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!

The World Cup's Effect On YOUR Office

Whilst everybody else finishes crying into their cornflakes this morning, industry analysts have been hard at work dissecting some of the technology facts and figures about the world cup tournament and how they impacted on the typical working environment. Never ones to pass on the opportunity to meld technology and sport, we at Atlas thought we'd take a closer look at just how the World Cup has affected businesses up and down the country. Carry on reading below for some of the key statistics.




- 800,000 viewers managed to watch the England v Slovakia game on Thursday (which kicked off during work hours at 3.00pm) online according to the BBC.

- Our sister company, C2 Internet, reported a 400% rise in internet traffic through the same time period. Although way above normal levels, we still had plenty of capacity left to ensure all of our customers experienced an optimum viewing experience.

- ThinkBroadband reported increases in both latency and packet-loss during the game, meaning internet users may have been affected by dwindling speeds and failed connections. Some providers also appeared to be experiencing reductions in speed tests although our performance remained strong throughout (C2, not England!).

- Akami have a nice little tool here for monitoring Internet traffic by country. Interestingly enough, Italy's traffic peaked during Monday morning, long after they left the tournament... must have been a replay of last year!

- The Financial Times reports that, overall, the World Cup could cost the economy as much as £1bn in lost time and productivity levels.

- Although this could be nothing when compared to Chile, whose workers lost an average of five hours each during their World Cup performances, according to one sporting website.

Atlas Welcomes New Team Member!

Atlas are very proud to announce the addition of another team member to our growing list of staff!

David Alcock has joined Atlas from Quinton Hazell Automotive Ltd and will be working closely with the project team on our many implementations. Like many of our project team, David trained as a Chartered Accountant, starting his career with Arthur Young by working at their Crewe and Manchester offices. David followed this career by moving to one focused in industry, working in a number of businesses in the head finance role where his responsibilities extended to covering companies with turnovers ranging from £4 million to £50 million and accounts teams ranging from 4 to 20. In addition, David also gained operational experience working as Managing Director of a £10 million business where he initiated a change to lean manufacturing, improved quality standards and was significantly involved in purchasing, with a particular focus on supplier development and engineering product improvement.

David relaxes with a variety of hobbies including walking, boats and computers along with a keen interest in all things related to aviation having held a pilot's licence at seventeen.

Although David is no longer an active pilot, we're sure you'll agree he looks destined to be a 'high flyer' here at Atlas, with his wealth of business experience and financial management expertise. We warmly welcome him to our company and look forward to sharing many years of success with him in the future.

Atlas Partner 3CX In New Telecommunications Offering

Atlas are always keen to extend our technology offerings in all areas and are very happy to announce a new partner in our telecommunications offerings in 3CX Phone Systems.

3CX Phone System is a software-based IP PBX for Windows which replaces traditional PBX hardware phones. It is based on the SIP standard and supports standard SIP software / hardware phones. It allows calls to be made via a VOIP service provider or via the regular PSTN. Easy to install and configure, it includes a web-based configuration interface, voice mail, auto attendant, call hunting and other features.

Recent clients of the company include Lotus Racing, who chose 3CX for their phone system to enable their F1 Racing team to maintain conversations with engineers back at their Norwich offices.

A short video on the strengths of the 3CX product is included below, the article continues after the jump.



In partnering 3CX, Atlas have become the largest provider of certified professional installers outside of the company themselves, with several of our engineers now qualified to handle the system.

Atlas would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone at 3CX as a valued business partner - we look forward to working closely with you in the future.

If you're interested in what 3CX can do for your business then feel free to give Atlas a call on 0333 666 3330 or drop us an e-mail at sales@atlasbiz.com

QlikView Shows Power With General Election Application

Interpreting the election through our powerful Business Intelligence application

With Britain going to the polls today to elect a new Prime Minister, Atlas' Business Intelligence partners, QlikTech, have used the readily available election data to show the power of their QlikView application. The QlikView application is used by businesses the world over to interpret and share crucial business data and its ease of use is clearly on display in QlikView's new topical piece of development. You can read what Qlikview have to say about their 2010 General Election Application and find out how you can try it out for yourself below.





'We’ve developed an application in QlikView to demonstrate how complex sets of data – like the political views of the population, their geographic or demographic characteristics, even what paper they read - can be simplified and shared with your friends and colleagues.'

- QlikView, April 2010





To try out the application for yourself, or to receive a tailored demonstration from Atlas, send an email to sales@atlasbiz.com with 'QlikView 2010' in the subject box. We'll organise the rest. Happy voting!

Atlas Support Club's 50th Year With Shirt Deal

Atlas have always tried to take an active role in getting involved with the local communities near to where our offices are based and this year has been no different over at our Yorkshire office in Leeds.

This year sees the 50th Anniversary of local club Sherburn White Rose Under 18s, an active and lively local football team based just down the road in Sherburn In Elmet. Sherburn combine a similar dedication to the local community with a winning mentality and have been promoted in five out of their last six seasons.

Our deal with Sherburn sees the Atlas name appear on their kits throughout the season when they will once again be gunning for a high placed finish.

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper footballing story without a family connection in there somewhere and Atlas Director John Bilyj has been watching his son Adam play in goal since the Under 11 age group. Adam is now the Under 18s first choice goalkeeper.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all the players and staff at Sherburn the best of luck for the forthcoming season.

Atlas Payroll Workshop: The Wrap-Up

The Atlas Payroll Workshop was held on Tuesday 16th March at Leeds United Football Club and we're pleased to announce the day was a great success! Attended by around twenty-five of our Payroll users, the day was a great day to interact with some of our customers as well as provide them with some help and guidance as we approach the year end.

Atlas booked the Jack Charlton Suite for the event and the Leeds United hospitality team were on fine form as well with waiter service for teas and coffees throughout the morning and a really great meal for anyone who stayed on at the end of the day.

The day itself consisted of looking closely at the Payroll upgrade procedure, examining and demystifying legislation and software changes, a section on useful hints and tips and some brief looks at other Atlas products - including our HR Hub solution, another hot topic at this time of year.

Atlas would like to thank all our customers who attended the day, if you weren't one of them then don't worry - we're still here to help. If you're an existing customer, please feel free to call our ASM team on 0333 666 3330, they'll help you through all your year end procedures. If you're not already an Atlas customer but feel you need a Payroll solution then call the sales team on the same number or drop us an e-mail at sales@atlasbiz.com - whatever your problem we're sure we can be of assistance.

More photographs from the day are included below.

Imminent Hardware Price Increases

What are you waiting for? Invest now to avoid price increases!!

Have you allocated some of your 2010 budget for new servers or client workstations kits? Are you currently considering your requirements? Don’t wait, place your PO now to avoid pending price hikes.

If your subscribe to any of the various computer trade magazines or follow an IT related blog you will have no doubt noticed that now is the best time to purchase computer hardware. Leading manufactures such as HP, Fujitsu and Sony VAIO have all confirmed that due to the weak pound and rising components costs they will be forced to increase their prices next month (April 2010).

Don’t panic, we’re here to help. Do you need advice to help future proof your investment? Would you like to discuss suitable specifications? Don’t know whether to opt for 32bit or 64bit? Feel free to give our sales team a call. As an HP reseller we can typically turn orders around within a week to help you beat the price increase. Our highly qualified and experienced ‘techies’ can help with your implementation, networking, printing, basically all of your technical requirements.

Call us now: 0333 666 3330.