Agents to review and redact
SeatGeek integration is now available
SailPoint Identity Now integration is now available
Assetbots integration is now available
Updated the Gantt chart with improved visuals
January 2026
Changed the way incoming webhooks are processed in the Exchange calendars integration
Added SQL Lookups to Asset Fields
Various improvements to maintenance windows and change freeze periods
SailPoint IIQ integration is now available
Various improvements to the service catalogue
Asset-Client direct link added
Added the ability to use generic Open ID Connect single sign-on
Added the ability to use dynamic filters on ticket lists
October 2025
Halo Remote MCP Server for AI integrations now available
Report Forecasting added
Armis integration is now available
Raynet One integration is now available
Added the ability to create Tickets through Tanium webhooks
Improvements to the Addigy integration
Added maintenance windows for configuration items
Added the Keeper integration
Added the Cloudflare integration
Various enhancements to notifications to support on-call notifications
ArrowSphere Integration is now available
Added the ability to use access control for reports
July 2025
Various improvements to Configuration Items (Services & Business Applications)
Added a module to track Ticket Volumes logged per type & source Added a Forecasting module to predict future Ticket volumes using historical data (Uses Nixtla TimeGPT integration)
Runbooks can now be executed during a chat-bot conversation
Added the ability to compare article amendment drafts to the existing article
Various improvements to event management
Chat area added
ISL Online Integration is now available
New Tab Functionality

The live Halo ITSM roadmap

Halo publishes its roadmap openly. These are the features currently in development — specific, named items with target delivery quarters. No vague promises.

Spec Needed
To-Do
Awaiting Approval
Awaiting 3rd Party
With User
Backlog
Q2 2026
6 items
#482339
Email Encryption at Source
New method to allow for outgoing emails to be encrypted and require authentication to be accessed by end-users.
#799946
Virtual Agent Forecasting
Ability to predict future ticket data through the use of Artifical Intelligence
#1029937
Service Statuses on Agent Portal
Ability to display Service Statuses on Agent Portal for a better User Experience and improved internal information sharing
#726312
AI for Change Optimisation
Leverage Halo AI to optimise the Change Management process by assessing risk.
AI
#970426
Dashboard UI/UX Enhancements
Introducing the ability to determine font colour, font size, and background colour based on more than 1 logical conditions
#1038787
AWS Translate
Introducing the ability to translate custom translations as well as translating language packs using Amazon Translate
Q3 2026
6 items
#341097
Workflow capabilities for Assets and Configuration Items
Introducing workflow capabilities for Assets and Configuration items to support standalone lifecycle management to manage both IT and non-IT assets like HR records or facilities.
#991021
Ability to manually update service status alongside ticket driven service statuses
Introducing the flexibility to update Service Statuses outside of tickets when using Ticket Driven Service Statuses within Halo.
#631608
MS Copilot Integration
MS Copilot integration to support end user live chat functionality
AI
#710143
Access tickets directly through the mobile app when opening Halo URL
Introduction of opening tickets on the Halo mobile app from the received notificaiton.
Mobile
#758024
Teams Chat Management Enhancement
Multiple integration functionality improvements focusing on ticket closure, notifications, and chat creation.
#973873
Auto closure of Live Chat
Ability to send a message and close a live chat when a user is unresponsive for a pre-defined minutes.
Q4 2026
5 items
#1119523
Slack Chat Management
Introducing two-way Slack integration, enabling users to raise tickets, receive status updates, and interact with agents directly from Slack. Agents can manage tickets, update priorities, and trigger workflows, including approvals, without leaving Slack.
#304982
SaaS Management
Management of SaaS accounts and usage.
Integration
#770873
Workflow & Configuration Repository
Introducing a library of versioned, reusable workflows and configurations that can be imported directly into Halo instances, enabling teams to quickly deploy pre-built processes.
#969216
Call Management Improvements
Improvements to phone integrations including bi-directional call state sync, supplier and supplier user caller matching with the ability to log against open supplier tickets, and displaying the caller's name alongside their phone number in the call log.
Integration
#618774
Jamf school integration - Nice-to-have
Introducing support for Jamf School as a dedicated integration, enabling device data to be synced into Halo alongside the existing Jamf Pro integration.
Integration
To Be Confirmed
5 items
#224201
WorkDay Integration
Integration with Workday.
Integration
#267906
NetSuite Integration
Integration with NetSuite
#319319
KACE/Quest Kace integration
Integration with KACE/Quest Kace to import devices into HaloITSM's CMDB
Integration
#429466
ForeScout Asset Discovery Integration
Integration with Forescout for Asset Discovery.
Integration
#304979
Software Licensing Enhancements
Enhancements to the software licensing module to provide alignment options with AD groups.

Roadmap items and dates are subject to change by Halo. View on Halo's website ↗

See Halo's development model in action

As Allied ESM partners, we work directly with Halo's team. Talk to us about what's on the roadmap, what's just shipped, and what it means for your organisation.

Official Halo Partner

Allied ESM is a pure play Halo partner — licensing, implementation, consulting & managed services.