Important Google Calendar Sync alert. Google have changed their process and you may be disrupted. Please read

If you have connected your Alpha Tracker diaries to Google Calendars via our Calendar Sync service, you may find that your appointments are not syncing properly.

Google has made a change to the way that apps like Calendar Sync can communicate with their systems, including Google Calendar.  We have updated the app and been in touch with Google, but we are having to wait for them to verify our app again before they will enable seamless syncing again.

We are sorry if you are disrupted by this Google change.  If you contact our help desk (UK or Aus/NZ) will be able to talk you through some options and workarounds.

Meet ZenLegal, the latest Alpha Legal subscribers

Meet ZenLegal! The legal specialists at Zenco are our latest Alpha Legal subscribers and they have an amazing 4.9 score on Trustpilot - a real feather in their cap and a demonstration of the quality service they provide to their clients.

ZenLegal has a terrific website here at www.zenco.com and this explains how they work, their prices, the range of services they provide (including Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Trusts) and how to book an appointment.  All very easy and straightforward.

Visit the ZenLegal website at www.zenco.com

ZenLegal welcomes new clients for all of their services, and for Trusts in particular.  Do get in touch with them and mention Alpha Legal when you do!

Asbestos round-table meeting in London today - we're helping to move agenda forward to make the UK asbestos-safe

Sir Stephen Timms MP joined our director Robin along with asbestos industry friends and colleagues today at a round-table meeting to discuss asbestos management in the UK.  

Chaired by ResPublica, and inspired by asbestos campaigners Charles Pickles, Mavis Nye and Liz Darlison, the meeting discussed the Select Committee report, the Government's response to it, and what should be done next.

Our asbestos software Alpha Tracker holds asbestos information about millions of buildings in the UK and we'll be using all of this data to help provide the evidence needed to convince Government to change the way that asbestos is managed.  Our OpenAsbestos initiative was also mentioned as it will help to support the UKNAR proposals to make a national asbestos database a reality.

Meetings like this are sometimes a bit of a challenge, but this was a joy, with the icing on the cake being a hug from Mavis, too!

Robin with asbestos campaigners Mavis and Ray Nye after the meeting

There was even time for some sightseeing on the way back to the train.

It's been a while since I've seen the Houses of Parliament without scaffolding

Big Ben was looking in fine fettle

London does the pomp & ceremony so well! London was full of foreign tourists

What's it all about, Alfi?! Look out for our new Alfi app in the Google & Apple app stores

If you're as old as me, you'll remember Cilla Black singing the classic song, "What's it all about, Alfie".  If you're not, try watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glpIgnmKrZc and at least you'll understand the reference in the title of this blog post!

Our new Alfi app is about to hit the App Stores (Google & Apple) and it replaces the Family Finances app which has been a companion to our Alpha Legal secure portal for more than a year.

We'll blog again soon to let you know about all of the amazing new features which will benefit all Alpha Legal subscribers and their clients, including:

• notifications direct to the app... keep in touch with your clients wherever they are and whatever device they use
  
  
• a fantastic new homepage dashboard with the client's net worth front-and-centre
  
  
• Fact Finds direct to your client, either personal or probate-related
  
  
• secure document sharing from you to your client or your client to you
  
  
• an ever-lasting and secure digital vault for your client to store their most precious information.

If you'd like more information about Alfi and what it can do for you and your clients, get in touch!

Release 38 of Alpha Tracker - our biggest update *ever* - is rolling out to customers this week

We've finally wrapped up Alpha Tracker Release 38, our biggest update to asbestos software Alpha Tracker, ever!

You'll immediately notice that it is much faster to sign in compared to previous versions, and you'll notice that it looks cleaner and easier to navigate. 

It might take you a few moments to notice the "stars" on the menu items - these allow you to build your own personalised favourites bar at the top of the screen - a huge time-saver!

Click the "stars" on your favourite items to build your own menu bar 

Another amazing new feature is our map scheduling screen which is perfect for busy consultancies working with domestic surveys, in particular.

Our new Map Scheduling screen will even produce an optimised driving route for your surveyors!

 

Some of the other new features include:

• a completely rewritten Wallboard for income forecasting, see https://blog.start-software.com/2022/06/our-new-wallboard-will-be-available-in.html
  
  
• a new chain of custody feature for sample tracking using barcoded sample labels, see https://blog.start-software.com/2022/06/new-chain-of-custody-features-now-in.html
  
  
• faster quote production so that documents are produced in real-time with selectable templates and Ts&Cs 
  
  
• an improved invoice workflow, especially helpful to larger clients wanting to link to Xero and other online accounts packages
  
  
• new options for system deployment including IIS (for larger clients wanting better performance or integration with other Windows systems and networks, including single sign-on).

Watch out for our Release 38 video and the new release notes document, both coming next week.

Alpha Tracker is now an Industry Associate member of UKATA - the UK Asbestos Training Association

Start Software (Alpha Tracker) has joined UKATA as an Industry Associate member.

We've wanted to work more closely with UKATA and their members for a while, so we're really pleased to have started our partnership.

Find Alpha Tracker under "software" on the UKATA website

Find out more about UKATA here or about our asbestos software Alpha Tracker here (UK or Aus/NZ).

Update on Amazon AWS outage Sunday 10.7.2022 affecting some UK Alpha Tracker users

One of the Amazon AWS Datacentres had a "thermal event" yesterday afternoon (we are guessing an air conditioning failure) between 17:30 and 19:30 UK time.  This issue affected approximately 10% of our Alpha Tracker clients whose systems became temporarily unavailable.  We are sorry about that.

Amazon recovered their environment quickly and all Alpha Tracker systems automatically recovered by 19:30 last night.

If you need any more information, please do call us on 0333 301 1010 as usual.

Can the Alpha Tracker consultancy family fund a Mesothelioma nurse? Can you help?

Mesothelioma UK and the Mavis Nye Foundation are working together to fund a new mesothelioma nursing post.  

You could help us to fund a mesothelioma nurse post

We had an idea here at Start Software.  Could the Alpha Tracker family of consultancies come together to collectively fund the £2,000/month needed for the post?

What an achievement that would be.  If you can help, please complete the form below and Robin will be in touch.

The form is also available here: https://forms.gle/VqwW1VHUF8ZLs4co9

LinkedIn webinar 10:00 today! Learn all about Alpha Legal and what it can do for you, your business and your clients

Come and learn about Alpha Legal in our live LinkedIn webinar at 10:00 today!

Here's the link to register: 

Dan will show you what our Alpha Legal portal can do - it's easy, safe & secure

Join lead developer Dan as he shows you what Alpha Legal can do for you, your business and your clients.  Stay until the end and you'll also get a special offer and free trial!

96% of High Priority calls are resolved within 2 hours - June 2022 Support Desk update

We've just analysed our Support Desk stats for June 2022 and a near-record 96.21% of all High Priority calls were resolved within the target 2-hour timeframe.

Graph showing improved performance during May & June 2022

We're looking now at streamlining how clients make contact with us (currently there are several ways including email, phone calls and our website). We'll let you know if anything changes.

Alpha Legal is sponsoring the Modern Law Conveyancing Awards 2022

We're really pleased to announce that Alpha Legal is sponsoring the Modern Law Conveyancing Awards 2022.

Come and meet the Alpha Legal team at the Conveyancing Awards 2022

The event takes place on Thursday 24 November 2022 at The Rum Warehouse, Liverpool.  We can't wait!

We've added #AMD22 to our Alpha Tracker home page - supporting Mesothelioma UK's Action Mesothelioma Day for 2022

We're supporting Mesothelioma UK's Action Mesothelioma Day for 2022 by adding the Twitter feed for #AMD22 to our Alpha Tracker asbestos software home page!

Alpha Tracker's home page with a new #AMD22 dashboard

Go to https://twitter.com/hashtag/AMD22?src=hashtag_click to follow the Twitter feed yourself!  And do support Meso UK's campaign - it really helps sufferers of this terrible disease.

Zephyr Environmental is joining the Alpha Tracker family

We're really pleased to announce that asbestos specialist Zephyr Environmental from Oxford is joining the Alpha Tracker asbestos software family.

Zephyr Environmental's excellent website

We'll post more information when Zephyr go live!