Our latest software project has been soft-launched at the Dairy Show. SOLID Diet Management is nearly production-ready

We've been working with the famous Nicholson farming family over the last few months to build a new farming app - SOLID Diet Management (see https://blog.start-software.com/2025/05/were-building-new-farming-app-meeting.html).

Built using the Alpha Software development platform (Alpha Anywhere), our team have built an innovative and robust self-service app.

Dan & Lucas attended the soft-launch at the Dairy Show

The Dairy Show was the ideal venue for the soft-launch of the app (not least because it was in Telford!), so Dan & Lucas went along to meet the farming brains behind the product, Richard Nicholson, and watch him introduce it to fellow farmers.

40 Marathons in 40 Countries in 4 Months - all for Cancer Research

Our good friend and client John Read of CleanUpBritain (remember, we built the roadside-litter-tracking RoadVlog app?) is a very proud Dad.  His son, Angus (22) is running 40 marathons in 40 countries in 4 months, raising funds for Cancer Research.

Angus is hoping to be the youngest person to achieve this feat, and he is doing it completely unsupported. Wow, what a challenge!

You've got this, Angus!

Follow Angus on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@angus_read/video/7545555352952130838

And - just an importantly - donate to the cause by clicking here: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/angus-reads-euro-40-40-4-expedition?feed=e8d79554-289a-48eb-be2a-2e59e4a6add8

Thanks in advance!

Update - Angus has just started his Montenegro marathan and sent us this message...

Dan would have done less time for murder! 15 years of service to Start Software

Dan's 15-year career with Start Software has seen him grow from an apprentice software developer into a mature, trusted, senior leader appreciated by his colleagues and clients around the world in equal measure.

His technical skills are incredible, but it is his attention to detail, ability to plan, and determination to always do his best make that make him an exceptional person to work alongside.

It's a shame that the only 15-year celebration card we could find was for wedding anniversaries, not work ones, but it's the thought that counts, Dan!

Robin & Dan outside the Start Software UK offices

Thank you Dan for your service - we hope you'll still be running the show in 2040!

Start Software developers Lucas & Melika travel to Birmingham to meet our new client, Wilkinson Beven

Birmingham-based interior designers Wilkinson Beven have asked us to redevelop their business management system.  We're turning their desktop Access-based system into a new web and mobile application powered by the Alpha framework.

You can't beat a bit of Bully!

Our software developers Lucas & Melika travelled to Birmingham with director Robin this week to meet the team at Wilkinson Beven and to show the first draft of their new system.  We stopped by Grand Central to meet Ozzy the Bull - what a machine!

We're building a new farming app... meeting the family behind the idea on BBC Countrywide

A farming family local to our Shropshire HQ is introducing innovation throughout their business, and the two sons driving the farm forward featured this week on BBC Countryfile: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002cgz8/countryfile-shropshires-nature-comeback

Watch the Nicholson brothers on BBC iPlayer

We're currently working with the Nicholson family to develop an app to help them and other dairy farmers.  Watch this space!

Dan has arrived in Baltimore to help on the OERCA stand at B’More RAW 2025. We love meeting our clients and our clients' clients!

Our client OERCA is a sponsor at aquarium conference B’More RAW 2025 - a huge event bringing professionals and vendors together from the aquatic community.

Dan leads our team of Alpha software developers extending and improving OERCA and has joined OERCA's Mark & Todd on the stand today to meet clients and listen to feedback following our latest software updates.

The conference is being held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel

The two conference venues are the Baltimore Harborplace Hotel and the National Aquarium.  What a great city to hold the conference!  Dan is back next week in Telford bringing ideas and feedback to his team.

First time reaching 300 raised tickets in one week!

March was another strong month for our Support Desk, with the team handling a total of 1,081 tickets. Notably, we achieved a milestone with 300 raised tickets in a single week! Our commitment to timely support remained steadfast, as 95% of these tickets were resolved within the target timeframe.

This image was created by Maria using Photoshop!

We take immense pride in our Support Desk's consistent performance and dedication to customer satisfaction. If you require assistance with any of our software solutions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our 24/7 support service.

Do you care about the amount of litter on our roads? Join our volunteer army of data gatherers with RoadVlog, our app for CleanUpBritain

Our director Robin is passionate (and angry!) about the state of the UK roadside verges.  They are often full of litter and debris and, in his opinion (and ours), it has become a national embarrassment.

We've created a free app for the CleanUpBritain campaign to enable car passengers to log the condition of verges as they drive along.  This data will be gathered and used by CleanUpBritain to encourage the Government and responsible agencies to do something about it - the litter is not going away by itself!

Try roadvlog.uk for yourself - it's completely free

You can access the app at https://roadvlog.uk - give it a try as you are driving home tonight!  Even better, ask your team to use the app to record the condition of roads as they drive around for work - the more data we collect, the better!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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 coracling has officially improved! We're still not great though...

Remember our (brief!) appearance in the Coracle World Championships 2023? https://blog.start-software.com/2023/09/zac-jack-tom-dan-kim-could-be-world.html.  We entered again this year.

Lucas, Kim, Jamie & Dan sporting fine headgear!

The new team of Captain Lucas, Kim, Jamie and Dan performed better than last year and reached the Quarter Finals.  Not at all bad!  

The event raises funds for Macmillian Cancer Support so please do donate if you can: https://macmillan-org.enthuse.com/pf/start-software

Bring on 2025!!

Webinar published on YouTube showing how we created our ecological report writing tool ecoScribe using the Alpha Software infrastructure

Our latest webinar with Alpha Software has been published on YouTube.  Lucas, Ferry & Robin discuss how the Alpha Software infrastructure (Alpha TransForms, Alpha Anywhere & Alpha Cloud) are all used to build their new ecoScribe service for ecological consultancies.

Watch the webinar on YouTube

If you'd like to watch any of the Alpha Software/Start Software webinars, click here.  And do get in touch if you'd like help with your Alpha-built applications - it's what we do!

Peter Posh software system nears completion. But first, a selfie!

The software development professionals at Start Software have been building a new system for the UK's leading formal hire company, Peter Posh.

Development Team Leader Dan and Director Robin were driving to meet a client in Leamington Spa and noticed a Peter Posh showroom on the way.  So they pulled in for a photo or two!

Dan outside Peter Posh Warwick

Robin & Dan

The Peter Posh software development uses technology from Start's US software partner, Alpha Software.  Start Software are Alpha Software UK professional partners and can help fellow developers with any Alpha Anywhere, Alpha TransForm or Alpha Cloud technical queries.  Do get in touch if we can help you.

Tom's Alpha Anywhere "Similarity Searching" webinar with Alpha Software is live on our website and YouTube

Want to know more about "similarity searching" in Alpha Anywhere?  Check out Tom's webinar - "from sounds like to is like" on our website or YouTube.

Watch Tom's webinar on our website or YouTube

Tom goes on a journey from sounds like with SOUNDEX to is like with AI tech and vectors.  Interesting stuff and useful to anyone wanting to build an intuitive searching UI in their software.

If we can help you with any Alpha Software-related queries, do get in touch.

Milestone! 10,000th Alpha Tracker job booked in at Start Software

We use Alpha Tracker to run our own business.  Does that seem odd, considering most Alpha Tracker users are asbestos consultancies or water hygiene specialists and we are a software business?

You might be wondering why a software company like ours uses Alpha Tracker, a tool typically designed for asbestos consultancies, water hygiene specialists, and environmental consultants. The answer is simple: we believe in practising what we preach. By using Alpha Tracker ourselves, we're constantly on the lookout for new features and performance improvements. If something in Alpha Tracker bothers us, it's likely to bother you too, and this motivates us to fix it quickly!

Whenever a client requests a new feature or asks us to modify their asbestos report templates, for instance, we log that task as a project in our own instance of Alpha Tracker.  This method not only helps us track our work but also ensures that we experience the software just like our clients do.

We're excited to share that we've recently hit a significant milestone: the 10,000th project booked in Alpha Tracker! This achievement underscores our commitment to continuous improvement and our dedication to providing the best possible experience for our users.

We've recorded 10,000 jobs here at Start Software

Keep the feedback coming and we'll keep improving Alpha Tracker! Get in touch here.

PS the 10,000th job was from our friends at Hampshire Country Council... a box of chocolates is on its way to them!