First video update from Andrew and his "Big C Atlantic Challenge"

We're sponsoring Andrew Bedwell and his Big C Atlantic Challenge - an incredible World Record attempt to cross the Atlantic in the shortest boat, ever!  He is raising money for cancer charities - a cause which is close to many hearts here in our business.

Director Robin spoke to Andrew this week for an update:

Andrew is preparing himself and his 3'3" boat - yes, it is only 1m long! - now, in preparation for his May 2023 launch.

Follow all of our Big C news here: https://blog.start-software.com/search/label/BigCAtlanticChallenge

Catalyst Safety chooses Alpha Tracker to manage their asbestos consultancy business

Two Alpha Tracker orders in one day!

UK asbestos consultancy Catalyst Safety called us yesterday to place an order for Alpha Tracker to manage their business.  This was the second order of the day after another New South Wales consultancy also placed an order direct with our Adelaide office.

Catalyst Safety are a fast-growing asbestos business with serious experience in their ranks.

Catalyst Safety's website

Can we help your asbestos business to become more efficient and improve its service?  Get in touch! (UK or Australia/New Zealand).

Glad to help! We've donated a laptop to a Ukrainian family living locally

Tima (pictured) and his family have fled Ukraine and are being hosted by a local family here in Shropshire.

We were delighted to donate a laptop to help Tima at school.  He was chuffed, too... so pleased, in fact, that he ran to put on his school jumper for the photo, despite it being half-term holidays!

Tima with his new laptop

Tima's Mum said, "This is a very wonderful company that brought joy and happiness to a child who will learn lessons and learn English".  You're very welcome!

 

Another Alpha Tracker installation is underway. Welcome Enitial - Cawood!

Our latest Alpha Tracker installation is for new customer Enitial, part of the Cawood Group.  Cawood is a nationwide business with 840 staff providing laboratory, analysis and scientific services to a wide range of industries.

Enitial will be using Alpha Tracker to manage their business from nose-to-tail, bringing together a number of specialist field data collection and reporting systems.  It will also provide a coherent process and management insight into the business as a whole.

We're starting the implementation process now and will blog again as we embed Alpha Tracker into the business and train the Enitial users.

We won! Start Software is the Legal Supplier of the Year, 2022!!

How exciting - we won!!!

Start Software was crowned Legal Supplier of the Year 2022 at the British Wills and Probate Awards last night.

Dan & James attended on our behalf and the judges' comments about our Alpha Legal service to the UK legal community were glowing and lovely to hear.

More photos to come, apparently, but wanted to share the news as soon as possible!

Fingers crossed! Dan & Jamie head to the British Wills & Probate Awards for Alpha Legal - good luck!!!

Alpha Legal's Dan & Jamie have left the office and are heading off on the train to Birmingham's Grand Hotel for the British Wills & Probate Awards.

Fingers crossed for Alpha Legal!

Alpha Legal has been shortlisted for the Legal Supplier of the Year Award.

We're keeping everything crossed for our team - we're really proud of our secure portal and our relationship with our customers in the legal industry.  Come on Alpha Legal!!!

Robin at the BOHS/FAAM event in Birmingham supporting UKNAR and representing OpenAsbestos

 Alpha Tracker director Robin attended the BOHS/FAAM asbestos conference in Birmingham today.

Some of the asbestos conference highlights

Robin was there to support Andrew Paten and the UKNAR initiative, especially with regard to the OpenAsbestos initiative which is helping all asbestos software systems to share data (with appropriate permission, of course) including with UKNAR's AsbestosSMART software.

Also at the conference were lots of Alpha Tracker asbestos software users - it's always good to catch up - including some from the other side of the world!

Robin with Philip Hibbs and Brian Eva

Pre-demolition audit reports - is it something you think we should be looking at for Alpha Tracker?

We've had a couple of calls from clients asking if we are aware of the discussion about pre-demolition/audit asbestos reports.

Here is one of the links we've been sent to review: https://bregroup.com/buzz/pre-demolition-and-pre-refurbishment-audits/

What do you think?  Worth us looking at?  Please do comment on this blog post or get in touch.

James & Dan are at the Best Foundation launch event representing Alpha Legal

Alpha Legal's James & Dan have been at the Best Foundation launch event today in Oxford.

We are corporate members of the Best Foundation and advise the organisation and its members about cybersecurity as well as providing our Alpha Legal secure portal to their estate planners and Will writers.

Thanks for the invitation to the launch event!

Inspirational! We are sponsoring Andrew Bedwell's "Big C Atlantic Challenge" world record attempt

Want to be inspired?  Take a look at Andrew Bedwell's Big C Atlantic Challenge: 

It's an incredible story of a British adventurer attempting to cross the Atlantic ocean in the smallest boat ever.  It is 3'3" long - yes, you read that right, it's just over 1m.  About the size of a large suitcase.  Incredible!

We've decided to sponsor Andrew's Big C boat and our donations will be used to buy some of the electronics that Andrew will be using during his 90-day unsupported crossing.

Here at Start Software we try to be the best.  We want our software - Alpha Tracker, Alpha Legal and others - to lead their fields and we want our staff to be inspired to do the best they can, each and every day they come to work.  That's the first reason we decided to get involved; we hope that a bit of Andrew's energy and determination rubs off on all of us.

The second reason is that the Big C Atlantic Challenge is all about fund-raising for cancer charities, and several members of the team have been touched by cancer in recent years.  It's such an important cause.

Catherine & I got to meet Andrew on Saturday to see the Big C boat.  It's an impressive achievement already, and that's before he's even set off!

Catherine & Andrew chatting

Andrew & Robin shaking hands on the sponsorship deal

We'll be posting regularly as Andrew refines Big C and puts it through sea trials.

Follow Andrew on Facebook or Instagram.

Welcome Merryhill! Another asbestos consultancy has chosen Alpha Tracker to be their asbestos software

Merryhill from Romsey, Hampshire, has chosen Alpha Tracker to be their asbestos software system.

Check out Merryhill's website at https://merryhill.co.uk/

We're delighted to be working with the Merryhill team, many of whom have used Alpha Tracker at other asbestos consultancies. 

We'll post more information about Merryhill and the comprehensive range of asbestos surveying services they offer when we visit their site to train their users.  Watch this space!

TEAMS and Lucion NexGen have joined the OpenAsbestos initiative - a significant milestone for the project

We're delighted to announce that TEAMS and Lucion NexGen have joined the OpenAsbestos initiative.

Alpha Tracker, Micad, TEAMs and Lucion store (we believe) more than 90% of the UK's live asbestos registers between them - and all these organisations are now involved in the OpenAsbestos project.

Once all systems are OpenAsbestos-compliant, UKNAR will have the potential to access (with the duty holder's permission) the vast majority of the UK's asbestos registers direct from the UKNAR QR code.

We still have a long way to go but the OpenAsbestos programme is progressing well.

Do you want to be involved?  Want to find out more?  Contact Robin Bennett via the OpenAsbestos website here https://www.openasbestos.org/ or Andrew Paten at UKNAR/.

It's been a busy month on our Support Desk - new customers means lots of calls for help!

We've had a really busy month on our Support Desk with the team taking 559 calls for assistance in September 2022.

What's the reason?  We've got a record number of Alpha Tracker asbestos software users and Alpha Legal secure portal subscribers, too.  New customers are wonderful - but do need help to get started!

Nearly 90% of the most important calls were resolved during the call or - at worst - within 2 hours.