Asbestos Action has taken action with their asbestos software! Another Alpha Tracker order to end the week

Asbestos consultancy Asbestos Action has placed an order for asbestos software Alpha Tracker.

Check out the Asbestos Action website here

Contact Asbestos Action for more information about their specialist asbestos services.  

We'll blog again when we have trained the asbestos professionals at Asbestos Action.  Can we help your asbestos consultancy to become more efficient and to improve the service you offer to your clients?  Do get in touch! 

Apparently no-one is safe from identity theft! Hackers have impersonated the head of the UK's fight against cyber crime

Our Alpha Legal team spotted this fascinating - and worrying - article relating to Lindy Cameron, the Head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre:

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/05/10/hackers-pose-as-uk-cyber-security-chief-for-online-scam/

Lindy Cameron, the Head of the National Cyber Security Centre

Hackers posing as Lindy Cameron tried to steal £5m in a phishing scam but her NCSC organisation had managed to prevent any funds from being transferred.

Alpha Legal, and similar secure portals, help to reduce the risk of phishing scams because they encourage legal businesses to move away from email and, instead, to use secure methods to communicate with clients.

Want to learn more?  Click here for the Alpha Legal website where you can register for a free trial account.

Is Alpha Legal the *fastest* as well as the most secure way to collect and verify ID? Take 3 minutes to read this and decide for yourself

We've been analysing the time being taken by clients to complete their ID document requests within Alpha Legal.

We're regularly seeing start-to-finish times of 3 minutes now.  That's literally 3 minutes for the user to

1. receive their secure message and security code by text
   
   
2. review the 60-second YouTube video to explain the process and the documents they will need, and then
   
   
3. take & upload the photos of their ID documents.
   

Compare that to the physical process of visiting you in your office, bringing their paperwork in, having you photocopy or scan it and then you having to verify it with an ID agency!

We regularly compare Alpha Legal with the other ID apps on the market and we wonder whether we can claim that Alpha Legal is the fastest as well as the most secure option there is.  

Do you think we could make the process even quicker?  We'd love to hear from you.

MPs have called for "All Asbestos to Be Removed from Public and Commercial Buildings Within the Next 40 Years" - our response

The House of Commons Select Committee on Work and Pensions has published its report on the management of asbestos and has made the bold announcement that all asbestos should be removed from public and commercial buildings within the next 40 years.

Read the full Select Committee asbestos report here

Our friends at NORAC have blogged their own take on this announcement here: https://norac.org.uk/mps-have-called-for-all-asbestos-to-be-removed-from-public-and-commercial-buildings-within-the-next-40-years/

We are working with UKNAR and others to find innovative ways within Alpha Tracker and other asbestos software to achieve this bold goal and will be making further announcements shortly.

New drug - abemaciclib - provides hope for Mesothelioma sufferers

There is a new treatment which may extend the life of sufferers of asbestos cancer mesothelioma.

The drug, abemaciclib, was originally designed to help breast cancer patients (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abemaciclib) and works by enabling the body to generate an anti-cancer protein.

The Daily Mail is reporting that abemaciclib can extend the life of meso sufferers by months or even years - such hope is rare for patients with asbestos-related cancers.  The newspaper has chosen to highlight the case of Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren who died of mesothelioma aged 64.

Click to read the whole Daily Mail article

Here at Start Software and Alpha Tracker Pty, we are committed to working with Mesothelioma UK, UKNAR and other organisations working to help people suffering from asbestos-related diseases and to reduce the risk of people coming into contact with asbestos in the first place.

Natalie will be getting *seriously* muddy!!! Help her to raise money for Cancer Research

Our lovely client Natalie from ESSS is getting her hands dirty - literally - to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Natalie is taking on the Pretty Muddy 5K challenge - good luck!!

Can you help her to fundraise for this wonderful cause?  Click here https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/natalies-race-for-life-2046844#

Thank you for joining us and supporting her.  Our team here at Start has been touched by cancer more than once in the last few years and so we know what an important charity Cancer Research is.

Energy Environmental Services chooses asbestos software Alpha Tracker

A big Alpha Tracker welcome to Essex-based Energy Environmental Services who have chosen asbestos software Alpha Tracker for their specialist asbestos surveying division.

Visit the Energy Environmental website for more information

We'll blog again about our latest Alpha Tracker software client when the installation is complete and the Energy Environmental asbestos professionals have received their training.  In the meantime, if you are looking for asbestos services in Essex and beyond, do get in touch with our latest Alpha Tracker client here.

Can we help your asbestos consultancy to become more efficient and to improve the service you deliver to your clients with our handheld asbestos data capture app, automated asbestos reports and industry-leading client portal?  Do get in touch!

Alpha Legal's Jack, Elaine & Dan spotted amongst the "bush people"!!

We just spotted Jack, Elaine & Dan in the official video from the Modern Law Awards 2022.

The "bush people" were fun - but scary!!

We were proud that Alpha Legal was able to sponsor the event.  We're looking forward to next year's awards already.  See you there!

Warning for letting agencies - take "AML" seriously, you are being targeted

The Guild of Property Professionals has warned letting agents that they are being targeted by crime gangs laundering dirty money and hence they need to check that their AML processes are sound.

Almost a third of property professionals believe their AML procedures are not adequate

Alpha Legal's ID processes are fully compliant with all AML regulations and enable letting agents, other property professionals and legal businesses to safely request ID from clients and then verify those documents via our ID partners, TrustID.

Read more here: https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2022/4/agencies-targeted-by-crime-syndicates-claims-trade-body

Our new "Alfi" app is in beta - would you like to help us test it?

We're looking for Alpha Legal subscribers who would like to be beta testers for our new "Alfi" companion app for Alpha Legal.  Would you like to be involved?

Our new "Alfi" app is nearly ready

The app will enable you to keep in touch with your clients and promote your brand and services to them.  Your clients will be able to

• track their assets
• read, accept and sign documents you have shared with them
• complete fact-finds and other forms and questionnaires.

There is also a secure "vault" for clients to store their vital digital assets - including viewing copies of Wills and other documents you have created and stored for them.

Interested?  Do get in touch! We'd love to hear from you.

Another Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy is live: Core - The Asbestos Specialist

Welcome Core to the Alpha Tracker asbestos software family!

We visited the Core asbestos professionals yesterday to deliver their system training and really enjoyed meeting them.  Core specialises in delivering a whole range of asbestos services:

• asbestos surveys
• asbestos management plans
• site remediation services
• asbestos testing services
• air monitoring, and 
• asbestos training.

Core welcomes contact from new clients - their contact details are here: https://www.coresurveys.co.uk/contact-us/

Our trainer Kim's photos from her day with Core Surveys

Can we help your asbestos consultancy improve efficiency with the world's leading asbestos software platform, Alpha Tracker?  Get in touch! (UK or Aus/NZ)

Start Software sponsors the Mavis Nye Foundation Cycle Club

We're delighted to announce that Start Software, the developers of the market-leading Alpha Tracker asbestos software, are now proud sponsors of the Mavis Nye Foundation Cycle Club.

Quite frankly, we love Mavis Nye! Mavis is an amazing, energetic and committed campaigner in the world of asbestos-related diseases.

The MNFCC is a new initiative helping Mavis Nye & her Foundation

If you would like to donate to the cause, click here! https://localgiving.org/fundraising/MNFCC/

Useful tip! Did you know that your camera can *read* info to type into Tracker Mobile?

Great tip from Mark at Alpha Tracker user WSP!  This will help our asbestos air monitoring clients in particular.

Mark uses his iPhone camera to read cowl numbers direct into Tracker Mobile.  This tip works on Android phones, too (using the Google "Gboard" keyboard).

Here you can see this tip in action:

Take a photo of the cowl to save typing and avoid mistakes

If you've got a tip to share, let us know (Aus/NZ or UK) and thanks again Mark!

Why do we ask for a video as part of our ID checks in Alpha Legal? Meet the latest tool in the cybercriminals armoury - AI-generated faces

This story is incredible - but real.

AI-generated human faces are now appearing across the Internet.  They were first spotted on LinkedIn, the business social networking platform, where companies were found to be generating fake employee profiles with realistic-looking photos.  The photos, when analysed by researchers from Stanford University, proved to be fake.

These AI-generated faces are incredibly realistic as you can see from this selection:

Could you spot that these faces were not of real people?

Creating fake profiles on LinkedIn might be unethical (and against LinkedIn rules), but it isn't a cybercrime.  So what has this got to do with Alpha Legal?

Now that this technology is available, cybercriminals are starting to find ways to exploit it.  Criminals create fake personas and they need photos to be part of the invented identity.  Re-using real photos of people, living or dead, can cause problems but now they have a source of photo-realistic fake faces.

This is one of the reasons that we ask for a short video clip as part of our Alpha Legal ID checks.  By asking the user to move in front of the camera we ensure that the person is real and alive - a vital check as part of the process to verify identity as part of AML or KYC ID checks. 

Source: Stanford Internet Observatory https://www.npr.org/2022/03/27/1088140809/fake-linkedin-profiles

Credit: Connie Hanzhang Jin/NPR

What a night! Alpha Legal at the Modern Law Awards 2022

We were delighted to attend the Modern Law Awards 2022 last night at The Brewery in London.  What a night!

Sponsoring the Boutique Law Firm award gave us the opportunity to meet so many of the other guests.  It was great to hear that many more legal businesses are now taking cybersecurity seriously and engaging with products such as Alpha Legal.

Our Sales Director Elaine presented the award to the winning firm Thrive Law.

Elaine (second from right) with the winners, Thrive Law, and host Simon Evans

Congratulations to Briffa and Olliers Solicitors who were Highly Commended and to all of the other category winners and shortlisted candidates.  Better luck next year!

We're at The Health & Safety Event talking about Alpha Tracker - come and say hello!

We're at The Health & Safety Event at the NEC talking about our asbestos software, Alpha Tracker. 

Kim & Elaine at the NEC

If you work for an asbestos consultancy or have an asbestos problem to solve, do come and say hello!

New asbestos report feature! Automatically add *hyperlinks within reports* to jump between sample pages and registers

Adam has just completed a brand new feature that is available to all Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy users.

When your report is generated, we can now automatically create internal hyperlinks to allow report readers to jump between an item shown on a sample page, and the same item shown in the asbestos register - and vice-versa!

See our new report hyperlinks in action

This will be really useful for clients reading long asbestos reports, in particular.  Navigation between sections in the report will be so much easier and quicker.

In these screenshots you can see the hyperlinks in a little more detail:

Here's an asbestos register with the items shown as hyperlinks...

...and here is the sample page.  Jump back and forth with one click!

If you would like us to modify your report templates to make use of the feature, just get in touch! (Aus/NZ or UK)

Watch Judy show how to use our new "previous locations" and "previous samples" dropdowns in Tracker Mobile

Our asbestos data collection app Tracker Mobile can now show the surveyor all locations at a site that have already been surveyed, along with all previously-taken samples.  We posted a blog here about this long-anticipated new feature.

The surveyor can use this information as a time-saver and memory-aid - even pulling through useful information to a new room or cross-referenced sample.

Watch this introduction from Judy to see how to make the most of the new feature which available to all asbestos consultancies using Alpha Tracker.  You can watch the video, above, or click here: https://youtu.be/SanTmA6tnHE

Alpha Tracker Release 37.5 is now available with a new user interface, intelligent search and a major Alpha Draw update

Welcome to Release 37.5 of asbestos software Alpha Tracker!  

Ahead of the next major update (Release 38, due in a couple of months) we wanted to get some important improvements out for our wonderful Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy users around the world.

Here's a quick video to show you the highlights:

(you can also watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhVc06z2MXs)

The three key updates are:

1. The new user interface - cleaner, faster, easy-to-use
   
   
2. Intelligent search! One box, one search, search everywhere.  Genius!
   
   
3. A major Alpha Draw update including auto colour-coding sample tags after lab results are processed.

Kim's release notes are live already here: https://www.start-software.com/tracker/alpha-tracker/release-notes/

Hope you enjoy the update.  If you need help or have any questions, get in touch 24x7 (UK or Aus/NZ).

Another Alpha Tracker order placed. Welcome Core Surveys - asbestos specialists based in Sussex & South Wales

A big Alpha Tracker welcome to Core Surveys, the latest asbestos specialist to choose asbestos software Alpha Tracker to help them to become even more efficient.

Core has chosen asbestos software Alpha Tracker

We'll post more updates as Core comes online.  Can we help your asbestos consultancy to work even better?  Do get in touch - we'd love to hear from you.

New Alpha Tracker "API" available - your programmers can now link even more systems to Alpha Tracker

One of our principles is that Alpha Tracker data is your data, not ours.  

We build the software and support you and your business, but we believe it is your data and we make it as accessible as possible to our asbestos consultancy clients via downloads, Excel, direct access to the database and file system, even via the amazing Zapier (see this blog post).

Our latest method for you to integrate Alpha Tracker with other systems is our new Alpha Tracker API - an Application Programming Interface.  The API allows you to access data but also create sites, buildings and projects from another software system.

The Alpha Tracker API documentation

Your developers can access the API documentation here.  Do get in touch with Alpha Tracker product lead Jack for more information.

Denas Analytical asbestos laboratory are live with Alpha Tracker

Denas Analytical are the latest asbestos lab to choose asbestos software Alpha Tracker.

Some of the Denas asbestos lab analysts

Our trainer Kim really enjoyed meeting the Denas staff at their training session.

Can we help your asbestos lab to be more efficient?  Do get in touch!

We're back! We've opened a second office and it's back where Start Software began

We've just opened a second office and it's back where Start Software began, at Lasyard House in Bridgnorth.

We needed space for our sales team and occasional space for developers to hold design meetings, and Lasyard House has proved to be perfect.  It feels like home-from-home as we started off in the same building in Bridgnorth back in... 2004?!?  Yes, that makes us feel very old.

Dan, Jack & Tom at Lasyard House

PS The hot pork sandwich shop next door is pleased, too!

Another Alpha Tracker implementation in progress for a District Health Board

Another Alpha Tracker asbestos software order has arrived from a District Health Board.

Many of New Zealand's District Health Boards are now Alpha Tracker users

Health Boards are using Alpha Tracker to manage the asbestos within their estate - hospitals, offices and health centres.  

Alpha Tracker is used by asbestos consultancies and their clients to locate, record and manage asbestos.  If we can help you to manage your asbestos, get in touch - Australia/New Zealand or UK.

"Excellent tool to have in my armoury" - estate planner Simon Bowman is loving his branded Alpha Legal ID video

Branded Alpha Legal subscribers get the benefit of personalised YouTube videos to help clients to complete their ID checks.

Here is Qualified Professional Estate Planner Simon Bowman's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57N4sXYX9AA

Alpha Legal is helping Will Writer Simon Bowman to build his brand

Simon says:

"What an excellent tool to have in my armoury.  This is *so* useful to my clients - and it strengthens my brand, too"

Would you like to upgrade your subscription?  Simply sign in, click My Profile and then “Upgrade to the Branded package now”.  Give us a call on 0333 301 1010 if you get stuck!

The risks of ransomware - another UK legal firm fined nearly £100K

Fines are one of the consequences of becoming infected with ransomware.  

Criminal defence firm Tuckers Solicitors is the latest business to have been hit with a significant fine from the Information Commissioner.  Their penalty was nearly £100K - a significant sum and a result of the ICO deciding that insufficient measures had been taken to protect their data and documents.

Perhaps you don't know know what ransomware is?  Here's a guide from our Alpha Legal cybersecurity specialists: https://www.formediagroup.co.uk/forlegal/ransomware-a-guide-from-alpha-legal

So, how can you protect yourself against ransomware?  Subscribing to Alpha Legal is the first step - reducing your company's reliance on insecure emails and baking security into your business.

Make sure the data on your servers is encrypted and appropriately backed up - with backups being regularly tested.  

Finally, if you are subject to a ransomware attack, get professional advice early.

Read Mesothelioma UK's latest newsletter

The awesome team at asbestos cancer Mesothelioma UK have just published their latest newsletter.

Read it here! https://www.mesothelioma.uk.com/our-magazine/

The Alpha Tracker team are proud to support Mesothelioma UK and all of the wonderful work they do.

New "template" feature coming soon to Alpha Draw

Thanks for all of the feedback following the release of our updated Alpha Draw site plan app which accompanies asbestos software Alpha Tracker.

Alpha Draw "template" option is coming next

One of the features requested is a "template" feature whereby a drawing can be saved by a surveyor as a blueprint for use in subsequent surveys.  We're adding that feature in now and expect it to be ready within a fortnight.

Is there anything else you'd like to see?  Get in touch!

Will we see you at the Modern Law Awards 2022? Alpha Legal is an award sponsor - see you there!

The amazing Modern Law Awards 2022 are fast approaching.  

The award ceremony is being held on Thursday 7 April at The Brewery, London and Alpha Legal is sponsoring one of the key awards.  We'll be there to celebrate success in the legal industry after two years of change accelerated by the Covid pandemic.

Alpha Legal is a key sponsor at the Modern Law Awards 2022

We're looking forward to meeting the nominees and presenting the award to the winners.  See you there!

"Our House" drama mentioned by Martin Lewis on ITV last night - together with another way to protect against property fraud

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis mentioned the ITV drama "Our House" on his ITV show last night (see our blog post from earlier in the week).  The dangers of property fraud are huge and ID theft and email interception/manipulation are often the root cause which is why Alpha Legal is so important to all businesses working in property sales and rental.

Remember that emails are not secure! Asking clients for ID documents or their bank details by email is a recipe for disaster.

Alpha Legal & the Land Registry Property Alerty scheme protect your clients from property fraud

Martin Lewis pointed viewers towards the Land Registry's Property Alert scheme which is free to access and which can alert property owners to any activity (for example, a mortgage application) linked to one of their registered properties.

The Land Registry says that their scheme has prevented more than 400 frauds worth £207 million since 2009.  

Find out more here: https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/

Our House? ITV's new thriller starts tonight - will it be a case where Alpha Legal could have saved the day?

Imagine coming home after a holiday to find another family moving into your house. 

There have been real-life horror stories in the press over the last couple of years where ID theft and the interception and modification of emails have led to this truly awful situation - emails are not secure!  

We've actually blogged about email-related fraud in the housing market before - see https://blog.start-software.com/2021/11/still-wondering-if-you-need-alpha-legal.html. 

Watch "Our House" starting tonight at 9pm on ITV

ITV are showing a new drama starting tonight at 9pm - Our House.  On the face of it, the story might mirror the real-world case of the Reverend Mike Hall - or perhaps (it's a thriller, after all!) there might be more to it!  Watch the trailer here https://www.bt.com/tv/drama/our-house-itv-thriller-martin-compston and the first episode tonight which airs at 9pm.

Alpha Legal protects you and your clients from the dangers of using email in your business.

Major Alpha Draw update now live - automatically colour-code sample tags, import drawings, new arrow tools, and more

Alpha Draw is Alpha Tracker's companion site plan drawing app.  We've been working hard the last month or two and a major update is now live on the web and on the Google and Apple app stores.

Some of the improvements on show in Alpha Draw

Here are some of the improvements you'll see:

• there are now 48 new arrows to use on drawings
  
  
• you can attach text to an arrow to highlight the issue being identified
  
  
• the surveyor can manually code-code sample tags as they are placed on the plan, and/or...
  
  
• ..admin staff can click one button to automatically colour-code sample tags based on the lab analysis
  
  
• any plan already saved in the Alpha Tracker project folder (for example, one provided by the client) can be used by the surveyor on-site.

You'll find the updated manual here: https://www.start-software.com/app/download/5815863577/Alpha+Draw+User+Guide+v1-1.pdf

Click to download the updated manual

This update is already live for all users of Alpha Draw - enjoy!

Best support desk performance for 6 months! 98% of callers satisfied

Our Support Desk team has just turned in their best performance for 6 months.

We're here 24x7 to help you

98% of callers (actually, 97.87% to be precise!) who called in with a high priority issue were satisfied with the time it took to resolve the problem.

View previously taken samples! A new drop-down is available in Tracker Mobile

Another update to Tracker Mobile is available.  This is another really useful and important update, following on the heels of the "search" update we blogged about here.

An overdue update! View previously taken samples (and rooms) while surveying

We can now add drop-downs to Tracker Mobile forms to show previously used samples for information (or for use in cross-references/visually similar asbestos samples) and previously recorded rooms, too.  

This was possible before, of course, but only by saving the form the surveyor was working in and returning to the list of samples already taken - now it can be seen whilst the surveyor is recording the new item.  Much easier, much faster, and much more likely to ensure quality data is recorded!

If you would like the update, please contact our UK or Aus/NZ support desks and they will be able to update your Alpha Tracker system.

How much will a "phishing" attack cost your small business? On average, £8,460!

Remember our "emails are not secure" message?  One reason is "phishing" - these are emails where hackers convince staff to give away personal or security information.  This information is then used to gain access to company or network resources.

£8,460 per attack on average for a small business - or £13,400 for a larger one

The latest security report from security consultancy Bulletproof (read in full here) shows that, on average, a phishing attack will cost a small business £8,460 and £13,400 for a larger one.

Alpha Legal reduces your reliance on emails and reduces the risk of you falling foul of a phishing attack.  At only £35/month for a fully branded subscription, it's money well spent.  Register here now.

Worrying ransomware report - take extra care about how you use emails in your business

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has just published its latest ransomware report, headlined "Joint advisory highlights increased globalised threat of ransomware".

It's worth a read - download by clicking this link

There are some seriously worrying findings here.  As an Alpha Legal subscriber, you're protecting yourself from many of these threats, but they are still worth reading and noting:

• criminals are mainly gaining access via email "phishing" campaigns
  
  Alpha Legal protects you by reducing your reliance on emails in your business.
  
  
• hackers share information about potential victims - so fall for a scam once and you will be targeted more and more
  
  There is no safe way to use emails to send and receive sensitive information - emails are not secure! - use Alpha Legal's secure forms instead
  
  
• criminals are targeting smaller and smaller businesses - everyone is at risk
  
  with subscriptions starting at only £10/month, Alpha Legal is affordable for all sizes of business.
  

We're here to help.  We are working with 1000s of legal organisations, IFAs, accountants and estate agents to help them to protect their businesses, their reputation and their clients.  Can we help you?  Get in touch!

Type it, search it, sorted! Have you updated Tracker Mobile yet?

Have you updated your Mobile Data app yet from the Google or Apple or Microsoft stores?  It really makes a difference when using our on-site asbestos data capture tool, Tracker Mobile.

If not, you're missing out on the amazing new search feature - it searches everything you've surveyed, and instantly too!

You can now instantly search within Tracker Mobile

Look out for more improvements coming soon - they are going to really improve your surveying day!

We've had our printed copy! Alpha Legal featured in Modern Law magazine

It's great to see Alpha Legal featuring so widely now in the legal press.

Solicitors, will writers and estate planners are all recognising how important it is to communicate securely with clients - emails just aren't secure enough when scams are on the rise.

Here's support technical Zac with the latest Modern Law magazine featuring a two-page spread all about Alpha Legal:

Zac with our copy of Modern Law

Alpha Legal has now helped more than 15,000 clients - can we help yours, too?

Letting agents beware - "years of legal and regulatory changes ahead". Subscribe to Alpha Legal now and relax!

Estate and letting agents beware - there are warnings of "years of legal and regulatory changes ahead".  This is not a drill - it's time to act!

It's time to act! Subscribe to Alpha Legal to protect yourself and your tenants

The insecure methods for requesting and checking ID documents from prospective tenants - for example, by email - will no longer be allowed under new regulations coming along soon.  Asking for copies of passports and driving licences to be photographed and sent to you by email will be outlawed and rightly so - emails are not secure!

Alpha Legal is the answer - take out a fully-branded subscription for only £35/month and you will be able to safely, easily and securely request ID from your tenants.

Zac & James hit the headlines! The success of our apprenticeship scheme has been recognised in the newspapers

We're really proud of our apprenticeship scheme and of our latest apprentices, Zac & James.

Here they are in the Shropshire Star newspaper, being featured as shining examples of modern apprentices.

Zac and James in the Shropshire Star

James, Zac and director Elaine all spoke to the newspaper and were quoted as follows:

James Holmes, of Telford-based Start Software which builds software for web, mobile and desktop, said: “The apprenticeship has been a great opportunity for me to venture into a new sector. I have been progressing really well at Start Software and I am learning something new every day.”

Zac Marshall said: “I love being an apprentice and Start Software have been very supportive in helping me develop my IT knowledge and communication skills. “The reason I chose to go down the apprenticeship route was so that I could learn and develop new skills whilst getting paid at the same time – helping me in my early years of my working and personal life.”

Director Elaine Porter said: “We are an advocate for apprenticeships and very keen to nurture new talent. We feel the apprenticeship route allows us to train young people who then become valued members of the team.”

Software update available: Multi-page lab certificates are now automatically inserted into asbestos reports "page by page"

We've just improved Alpha Tracker to help consultancies and labs working with the largest asbestos surveys.

Asbestos surveying consultancies & labs working with large reports will benefit

Adam has just finished an update to Alpha Tracker Document Manager to save staff time and effort when incorporating multi-page lab certificates into asbestos survey reports.

Previously, when Alpha Tracker asked Word to insert the PDF lab certificate and it ran over more than one page, there would be some manual effort required to reformat the document as Word only inserts the first page of a PDF, not all pages.

Adam's update - known as ATDM v1.4.1936 - automates the process and automatically splits the PDF into multiple pages and inserts them all, one-by-one.  This will be a real time-saver for asbestos admin staff.

Contact our support desk if you would like this update applied to your system.  It is free of charge to all users with active support contracts.

Element asbestos staff have their Alpha Tracker surveying training

Kim was at asbestos consultancy Element in Stockport yesterday to deliver some Alpha Tracker asbestos surveyor training.

Here are some of the photos she took during the session.  It was great to see so many old friends again!

If we can help your asbestos consultancy to get the most out of asbestos software Alpha Tracker, get in touch!

It's what we've all been waiting for! Not a party invitation from Boris Johnson, a search button in Tracker Mobile!

This is a game-changer for all of our Alpha Tracker asbestos surveyors working with Tracker Mobile, our mobile asbestos data collection system.

We finally have a search button!  This is an instant search that enables a surveyor to find rooms, items, projects, anything! 

Type it, search it, sorted!

This will be of most use to asbestos surveyors doing reinspections on multiple domestic properties during a single day.  Previously, surveyors sorted the lists by project number or site name to find the items they needed, but the search option changes all of this.  It will also be a huge timesaver when searching for previously surveyed rooms or location a specific sample number.

The update will be in the Google and Apple app stores shortly.  Watch out for it!

Qualsurv go live with Alpha Tracker's air monitoring service - Tracker Air

The asbestos team at Qualsurv has just gone live with the Alpha Tracker asbestos air monitoring module, Tracker Air.

Here are some of the photos that Kim grabbed during the training session.

531 support calls answered in January 2022 - 19 out of 20 resolved in time

Our support desk took 531 calls in January, the fewest for 6 months.  Still felt pretty busy, though!

Our support desk performance over the last 12 months

In round numbers, 19 out of 20 calls were resolved in the timescales requested by our customers which is a good performance for Will, Zac & James and the rest of the team.

Our support desk is there for our Alpha Tracker and Alpha Legal subscribers along with users of our other software systems.  We operate 24x7 throughout the year to ensure that our customers can speak to us - in person - whenever they want.

The wonders of Zoom! More Tracker Air training with attendees joining from the office, home and their cars!

We've just completed some more Tracker Air (air monitoring) training for Alpha Tracker users EMS Asbestos.

Thanks to the technical sorcery that is Zoom, we had attendees joining from the office, home and even a car!

Some of the EMS asbestos professionals

We've had really good feedback for our latest Tracker Air updates, keeping our asbestos software in line with the latest HSG248 regs.  Do let us know if we can improve it even further!