ESSS are improving their processes with the help of Alpha Tracker. Can we help you, too?

ESSS - Environmental & Site Safety Solutions - are improving processes through their asbestos consultancy business and our Alpha Tracker specialists are helping them along their journey.

Here is a picture from yesterday's training and consultancy session - it's great to meet our lovely clients face-to-face and have such a constructive conversation.

Some of the asbestos professionals at ESSS

Can we help your asbestos consultancy to improve?  Are you using asbestos software from another supplier and you've heard good things about Alpha Tracker's innovation, expertise and 24x7 support?  Get in touch here.

Welcome Lancashire County Scientific Services to the Alpha Tracker family!

Another Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy is live.  This time it is Lancashire County Scientific Services!

Kim has spent the day training the asbestos surveyors and administrators

Lancashire County Scientific Services will be using asbestos software Alpha Tracker to survey buildings across the county for asbestos, analysing samples and producing asbestos reports for their internal and external customers.

Using a variety of handheld devices, asbestos surveyors will be capturing site data, taking photos and updating plans electronically, and then sending this over mobile data or WiFi - all with one click!  Once asbestos samples are analysed, reports will be produced automatically to match the current Lancashire County formats.  All asbestos reports in Alpha Tracker are created from custom templates to ensure that the output is perfect.

Can we help your asbestos consultancy to improve efficiency and the service you provide to your clients?  Get in touch!  We have demo slots available in May, and software trials are also available.  If you are switching from competitor systems, we can also offer healthy discounts during 2024.

There's an update to our Alpha Tracker Mobile app in the Google & Apple app stores

Jack has published an update to our Alpha Tracker Mobile app into the Google & Apple app stores.

Alpha Tracker Mobile in the app stores

The new version has several useability improvements for users of our Forms and Water Hygiene features, including:

• better display of the section name (for forms broken into multiple sections)
• improved display of the project/job, site and type of form
• the section/question is always displayed when responding to Water Hygiene questions.

These changes all came from suggestions from our users so do get in touch if you have other ideas for improvements!

Two more asbestos consultancies are switching to Alpha Tracker

We've just had two more orders from Australian asbestos consultancies switching to asbestos software Alpha Tracker. 

Judy, Jess & Leanne will be onboarding both consultancies over the next few weeks and we'll post more details when the consultancies are fully live.

Watch the recording of our Forms webinar with Robin, Dan & Jack

Watch the recording of the latest Alpha Tracker Tips & Tricks Webinar to help you get the most out of your system.

Webinar #11 is now available to watch online

Robin, Dan & Jack explain how the new Forms feature works within Alpha Tracker.  You can design your own data capture forms for literally anything... risk assessments, mileage claims, accident reports, vehicle checklists... literally anything you want your site staff to complete whilst out and about.

Follow us at blog.start-software.com to make sure you don't miss the latest Alpha Tracker news and register for upcoming webinars here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/webinars.

Support tickets up 5% in March - but performance still good with 90% of calls being resolved within target time

Despite ticket volumes increasing by 5% in March 2024 compared to February, our Support Desk performance was still good with 90% of all problems being resolved within our target timescales.

Don't forget that we're here for you 24x7 in person to help you with any problems you have.  We're here to help!

Change coming soon for Alpha Legal subscribers using the Legacy software from CTT Group

If you are an Alpha Legal subscriber who also uses the Legacy software from CTT Group, you will have received an email from CTT explaining an upcoming improvement to the service being provided.

A change is coming in May!

Instead of requiring two subscriptions, one to Alpha Legal and another to CTT, from 1 May 2024 you will only need a Legacy subscription.  Your Alpha Legal direct debit will be cancelled and, instead, your Legacy subscription will be increased by the same amount so that you don't need to make two payments each month.

At the same time, any unused Alpha Legal credits will be transferred to the equivalent number of Legacy credits (or higher) so that you can still request ID from Legacy without needing to buy credits within your Alpha Legal subscription.

Finally, you will also notice that the Alpha Legal service for Legacy software users will be rebranded as Legacy Portal.  This change reflects the new Legacy Portal app and the close connection between our two companies.

Don't worry, there will no interruption in service.  Our two companies are working closely together to make the transition seamless for you.

If you are concerned, or have any questions, you can contact CTT Group's partnership team via partnershipteam@ctt-group.co.uk.  You can also call the Alpha Legal Help Desk on 0333 301 1010 or email help@alphalegal.co.uk.

Are you sending data to ATaC/NORAC for their annual asbestos report? We can help

Have you been asked to provide data for the ATaC/NORAC annual asbestos report?

We've created a free report for your Alpha Tracker asbestos system which will generate the data in the correct format for you to check and send on.

AIC Data Extract report is now available

Contact Jack if you want the report added to your system via 0333 301 1010 or support@start-software.com.

Join us tomorrow (28 March) for our first Alpha Tracker webinar in 2024!

It's our first Alpha Tracker Tips & Tricks webinar tomorrow @ 12 noon!

Watch all of our past webinars here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/webinars

Join us to see our Forms feature in action.  You can now create your own forms to capture any data you like in our mobile app, Alpha Tracker Mobile.  Once you have captured data, you can view and complete the forms on your laptop and generate automatic reports.

You can register for the webinar (for free!) here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cNr2w1-MRfCYWHDl_xzNFw

Do you experience a slow-down in Alpha Tracker in the afternoon? We'd like to hear from you

We're trialling some software changes which will help if your Alpha Tracker system sometimes slows down as the day progresses.  

Experiencing slowdowns when you have your afternoon tea?  We want to hear from you

Please contact our Support Desks (UK or Aus/NZ) if you are experiencing this issue so that we can apply the change to your system.

The USA has banned the use of Chrysotile - finally

It's extraordinary to think that the USA has been so far behind other Western nations in banning the use of asbestos.  Finally, they seem to be catching up, and a ban on Chrysotile (so-called "white asbestos") has finally been announced.

An "Abestos Kills" protest on the streets of New York

It isn't quite that straightforward, of course.  Industries using asbestos will have 12 years to phase it out and, even then, there is a long list of exceptions to the ban.

We are yet to explore the US market with our asbestos software Alpha Tracker, but we have recently been contacted by American asbestos consultancies wanting to trial the system.

Read more about the story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68602748

Jack is back! He's returned with mulch on his mind from Melbourne

Our Alpha Tracker product lead Jack is back in the UK from his trip to Melbourne.  He was working with our Australian director Judy at the FAMANZ conference in Melbourne, meeting asbestos consultancy clients old and new.

Whilst he was in Australia, the issue of asbestos in mulch was raised by several of our Sydney-based clients.  

Read about the story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-68302052

Almost unbelievably, asbestos has been found in the mulch around play equipment in a Sydney park.  The scare has kept thousands of school students at home and forced the cancellation of a major Mardi Gras party. There was also panic after potential exposure sites were identified - but quickly cleared - at the Sydney venue for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert.

Judy, Jess and Leanne in our Alpha Tracker Adelaide office will be working with our Sydney asbestos consultancy clients to ensure that our software is helping them to identify and manage asbestos in mulch.

We should all know the name Nellie Kershaw

Nellie Kershaw was the first person to die of asbestos-related disease - or at least the first person to have that cause officially recognised.  Nellie worked in an asbestos mill, spinning fibres into yarn, and was exposed daily to asbestos-containing fibres.  She was only 33 when she died, and we mark her death this week because that was exactly 100 years ago.

It is exactly 100 years since Nellie Kershaw died of asbestos-related disease

The inquest into Nellie's death led to the publication of the first Asbestos Industry Regulations, in 1931.  It seems extraordinary that the number of asbestos-related deaths is still increasing year-on-year - a reminder to us all of the importance of the work we do in the asbestos management industry.

Apologies for the brief system outage on Friday 8 March. All services were back to normal by 18:30

We had some issues with system speed and availability on the Alpha Legal site on Friday 8 March between 16:00 and 18:30.  We are sorry about these technical issues which affected some clients and the completion of ID requests.

We're sorry for the brief system outage

The issues were fully resolved on Friday and we have taken additional steps to increase system resilience.  If you have any concerns, or want to discuss this incident in more detail, do get in touch.

Start Software app "OnTimeCare" features as one of the "5 Great Apps"

Alpha Software has published a "5 Great Apps" video, and OnTimeCare, an Alpha Anywhere application built by Start Software for New York-based Patient Innovations has featured at position #2.

OnTimeCare ranks #2 in Alpha Software's "5 Great Apps" list

OnTimeCare is a complex, feature-rich application for the US healthcare industry.  It uses innovative algorithms to reduce waiting time across health centre settings, for patients and healthcare staff alike.

The user interface for OnTimeCare makes it easy for staff to monitor and manage flow to reduce wasted time and minimise frustration, maximising treatment times and provider revenue.  It has a sophisticated booking engine which predicts no-shows and habitually-late arrivers, automating reminders and even filling late-availability appointments with standby patients.

Watch Alpha's "5 Great Apps" video and see what apps are possible using Alpha Software's software development platforms.  And do contact us for help - we're Alpha Software's Professional Partners and can offer a range of mentoring, consultancy and troubleshooting services for the Alpha developer community.

Two Alpha Tracker orders to end a busy week of demos and discussions

Two environmental consultancies have placed orders for Alpha Tracker this week.  Both are switching from other systems and so we're especially pleased to be welcoming them to the Alpha Tracker family.

Two more consultancies are joining Alpha Tracker

The first switcher is a large consultancy specialising in asbestos, and so they are looking forward to using the specialist asbestos features available in Alpha Tracker.  They work nationwide and have a large number of site staff working across a range of properties, from domestic to commercial.

The second new Alpha Tracker users focuses on fire and water services, with some asbestos work alongside.

We still have space for one more implementation before the summer, so do get in touch if we can help your asbestos, fire or water consultancy to switch to Alpha Tracker.

Catherine & Kieran have successfully negotiated our ISO9001 and ISO27001 audits. Well done to them and our team!

Project Manager Catherine and consultant Kieran have just been told that our Quality (ISO9001) and Information Security (ISO27001) audits were successful.  That's quite an achievement, not least because we've restructured our business since the last auditor visits and made several changes to our processes.

Catherine (front) and some of the team behind her - literally and metaphorically!

Well done Catherine and thanks to Kieran for his expertise and input.  You can download and verify our certifications (and our insurance policies and other legal documents) here: https://start-software.com/legal

FAMANZ Asbestos 2024 has come to an end. What a great conference and event for all Australian and New Zealand asbestos consultancies to meet and share

The premier asbestos conference in Australia and New Zealand, FAMANZ Asbestos 2024, has come to an end.  Judy & Jack were on the Alpha Tracker stand to meet clients old and new.

Judy with Rich from Virotech

Identifibre at the Alpha Tracker stand

Australian director Judy with Alpha Tracker Product Lead Jack

See you all next year!

The Big C Atlantic Challenge is underway again! Andrew is building his new boat ready for May 2025

We've been in touch with Andrew Bedwell since his first attempt at crossing the Atlantic in the shortest boat ever didn't go to plan.  Andrew's Big C Atlantic Challenge is underway again - what great news!

Our sponsorship of Andrew's incredible challenge helped him to build and equip his first boat, and Andrew is using the knowledge he gained in his new design.  Panels have been designed and laser-cut this week - and the second iteration of his vessel is starting to take shape.

The 3D jigsaw puzzle begins

We'll keep our blog readers updated as the boat takes shape and we hope to visit Andrew's expedition base as soon as the boat is ready to view.

716 tickets raised in February, 655 resolved on time

We've just completed the analysis of the Support Team's performance in February 2024.

Out of 716 tickets raised by clients, 655 were resolved on time (that means within the timescales requested by the caller).  That's 91.5% of all tickets raised - not bad at all.

We asked AI to create the image for the blog post - odd but not bad!

We're proud of our Support Desk, not least because we're available 24x7, in person.  We're here to help - so call us anytime and we'll do our best to answer your question or fix your problem.

Alpha Tracker at FAMANZ, Melbourne

Alpha Tracker is at FAMANZ 2024 in Melbourne, proudly exhibiting and supporting this excellent asbestos conference.  We attend every year - it's a key milestone in the asbestos calendar in Australia & New Zealand.

Jack, Judy and the Alpha Tracker booth

Judy & Jack have already spoken to many of our Australian and New Zealand asbestos consultancy clients during the first day of the conference.  We've also had interest from new customers looking to switch from other software.  If you can commit to switching before the end of FAMANZ 2024, I'm sure Judy can even give you a special offer!

Jack is on his way to Melbourne for the FAMANZ asbestos conference with Judy. He's going with Harry Redknapp, apparently!

The FAMANZ Asbestos 2024 Conference is starting on Monday, and Jack is travelling to Melbourne to work with Judy, Leanne & Jess from Alpha Tracker in Australia.

"when Harry met Jack"

Look who Jack bumped into at the airport - Harry Redknapp!  

Jack will be talking to our Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancies from Australia and New Zealand as well as meeting prospective new clients.  It's a long trip but it's worth it - we love to meet our customers face-to-face.

Have you seen our new websites? We've been busy updating them to help our clients

We've published new versions of our Start Software and Alpha Tracker websites.

Our new business website at start-software.com highlights the range of products and software development services we can provide.

visit start-software.com

Our Alpha Tracker website has also been updated with new content.  Take a look here: 

visit alpha-tracker.co.uk

Would you like us to add more content to help you?  Get in touch!

"4 for the price of 1"... Alpha TransForm/Alpha Anywhere/Alpha Cloud/ChatGPT webinar now available. Robin talking to Alpha Software's Dave McCormick

Robin joined Alpha Software's Dave McCormick to demonstrate a link we've built between TransForm, Alpha Anywhere, Alpha Cloud & ChatGPT.  The webinar recording is now available on YouTube.

Do watch and see how the power of ChatGPT can be used to extend what TransForm can do for you and your clients.

Click to find out more about Start Software's Alpha consultancy services and our AI expertise.

Alpha Tracker Tips & Tricks Webinars in 2024. It's time to register!

We've sorted out the schedule for the Alpha Tracker Tips & Tricks Webinars for 2024!

Join us for our webinars in 2024

They are free to join and will be held on Thursdays this year:

• 28 March 2024
• 30 May
• 25 July
• 26 September
• 28 November

You can register for the webinars from this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cNr2w1-MRfCYWHDl_xzNFw

It's worth registering so that you get reminded to join!

See you on 28 March!

There's a new Alpha Tracker Mobile coming to the app stores this week

We're releasing a new Alpha Tracker Mobile to the Google (Android) and Apple (iOS) app stores this week.  Alpha Tracker Mobile is our companion mobile app for the Alpha Tracker system.

Alpha Tracker Mobile

The app has benefits for our water hygiene (Legionella) clients as well as several bug fixes and small improvements throughout the app.

New research paper comparing AI (Large Language Models, LLMs) againsts laywers when checking contracts for legal issues. What a result

In our work with AI for the legal industry, we've been able to show that ChatGPT and other LLMs are incredibly efficient (and accurate) when asked to perform tasks on documents such as summarising, comparing or analysing text.

The AI Centre of Excellence in New Zealand has just completed a piece of work to example the accuracy and efficiency of LLMs against human lawyers, when looking for legal issues within contracts, and the results are a real eye-opener.

In short, the AI outperformed the lawyers.  And it wasn't even close.  The AI was faster and less expensive -  by a huge margin.

Read the study here: https://arxiv.org/html/2401.16212v1

"Embracing AI Together". Great article about AI in 2024 from Robin in Modern Law Magazine

Our Alpha Legal director Robin was asked by Modern Law Magazine to give his forecast for 2024.  What would be impacting the legal industry the most this year?

Read for yourself at https://modernlawmagazine.com/the-magazine/ (page 44)

Robin's theme is AI.  AI is going to make a difference to every legal firm in 2024 and he spells out how to make the most of the technology and how to protect against the pitfalls.

Find out more about the AI projects from Start Software here: https://start-software.com/ai

More virtual Alpha Tracker training for our customers. Kim has been busy this week!

Another housing organisation has switched over to Alpha Tracker and we were delighted to train them this week.  It was a virtual session with Kim in Telford and the clients at their base in Hampshire.

Kim in our training pod

We love to give refresher training to customers, or train new members of staff.  Our Alpha Tracker specialist Kim is always available to put together a bespoke training session for you.  Get in touch!

Busy week for AI here at Start Software

We've been working hard over the last 6 months to develop our skills, expertise and consultancy services relating to AI.  Specifically, we've been working with AI thought leaders Piers Linney and Aalok Shukla (ImplementAI), and AI video generator platform Heygen.

We've got big plans for AI in our two biggest platforms, Alpha Tracker and Alpha Legal.

Here are two Teams calls we had this week to talk through ideas.

Start Software Director Robin talking to Piers Linney & Aalok Shukla for CTT Group

Robin talking to streaming avatar lead Alec Lindsay from Heygen

Can we help you to integrate AI into your business?  Get in touch.

January 2024's Support Desk performance stats are in. Maybe our busiest month ever!

Our Support Desk stats are in for January 2024.  Looks like one of our busiest months ever with 799 tickets raised.

I asked ChatGPT to analyse our stats and provide a summary and graph.  It did a decent job and here it is!

January 2024 vs the previous 5 months

The graph above illustrates our Support Desk's performance from August 2023 to January 2024, focusing on the percentage of tickets resolved in time (both overall and high-priority) and the total number of tickets solved each month. Key observations include:

• Improvement in High-Priority Ticket Handling: There's a noticeable dedication to improving the resolution of high-priority tickets in time, with January 2024 showing a strong performance in this area.
  
  
• Consistency in Performance: The in-time resolution rates for all tickets have remained relatively stable over the months, showcasing our consistent approach to maintaining high standards of service.
  
  
• Increase in Volume: January 2024 saw a significant rise in the total number of tickets solved, indicating not only an increase in demand but also our enhanced capacity to address and resolve client issues effectively.

This graphical representation underscores our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement in serving our clients.

We're the only software provider in our market able to offer unlimited, personal, 24x7 support so do get in touch even you need us.  We're here to help!

Would you like some more training? RPP Asbestos are enjoying some extra training today

Alpha Tracker specialist Kim is at RPP today, delivering some additional asbestos surveyor training.

The asbestos professionals at RPP

Would you like some extra on-site training or support?  Get in touch!  We love to travel to see Alpha Tracker in action.

We're planning our 2024 Alpha Tracker webinars. What would you like us to talk about?

We had a blast doing our Alpha Tracker Tips & Tricks webinars in 2023.  Thanks for joining us each month, and thanks for watching the recordings on our website.

It's webinar season again!

We're planning our webinars for 2024.  What topics would you like us to cover?  What day and time suits you best?  Drop us an email and let us know!

Act Now on Asbestos campaign shortlisted for two awards

We were proud to contribute statistics and expertise towards the Sunday Times' Act Now on Asbestos campaign last year.  The campaign has been shortlisted for two prestigious journalism awards including Campaign of the Year in the British Press Awards 2024.

Sunday Times "Act Now on Asbestos" shortlisted for two awards

The journalist behind the story, Steve Boggan, has a very personal connection with mesothelioma, losing his brother-in-law to the asbestos-related disease in September 2023.  We worked with Steve and shared our asbestos report Damage: The Poor Condition of Asbestos in our Schools, Hospitals and Houses which highlights why this is such an issue of concern to the most vulnerable in our society.

We wish Steve all the best for the Awards Night on Thursday 18 April.

The first new Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy of 2024 is installed, trained and ready to go! Welcome Asbestos Surveys Ireland

It's only 12 days into 2024 and we've already installed, configured and trained our first new asbestos consultancy!  A big Alpha Tracker welcome to the lovely people at Asbestos Surveys Ireland, based in Dublin.

Maria in the Asbestos Surveys Ireland office

Kim travelled across to Dublin to meet the team and train their site and admin staff.  You can find out more about the asbestos services provided by Asbestos Surveys Irelands by browsing their website here: https://www.asbestossurveysireland.ie/

Site visit to Cath Tate Cards. Their new cloud-based software is well under way

Zac & Robin visited our software development client Cath Tate Cards on Monday to review the progress on their new cloud-based ERP system.

Zac enjoying the Cath Tate Cards office - and the view of the Shard!

Our software has been powering the success at Cath Tate Cards for more than a decade and we're thrilled to be taking them forward into the cloud.  We also loved our gift - a "Rage against the machine" mug - you can buy your own one here!

Support Desk stats for 2023 - quite a year!

Our Support Desk team have been reviewing their performance for 2023.  Altogether, they took 9,098 calls for assistance from our customers.  Wow.

2023 in Review

A surprising 2,189 of these queries were deemed to be high priority by the caller (we encourage our customers to set the priority and the timeframe for resolution).  That's a quarter of all calls described as "urgent", typically giving our Support Desk only two hours to resolve the issue.

Looking at the time it took to resolve the query from the customer, 9 out of 10 tickets were solved within the timeframe set by the caller.  That's a good performance from the team and an improvement compared to 2022.  Those stats are even better if we look only at the most urgent calls, with 95% being solved in time.

Don't forget, our Support Desk is available, in person, 24x7 to help you.  We're the only software company in our market which provides this level of quality support.  Thanks for your business in 2023 and here's looking forward to an equally busy and productive 2024!

We're working with two amazing people mentioned in the Alternative Honours List 2023

The Sunday Times publishes an Alternative Honours List each year for amazing people who (in their opinion) should have been mentioned in the official list, but haven't been.

We're so pleased to be working with two of the people mentioned in their list - Andrew Paten and John Read.

The Sunday Times Alternative Honours List 2023

Andrew is the co-founder of the UK National Asbestos Register, UKNAR, a campaign we have been pleased to support from the outset.  Our OpenAsbestos data sharing protocol is helping to make asbestos registers shareable with UKNAR no matter where the original asbestos data was stored.

John is the founder of Clean Up Britain, a campaign to rid the UK of litter.  We are working with John and his team to create a new app to encourage everyone to report litter hotspots, clean up their areas, and play their part in dealing with the epidemic of litter and fly-tipping.