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Showing posts from February, 2020

About Start Software

Start Software is an award-winning developer and leading publisher of asbestos software, systems for the legal services industry and more.

Want to know more about asbestos software Alpha Tracker? Alpha Tracker is the most used asbestos software in the UK, Australia & New Zealand with more than 60m items of asbestos data stored.

Our legal services software Alpha Legal helps will writers, accountants, solicitors, IFAs and estate agents to communicate securely with clients. Read about developments here on the blog.

Or need help with Alpha Anywhere or Alpha Transform projects or software development? You'll find useful info here.

Special offers available for asbestos consultancies switching to Alpha Tracker

Is your asbestos consultancy currently using another asbestos software system rather than Alpha Tracker?

Are you fed up with receiving poor customer service?

Do you feel like you're not valued as a customer?

Fed up with your current asbestos software provider?
Get in touch with us! We offer unlimited, personal 24x7 customer support for your office and field staff.  We are known for our flexibility and friendly approach.

If you're switching from one of our competitors, we can offer a discount of up to 20% off our installation fees.  Give us a call!

Improved performance when raising invoices and credit notes within Alpha Tracker

Asbestos software Alpha Tracker works "end-to-end" for asbestos consultancies, enabling them to track work from initial contact right through to issuing an invoice after an asbestos survey or re-inspection has been completed.

Invoice easily and automatically from Alpha Tracker
We've been working on performance improvements to the invoicing code in Alpha Tracker to help bigger consultancies, in particular, who raise a large number of invoices each month.

The improvements will be live in Alpha Tracker Release 32 which will be available in the next few weeks.

Asbestos specialists Agon Environmental go live with Alpha Tracker

Another asbestos consultancy has switched to asbestos software Alpha Tracker and their staff have received their training.


Agon Environmental are specialists in asbestos, contaminated land and mould and welcome contact from new clients.  Judy visited the Agon staff at their offices to deliver face-to-face training to admin and field staff.

Welcome on board Agon Environmental!

Agon enjoying their training!!

Staff can work on laptop, tablet or smartphone

Field staff getting to grips with Tracker Mobile



FAQ: Do I need an Internet connection to use Tracker Mobile and collect asbestos data on site?

No!

Asbestos surveyors do not need WiFi or a mobile data connection when collecting data and photos on site
It's something we get asked a lot - asbestos surveyors worry that if they don't have an Internet connection they won't be able to do their asbestos surveyors or asbestos reinspections.  This isn't the case!

Our Tracker Mobile asbestos site data collection product does not need an Internet connection when it is being used - it works perfectly "offline".  The surveyor only needs to connect to the Internet when sending their data in (or picking up new jobs from the office administrators using Alpha Tracker).

One of our competitors loves spreading rumours to the contrary - don't believe what you hear!  Asbestos surveyors around the world have collected more than 30,000,000 items of asbestos data using Tracker Mobile and 95% of this has been collected offline...

HSL extend use of Alpha Tracker into air monitoring

HSL - one of the UK's largest environmental consultancies - are extending their use of asbestos software Alpha Tracker into related areas of business.

HSL - one of the UK's leading environmental consultancies

Our trainers have been on-site to show HSL staff how to use Alpha Tracker for asbestos air monitoring - here are some of the photos taken at the training day.




Improved QR code features on way

We were the first asbestos software company to introduce QR codes into our reports and system. 

Alpha Tracker has been able to produce QR codes for reports, sites, buildings, rooms and even individual items for years now and many clients make use of this feature to help their customers see asbestos information by simplying scanning a QR code on their smartphone.

try scanning this QR code!

We're improving QR code features even more in the next release of Alpha Tracker - watch this space!

Camera zoom now fully supported in our asbestos field data capture system, Tracker Mobile

Tracker Mobile, our field asbestos data capture system running on Android & Apple smartphones & tablets, now fully supports camera zoom.


Asbestos surveyors working on their handheld devices can use the zoom features built into the cameras to take more detailed "close up" photos for use within Alpha Tracker's automated asbestos reports.

Each surveyed item can be linked to up to two photos enabling surveyors to capture an image "stood back" in the room, and then another closer up.  With the latest smartphones having zoom cameras supporting up 10x optical zoom, this feature will really help to improve the quality of asbestos reports for clients.

PS At the time of writing this blog post, Tracker Mobile has captured more than 30,000,000 items of asbestos data - more than any other asbestos system worldwide

More powerful, dedicated Alpha Tracker document servers now available

If you would like your Alpha Tracker asbestos reports delivered more quickly to your inbox, or your business has grown and you are now producing many more asbestos survey and reinspection reports each day, you might be interested in our new document server options.

Producing more asbestos reports than usual?  Want your documents quicker?
We can now add extra, more powerful, dedicated document servers to your Alpha Tracker software system.  The servers can be hosted in the Amazon or Microsoft cloud, or they can be servers hosted in your own datacentre.

Do get in touch if you would like to find out more.

Clarke Demolition go live with asbestos software Alpha Tracker

The asbestos specialists at Clarke Demolition in Ipswich are the latest business to switch to asbestos software Alpha Tracker.


Our asbestos software trainer Kim has been to visit the CDC users and train them to use the office and field aspects of the system.  Here are some of the photos she took during the training day - what an incredible array of plant - both big and small!

CDC HQ
a CDC asbestos specialist learning to use Tracker Mobile







Alpha Tracker Release 32 - put a date in the diary for calendar improvements!

Our next major update for asbestos software Alpha Tracker will be Release 32 due in the next 6-8 weeks.

We will be focusing on Alpha Tracker's calendar and scheduling features with major improvements being developed both for office and mobile staff.

Alpha Tracker's calendar and scheduling tool

If there are features or improvements you'd like to see in Alpha Tracker, do get in touch.

Newlife, new challenge, new shoes! 3 million steps walked in January

3 million steps in January!  That's what the team at Start Software have just walked to raise money for the Newlife charity for disabled children.


Adam, Elaine and Will with their worn-out shoes and the match-funding cheque from Start Software
Programmer Adam's wife Clare is a fundraiser at Newlife and she has just organised a national campaign for individuals to walk 10,000 steps each day in January raising funds along the way.

Most of the Start Software employees were up for the challenge and, between us, we walked more than 3 million steps and raised £300+.

All we need now is some new shoes...!



Improved Alpha Tracker Document Maker available

We've just made a new version of our asbestos report generator module available for asbestos software Alpha Tracker.

The new version has improved formatting options helping us to achieve our goal of making every Alpha Tracker installation automatically produce reports exactly as our clients would like.

Alpha Tracker produces reports in your format, not ours!
The new version of Tracker Document Maker is v1.4.1598 - contact our support desk if you would like to find out more or arrange an update.

Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust goes live with asbestos software Alpha Tracker

Another NHS Trust has started to use asbestos software Alpha Tracker to manage their asbestos.

Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust has gone live with asbestos software Alpha Tracker to help them to manage asbestos across their property estate.


We welcome enquiries from NHS Trusts, councils and other major organisations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.  Do get in touch!

IOM asbestos lab switches to Alpha Tracker

The highly respected Edinburgh-based asbestos lab at the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) has started the process of switching to asbestos software Alpha Tracker.



For more information about the features in Alpha Tracker which are aimed specifically at asbestos labs, click here.

Our Support Desk performance in January 2020

Top work from Will & Jess on the support desk in January with 95% of high priority issues resolved within 2 hours and 90% of all calls solved within the customer's timeframe.

Start Software (Alpha Tracker) support desk performance in January 2020
Is your software provider so open about their performance?  Do you get consistently good support from your asbestos software provider?  If not, give us a call - we can give you a quote to switch to our systems.  You will probably save money and you'll certainly get a better service!

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