A Fond Farewell

Atlas would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes to Kelly Owens. Many of our customers will know Kelly as she has worked as a vital part of our accounts team for over six years and has probably spoken to most of you at some point in time. Kelly played an instrumental role in streamlining all of our annual renewal invoices and in particular the ADSL rental fees where there is a lot of volume. Daphne Butler, Atlas Company Secretary, said “Kelly has always been meticulous, professional and very efficient in the way she has gone about her job, we will certainly miss her.”

Kelly has decided to spend more time with her family, and although we will really miss her we respect and understand her decision. Kelly’s son, Josh who is 5 years old and growing up fast, has a busy and demanding schedule with friends birthday parties, out of school clubs, football and swimming all of which keeps Mum's taxi service very busy.

Not that some people can’t wait to see the back of Kelly because she does have a very enviable desk in the office, and she has already started to notice some of Roger’s belongings in her drawers!

We wish you all of our best for your future and you know where we are if Josh starts to drive you mad, the door is always open.

Kelly’s last day at Atlas will be on the 30th July.

Atlas Mid-Year Meeting 2010 Report

The annual Atlas Business Mid Year Meeting was held at Rochdale’s Cricket, Lacrosse and Squash Club on Friday 16th July. The location was chosen as it was equally inconvenient for all team members from our Cheshire, Yorkshire and Glasgow offices. The Mid Year Meeting is something Atlas has been doing for the past 12 years and is considered a ‘must attend’ event for all employees, including Director Gary Manktelow who hobbled in on his crutches following his desk accident... don’t ask!!!! The all day session provides the Management team the opportunity to sit with the whole company and review and analyse where we are up to versus our goals and aspirations that we set during our Kick Off Meeting in January.

The event was also used as a chance to introduce new colleagues Liam Meadows and Dave Alcock to the rest of the team who as we are multi site hadn’t previously had the pleasure of meeting everybody.

The 2010 Kick Off meeting had a big emphasis on ‘Changing Times’ and as such the Atlas developers have been particularly busy during the first 6 months of this year giving some of our solutions a modern face lift and introducing lots of new features and functions (many of which had been requested by you the users). Some briefing sessions showcased these in all their glory and the sales team were spotted rubbing their hands as they could all think of at least one customer or prospect who could benefit from these enhancements.

The financial analysis provided some positive news with our filed accounts showing 50% revenue growth in the year January to December 2009 over 2008. This is of course despite the economy and doom and gloom reports from Plimsoll reporting that one in ten IT suppliers are predicted to go bump during 2010.

Certain individuals were highlighted as providing an excellent service or having gone the extra mile. These included representatives from our sales, development, implementation consultants, technical and helpdesk departments. We reserve ‘thank you’ bonuses until our January meeting once we have a full 12 month picture but for now a big pat on the back to you all.

Unfortunately the miserable weather put a stop to a few team building exercises John Butler had in store for us all, these apparently included French Petanque (AKA Boules), mini cricket games, lacrosse and Squash. Interesting fact of the day.... Did you know that our very own Jenny Mackenzie (a consultant from our Glasgow office) has played Lacrosse Internationally representing Scotland. Her role was ‘the stopper’ and had a reputation for achieving this via any means. As such it is probably best that we managed to escape these inter company ‘friendly’ games as we might have had some trips to casualty.

All of us here at Atlas would like to wish you and your businesses all the best for the final two quarters of 2010. Doesn’t time fly, if the second months are anything like the first six months it’ll be Christmas before we know it! More pictures from the day can be found below.

SIFT Software Awards Are On Us Again

It is that time of the year again and Atlas are encouraging their customers to provide feedback on the SIFT Media Software Satisfaction survey. This particular award is highly regarded as it is voted for by you the software users rather than so called, ‘industry experts’. Access has won awards at this prestigious event for several years on the trot, including ‘Green Software Provider of the Year’ for the last two years as well as ‘Top Provider of Mid-Range Accounting Software’. It only takes one minute to complete as having populated your email address and company name there are just four quick multiple choice questions to answer, so what are you waiting for... click this link to register your opinion.

Monkeying Around

Atlas were delighted recently when Go Ape!, suppliers of ‘high-wire forest adventures' for people looking for something different to do in the outdoors, decided to partner us as one of their software suppliers. Go Ape's business is unique but provides a really simple way to get people out and active, as their website explains;


'we build giant obstacle courses up in the trees using ladders, walkways, bridges and tunnels made of wood, rope and super-strong wire, and top it all off with the country’s best zip lines'


As part of the 'getting to know you' exercise, Go Ape! invited several Atlas team members to have at go on one of their 26 courses, at Delamere, Cheshire. What followed was a fantastic and fun day out with a company whose ethos and friendly manner fit very nicely with our own! Pictoral evidence of Atlas acting like monkeys can be viewed below.

Atlas would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Go Ape! and, in particular, the staff on duty at Delamere who all made us feel incredibly welcome and ensured our day was fun, safe and challenging!