Christmas 2024 opening hours. We're open and here to support you throughout the holiday period

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and we're still here to help you right until 4pm on Christmas Eve! 🎄

We want to make sure all our wonderful clients know about our opening hours during the festive season. Here’s what you need to know:

✨ Closed: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day – because even we need time for mince pies and New Year’s resolutions!

✨ Open: We're here for you 24/7 on all other days until we resume our regular hours on 2 January 2025.

Thank you so much for your support and business throughout 2024.  We're bigger than ever and looking forward to a successful 2025.

Enjoy the holidays, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you need us before or after the big celebrations!

We might even get some snow this year

PS when it snowed a few weeks ago, we tried to make a snowman on our balcony.  Not a great effort, but we tried...

Please don't ask why he is wearing plastic gloves and a Captain's hat

PS We've made a donation to the incredible Mesothelioma UK charity instead of spending money on Christmas cards - please do support them if you can, too

NORAC - The National Organisation of Asbestos Consultants - shares our "Damage" report update

Great to see that NORAC has shared our Damage report update for November 2024.

Visit norac.org.uk to read more

Read more here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/damage

No more European Asbestos Forum... welcome the Global Asbestos Forum. Big change after 10 years of EAF success

That's another EAF Conference wrapped-up after celebrating 10 years of sharing information, data, and fellowship amongst the asbestos community.

President Yvonne's final announcement was that the European Asbestos Forum will now become the Global Asbestos Forum, finally recognising the worldwide reach of her asbestos foundation.

The Brussels conference was as lively and interesting as ever, and thanks again to Mesothelioma UK CEO Liz for presenting some of our "Damage" statistics in her enthralling and powerful talk.  We produced the update using the latest asbestos data from Alpha Tracker.

Here are some of the highlights:

Brussels at Christmas takes some beating

Meso UK Liz talking about asbestos in UK schools and hospitals

The Alpha Tracker "Damage" November 2024 update was on every table

Professor Roger Willey from ACS Risk and his enthralling presentation

The most moving moment - a tribute to Helen Bone

In the middle - Sam Collins (BOHS/IATP), Philip Hibbs (Hibbs Associates), Roger Willey (ACS)

Roger and Alpha Tracker's Robin

It wonderful to meet so many Alpha Tracker asbestos software users from around the world.  What a wonderful opportunity to talk asbestos in great company, with excellent food and a drink or three.

Next stop Brussels! The update to our "Damage" report is on its way

Robin is on the Eurostar, taking an update to our "Damage" report to the EAF Conference in Brussels. The report update takes recent data from asbestos surveys and reinspections from asbestos software Alpha Tracker and examines the current condition of asbestos in UK schools and hospitals.

The report update is heading to Brussels (with Robin!)

We'll be sharing the data and report update with Mesothelioma UK's CEO Liz Darlison.  Liz is talking to the conference about asbestos in schools - so the update will be timely and relevant.

Melika is back! You'll be speaking to her on the Support Desk when you call

Melika has returned to us after her work experience month and has started her career with us.  We were delighted to offer her a job as she impressed us so month during her first spell in our Telford software development office.

Melika Smith, our new trainee

Melika will take on a variety of roles, gaining hands-on experience in how we run our business and develop software for our clients. She'll apply her coding training as she progresses toward becoming a full-time developer.

Melika's a fascinating person to talk to and has arrived in Telford via Glasgow, Turkey, and many other place inbetween! So do get chatting if you call and she answers the phone.  You can't miss her, she's the only one with a Scottish/Turkish accent!

Head-spinning announcement coming soon! It's all about our new Lab Sample Exchange. Might turn things on their head!

We've just recorded an interview with another software company about the launch of our Lab Sample Exchange - and their identity might surprise you!

Our collaboration might turn the asbestos lab market upside down!

I've squeezed 3 different "head-spinning" puns into this blog post... that's more than enough! Watch out for the full announcement shortly...

We are taking an update to our "Damage" report to the European Asbestos Forum Conference in Brussels this week

It's 18 months since we first issued our "Damage" report about the condition of asbestos in UK schools, hospitals and homes (see https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/damage).

We've checked the latest asbestos stats from Alpha Tracker to create an update ready to take to the European Asbestos Forum Conference in Brussels later this week.

Overall, the situation is just as bad as it was in 2023. In hospitals, half of the asbestos

samples reinspected in the last two years still show signs of damage. In our schools, almost

all of the asbestos re-checked by specialists shows sign of deterioration. This simply is not

good enough and reflects the appalling state of the UK public infrastructure.

There are signs of improvement, though. Some of the most dangerous asbestos materials

have been removed since the original surveys were undertaken, showing that some sensible

prioritisation is happening.

We launched the original report with MPs from all parties

We have a new government in the UK with new priorities and a different approach to public

health. We’ll be sharing these results with MPs to encourage them to take asbestos-related

disease seriously. We have lost more people to asbestos in 2024 than in any previous year

– and this simply cannot be allowed to continue.

Kim has been visiting AMC Asbestos in York to deliver one of our Alpha Tracker clinics

Alpha Tracker specialist Kim has been in York this week visiting asbestos consultancy AMC Asbestos.  She has been delivering one of our Alpha Tracker clinics, helping our clients to get the most from their Alpha Tracker asbestos software.

We think it's the first time that a dog has joined one of our training session! 

We had a paw-sitively great Alpha Tracker training session this week
—our furry trainee didn’t miss a single bone of information!

AMC Asbestos have now completed more than 30,000 asbestos surveys - congratulations to them!  Find out more about AMC here https://www.amc-asbestos.co.uk/ or contact Kim to arrange your own Alpha Tracker clinic via our normal website: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/

Would you like a new "Dead" status on Alpha Tracker enquiries & quotations?

We currently support four different statuses on our enquiries & quotations within Alpha Tracker.

The statuses are:

• Enquiry (no financial information logged, it's just a record of first contact)
• Open (an quotation in discussion with the prospect or client)
• Won (a quotation where the client has said yes)
• Lost (they said no - perhaps based on price, need, or the business went to a competitor)

The four quote statuses currently in Alpha Tracker

Would you like to see another, called "Dead"?  This is where the quotation hasn't officially been lost but, instead, the prospect/client has stopped responding.

Please do let us know what you think - click here to email us.  Thanks!

Call volumes to our Support Desk are coming down. November tickets were 23% fewer than October

Ticket numbers are finally dropping on our Support Desk.  In November, we received 896 calls for help, down 23% compared to October.

ChatGPT invented the image - it's getting better!

Why the reduced number?  Our new clients have now settled into their routines and so the number of "how do I?" calls has dropped considerably.  We've also been focused on performance for a number of clients, changing our cloud setups so that documents produce more quickly and system response is better.

Response times were good, too, with 19 out of 20 calls being resolved in the timescale needed by the caller.

Catherine is the captain of our ISO ship! Quality and Information Security re-certifications complete

Our ISO9001 (Quality) and ISO27001 (Information Security) certificates have arrived, following our successful week-long re-certification audits (see https://blog.start-software.com/2024/11/its-our-iso9001-and-iso27001.html).

Nice hat! Catherine is our Quality & Information Security captain

Thank you Catherine for your hard work.  This isn't a easy process but it is worth it, and our success demonstrates our commitment to quality and information security.

Click https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/legal to see all of our certifications, insurance certificates and trading terms and conditions.

Alpha Tracker/FLS webinar on Thursday 5 December at noon. Join Simon Spriggs (FLS) and the Alpha Tracker team

If the news that Alpha Tracker & FLS are working together has your "productivity boosting" juices flowing, you're in for a treat.  

We're co-presenting a webinar on Thursday 5 December (at noon) to show how we are bringing the power of the FLS scheduler optimiser to work within the Alpha Tracker framework.

Simon Spriggs from FLS will be co-presenting our webinar

Simon Spriggs from FLS is joining our normal Alpha Tracker webinar team to show how the two products work together, and how this can drive huge productivity gains into your business.

The webinar is at noon and will only last 20 minutes or so.  Register here for free: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cNr2w1-MRfCYWHDl_xzNFw#/registration

Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Focused Alpha Tracker training workshop delivered

This week, our Alpha Tracker specialist, Kim, conducted a focused training workshop with the team at Acorn Analytical Services. The session aimed to enhance their proficiency with our asbestos management software, Alpha Tracker.

Kim with some of the Acorn scheduling team

Acorn Analytical Services, known for their dedication to asbestos consultancy, has been utilising Alpha Tracker to streamline their operations. Kim's workshop provided practical guidance on advanced features and best practices, covering topics such as optimizing survey workflows and scheduling.

The interactive format allowed Acorn's team to engage directly, ask questions, and gain insights tailored to their specific needs. By the end of the session, participants felt more confident in leveraging Alpha Tracker to improve efficiency and accuracy in their jobs and projects.

We appreciate Acorn Analytical Services for hosting this workshop and look forward to supporting their continued success with Alpha Tracker.

For more information about asbestos software Alpha Tracker, visit our website: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/asbestos. To learn more about Acorn Analytical Services, visit: https://www.acorn-as.com/. 

Can we help your team to become more efficient with their use of Alpha Tracker?  Do get in touch.

We're here to help you with Invitations to Tender. APIs, other asbestos software, and more

Are you tendering for asbestos surveying or management work?  Have you seen references to Alpha Tracker, APIs, or other asbestos software systems in the Invitations to Tender?  

Here's a brief guide to help you - our "Alpha Tracker in tenders FAQ".

Alpha Tracker is a requirement

There are some large tenders circulating at the moment where asbestos software Alpha Tracker is mentioned as a requirement (because the client already has their own copy of the Alpha Tracker system).

If you are an Alpha Tracker user already, this is obviously fine and you can simply go through the process as normal.  If you don't already have your own copy of asbestos software Alpha Tracker at your consultancy, you can either get in touch and ask for a quote for your own licence, or you can have a discussion with us about whether your existing software can generate files in a format that Alpha Tracker could import.

There is a requirement to interface with another API

First, what is an API?  An API is a means for one software system to talk (exchange data and documents) with another.

The organisation looking for an asbestos consultancy might already have a system in place (for example, one of the housing management platforms) and they may have specified that their new asbestos consultancy of choice needs to be able to interface with that API.  Is that possible with Alpha Tracker?  Absolutely!

Alpha Tracker is the most open asbestos software system on the market with 10 ways to import and export data, including the use of APIs.  See https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/integrations for an overview.  We are also very happy to quote for new API integrations.  Typically, we estimate that an API-based integration with a system we haven't interacted with before can take 3-4 days of our time for us to develop and test.

Each API is different so it is always best to get a firm quote from us (for the Alpha Tracker API integration) before you incorporate it into your quote.

Another asbestos system is specified

What happens if the tender specifically mentions another asbestos software system?  Can an Alpha Tracker consultancy still apply to win the business?  The short answer is "it depends".  Here are some options:

• if the other software system is from a company interested in connecting and working with the asbestos software industry (for example, Flow Mobile), then data exchange is normally possible via OpenAsbestos or other methods.  However, some other asbestos software companies are not open to work with the rest of the industry (no names required, I'm sure you know who we mean!), so... 
  
  
• ...if the other system is a closed system, then it is more difficult.  An option is to use your potential client's own licence or to negotiate a licence direct with the software supplier.

Hope that helps, we're here to help you to win business.

We took the portrait of Mavis & Ray Nye to the Houses of Parliament to mark the anniversary of her passing. It was a memorable day

Yesterday marked exactly 12 months since we lost our beloved Mavis Nye to mesothelioma.  Mavis was a legend in the world of asbestos, surviving an incredible 14 years after she was diagnosed in 2009.  Her fundraising, campaigning, and support for other sufferers of asbestos-related disease were an inspiration to all.

To mark the date, our Alpha Tracker director Robin organised an event at the Houses of Parliament, hosted by Julia Buckley MP and with most of the asbestos industry represented.  Robin is a Trustee of the Mavis Nye Foundation, the charity founded by Mavis & Ray to inspire and support other sufferers of mesothelioma and to raise funds for research.

It was a lovely occasion.  Moving, inspiring, and important, raising the levels of awareness with MPs and demanding action.  The whole event was linked back to the wonderful oil painting of Mavis & Ray which was the brainchild of European Asbestos Forum President Yvonne Waterman and commissioned by UKNAR founder Andrew Paten.  The portrait only arrived a few days before the event thanks to the efforts of Harry Vonk from the Asbestos Museum (where it has been on display for the last 12 months).

Mavis wanted her portrait to be in the Houses of Parliament so that MPs would ask who she was, understand her story, and then take action to stop people from being exposed to asbestos fibres in the future.  In particular, she was determined to see changes in policy and legislation so that asbestos was removed entirely from schools and hospitals.  She was also a great supporter of the notion of a UK National Asbestos Register.

Here are some of the photos from the day and a video of the event itself in a room just off Westminster Hall.

Ray couldn't join the event in person as he is not well enough to travel, but it was videoed to enable him to watch it back at home.

Mavis & Ray were walked through the Palace of Westminster

Craig reading some very moving words sent in by Ray

Julia Buckley MP sharing her thoughts about the next steps

Representatives of the UK asbestos industry and charities

Mavis & Ray in Westminster Hall

We had chance to explore the Palace

Our final photo on the terrace

You can watch the speeches from the event here https://youtu.be/tPcDgQ7x_9g or by clicking the video below.

Kim has been delivering Alpha Tracker training sessions and clinics this week. Can we help you, too?

Kim has been on the road this week, delivering advanced Alpha Tracker training to established users, and running a troubleshooting clinic for a new client.

I couldn't find a picture of Kim "in action", so this headshot will have to do!

One of the asbestos consultancy clients had asked to deliver a "gap analysis", to highlight areas of their business where Alpha Tracker could help to reduce admin and increase productivity.  One of Alpha Tracker's strengths is its flexibility, but that's also a challenge as our clients have choices about how much to implement and how to integrate it into their operations.

Kim, Catherine & Judy are all able to help you get the most out of your Alpha Tracker asbestos software.  For example:

• are you still running a separate CRM system (or spreadsheets) alongside Alpha Tracker?
  
  
• do you produce your quotations through Alpha Tracker or are you using another system?
  
  
• are site staff picking up their jobs from their phone calendars, or are you still emailing rotas?
  
  
• do you think you could make your scheduling team more productive through the use of FLS?
  
  
• are you using our latest features aimed at making surveyors more productive?
  
  
• are your asbestos templates perfect - or are you having to make manual amendments to documents?
  
  
• are invoices generated automatically from Alpha Tracker or are you still raising invoices manually in your accounts software?
  
  
• are your clients downloading their asbestos reports from your client portal, or are you still emailing PDFs (or printing and posting!).
  

Get in touch and have a chat.  We'd love to help you.

UK Access User Group relaunch at Oxford University - cracking event!

Robin attended the UK Access User Group relaunch event today at the Faculty of History at Oxford University.

More than 40 developers attended from around the UK with speakers from far and wide including Denmark and the USA.  The Microsoft Access software engineering team also attended by video link, providing the latest information about developments coming in 2025.

Robin at the Access User Group

The team at Start Software supports several MS Access-based systems across the UK and provides a service to convert desktop Access systems to browser-based software in the cloud, using Alpha Anywhere & Alpha Cloud.  Get in touch if you would like us to help you with your Access system.

Save 10% on your European Asbestos Forum booking in Brussels. We're sponsoring the EAF again this year

If you are considering attending the European Asbestos Forum (EAF) in Brussels in December, but still need to book your ticket, here's how to save 10% on your registration.

Start Software is an EAF sponsor again this year, enabling us to pass on a special deal to all Alpha Tracker software users.  Email your registration as normal but mention asbestos software Alpha Tracker in your booking request and ask for the 10% special offer discount.

Highlights from last year's EAF conference

We'll launch an update to our "Damage: The Poor Condition of Asbestos in our Schools, Hospitals and Houses" report at the EAF with the latest statistics about asbestos in schools, particularly.  We will be making this data available to Mesothelioma UK CEO Liz Darlison so that she has the latest information available for her talk on Day 2 (see https://www.europeanasbestosforum.org/programme-and-registration-2024/).

Watch out for our updated "Damage" report with the latest data about asbestos in UK schools

The European Asbestos Forum events are always such good value with high-quality presentations and - more importantly - opportunities to discuss asbestos with leading professionals from Europe and beyond.  In fact, it has become a global event with asbestos experts from every corner of the world attending.

Hope to see you there!

(read more about Alpha Tracker at EAF events here: https://blog.start-software.com/search?q=EAF)

It's our ISO9001 and ISO27001 recertification week where we focus on Quality and Information Security

It seems like Catherine has been preparing for months for our ISO9001:2015 and ISO27001:2013  recertifications.  This week, she's been working non-stop with ISO assessor Chris and our ISO consultant Kieran alongside our Telford team to provide evidence of our conformance to the standards.

Catherine, Chris and Kieran

Keeping our ISO certifications is a long and costly process, so why do we put ourselves through it?

ISO9001 has been the bedrock of our business since we started trading.  ISO9001 is a measure of an organisation's Quality Management System, essentially a guarantee that a company will work in an orderly, consistent and measured way.   Our software is used by hundreds of organisations every day and they rely on us to provide a consistent service.  Our Support Desk has never been busier, handling more than 1,000 tickets each month and we aim to deal with each one in a timely and professional manner.

ISO27001 ensures that we treat data and information within our custody with appropriate care and diligence.  It is an internationally recognised standard relating to Information Security specifically and there are not many companies of our size who have spent the time and money necessary to obtain the certification.

We won't know until the end of the week whether any non-conformances have been found, so please do wish us luck!

Meet Melika! She is half-way through her work experience with Start Software

We're giving Melika a month's work experience to help start her career in software development.

Team Leader Dan helping Melika

Melika is based in Glasgow, but has taken the leap to move to Telford for the month to embed herself in our team, and see how we build software for our clients.  She's been looking at asbestos software Alpha Tracker, ecological report-writing system ecoScribe and some of our other software products.

She is also helping out on Support, too, so do say hello and make her welcome if you call in and Melika picks up the phone.  She's the only one in our office with a Scottish accent so won't have a problem spotting her!

October saw another 1,000+ tickets on the Support Desk

October 2024 was another 1,000 ticket month - 1,167 to be precise.  Zac, Jamie & Lucas were joined by Melika this month, helping customers using our apps to get the most from their software.

6 months of Support Desk performance

Performance dropped slightly but was still good.  94% of high-priority tickets were answered on time compared to 91% of all tickets.

Time flies! We're celebrating 5 years of being a Living Wage employer

It's 5 years since Start Software became a Living Wage Employer.  We're as proud of that fact today as we were back in 2019.

Find out more at www.livingwage.org.uk

The real Living Wage is based on the real cost of living and is voluntarily paid by more than 15,000 UK employers.  It's calculated independently each year and these are the latest rates:

If your company hasn't explored the benefits of joining the movement and becoming a Living Wage Employer, we urge you to take a look.  Visit www.livingwage.org.uk for more info.

New feature in the Water Hygiene Client Portal - temperature and flushing records

Your clients can now record temperature and flushing records live in the Alpha Tracker Client Portal for Water Hygiene.

Another new Alpha Tracker feature

There are more Water Hygiene (Legionella) updates on the way - keep an eye on the Alpha Tracker blog for more details.  Or let us know what changes you'd like to see - we love to hear from our wonderful Alpha Tracker family!

Asbestos in UK schools - read about the future impact on lives from the latest JUAC report

The Daily Mail has published a story on the front page about the forthcoming "tsunami of deaths" from asbestos-related disease. 

The Joint Union Asbestos Committee (JUAC) has published a report - "What Is The Real Risk From Asbestos In Schools?" - following an investigation by unions representing heads, teachers and support staff.  The report has concluded that hundreds of thousands of staff, exposed to asbestos in their schools, are predicated to die from mesothelioma.

The Daily Mail front page today

Journalists Steve Boggan and Chris Pollard have continued their previous work at The Times and elsewhere to initiate a new campaign through the Daily Mail.  The aim of the campaign is to strip asbestos from all public buildings - starting with schools and hospitals.

Here at Start Software, we produced our own report in 2023 called "Damage: The Poor Condition of Asbestos in our Schools, Hospitals & Houses" - which used data from more than 3 million asbestos samples from asbestos software Alpha Tracker.  Our report was launched at the Houses of Parliament with asbestos campaigners and Sir Stephen Timms, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee.

Read our Damage asbestos report here

We're updating our report in time for the December 2024 European Asbestos Forum in Brussels.  Liz Darlison from Mesothelioma UK will be delivering a presentation about asbestos in UK schools and our updated report will be available for all EAF participants.

Finally, the Daily Mail's campaign is also proposing a national online database of every non-domestic building that contains asbestos - something that we have supported for many years.

Visit OpenAsbestos.org to find out more

Our OpenAsbestos asbestos data sharing protocol was built with this in mind and our long-term support for UKNAR - the UK National Asbestos Register - demonstrates our commitment here at Alpha Tracker. 

New Alpha Tracker Mobile hits the app stores. New "Support" option and "Water" buttons simplified

There's a new version of Alpha Tracker Mobile in the app stores.

The update adds a new "Support" menu (useful if you need to call us for help):

Look out for the new "Support" menu

The other change is that the button previously labelled as "Water OFFLINE" is now just "Water".  This is the button to click if you are working on water jobs on-site.

Press "Water" to enter water hygiene data

If you have any questions, do get in touch with Alpha Tracker Support (https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/support).

Big C V2 is taking shape! Watch how Andrew Bedwell's second record-breaking boat build is taking shape

Adventurer Andrew Bedwell's second attempt at the world record for the shortest boat to cross the Atlantic is taking shape!  

Andrew is calling this "Big C V2" - an all-aluminium re-design of the original Big C boat, learning from the experience Andrew had after his first launch in May 2023.

Andrew is involved in every step of the design and build

It's great to see the Start Software logo on the boat again! We so enjoyed meeting and helping Andrew during attempt #1 (see https://blog.start-software.com/search?q=Big+C), so nothing was going to stop us from being involved this time, too!

Watch videographer Paul Larkin's video here showing the boat build through to the Southampton Boat Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWvfCQY-ZBc

Andrew has a crowdfunding campaign running to help fund the new build.  With only 6 months or so until the second attempt in May 2025, Andrew needs all the help he can muster to complete the build and sea trials.  Please do contribute if you can: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bigcatlanticchallenge

Productive meetings with Alpha Software in Boston

We're just back from a productive day with our partners, Alpha Software, in Boston.

The UK technical team from Start Software travelled to the USA to meet the Alpha Software developers.  The main topic was the roadmap for Alpha Anywhere and Alpha TransForm, two of the most important platforms used by the Start team, and critical for our Alpha Tracker, ecoScribe and Alpha Legal platforms.

The Start and Alpha technical teams in discussion

It was great to catch up in person with our key software partners (Start Software is the UK professional partner for Alpha Software), renewing business and personal relationships.

Our first 1,000 ticket month! New clients bring new questions and queries

September 2024 saw 1,085 tickets logged by our Support Desk.  That's the most tickets ever, and reflects the number of lovely new clients who have joined us over the summer.

Despite the high number, the Support Desk team still managed to resolve 90% of all tickets within the target timeframe.  95% of High Priority issues were resolved within 2 hours, quite an achievement.

Zac, Jamie and Lucas receiving their vouchers from Jack

The core of the Support Desk team are Zac, Jamie & Lucas.  Here they are being presented with £100 Amazon Gift Cards to thank them for their hard work.

Alpha Tracker/FLS partnership officially launched

If you use LinkedIn, you'll have seen the announcement launching the partnership between Alpha Tracker and FLS: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fls-fast-lean-smart_asbestos-legionella-fieldservice-activity-7242492709238710273-dqEN?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Our partnership will bring huge opportunities to increase efficiency and productivity for our biggest asbestos and water hygiene consultancies.  The FLS approach to optimising staff schedules has to be seen to be believed! It's truly exceptional, and the integration we have now enables the power of FLS to be delivered alongside the operating efficiency of Alpha Tracker.

You can read the FLS announcement here: https://fastleansmart.com/en/blog/fls-fast-lean-smart-partners-with-alpha-tracker/

Get in touch to learn more - we'll be glad to explain how our new integration works.

Note to editors:

Alpha Tracker® is a comprehensive, cloud-based software solution specifically designed to meet the needs of environmental consultancies worldwide, particularly those dealing with asbestos, water hygiene, and fire risk assessments. Trusted by hundreds of consultancies globally, Alpha Tracker offers a versatile and scalable platform that enhances operational efficiency and streamlines project management from start to finish.

One of the key strengths of Alpha Tracker is its ability to integrate seamlessly with various tools and platforms, providing users with a flexible and customisable experience. The software easily connects with popular calendars like Microsoft and Google, ensuring that scheduling and project management are synchronised across your organisation. Now that the power of FLS is available to Alpha Tracker consultancies, huge productivity increases can be made without extra manual scheduling effort.

The platform is designed with adaptability in mind, offering features that can be tailored to suit the unique requirements of each consultancy. For example, Alpha Tracker enables mobile data capture through both Android and Apple devices, allowing field teams to collect and upload data in real-time, directly from the site. This capability not only improves data accuracy but also accelerates the reporting process, enabling faster turnaround times for clients.

Furthermore, Alpha Tracker's open and adaptable nature means that it can easily grow and evolve alongside your business. Whether you are a small consultancy or a large enterprise, the software can be configured to match your specific workflows and operational needs. The system’s automation features, such as automated reporting and invoicing, further enhance efficiency, allowing your team to focus on delivering high-quality service to your clients.

In addition to its powerful features, Alpha Tracker is backed by a dedicated 24x7 support team that understands the challenges faced by environmental consultancies. This ensures that users receive the assistance they need to maximise the benefits of the software, making it an invaluable tool for consultancies looking to optimise their operations and expand their services.

In summary, Alpha Tracker is a robust, flexible, and highly integrated software solution that empowers environmental consultancies to manage their projects more effectively. With its global user base and proven track record, Alpha Tracker is the ideal choice for businesses seeking to enhance their operational efficiency, improve client satisfaction, and drive growth.

Judge Rinder and Start Software - what's the connection? It's Andrew Bedwell's latest transatlantic record attempt!

Judge Rinder has been checking out Andrew Bedwell's latest boat design for his world-record transatlantic crossing attempt.  Start Software is supporting Andrew again for his May 2025 attempt to cross the Atlantic in the shortest boat, ever!

If you're on Facebook, you can follow Andrew here https://www.facebook.com/Allgoodfun or via his Big C page, too: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082612007911

Interested in asbestos sample tracking (or "chain of custody")? Watch the recording of our webinar

Our latest Alpha Tracker webinar is now available to watch again here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/webinars

Dan & Kim show how to use the asbestos sample tracking feature (barcoded or manual), otherwise known as asbestos sample "chain of custody".

You can watch on our website, or live here on YouTube: