Pictures From Kath's Retirement Party

As you may already be aware if you've read our Kick Off Meeting report or looked at the photographs from the event, Atlas' Kick Off Meeting on Friday 13th January marked the last day in the business for Kath Welsh, who retired from Atlas after being involved with the company for ten years.

Kath's colleagues, friends and family, joined together to wish her a fantastic retirement and to thank her for all her hard work over the past few years. A selection of (carefully edited) photos is available below.

Kath (centre) partys the night away.

Atlas director John Bilyj is, erm... 'asked', to join in with the band.

Daphne and John Butler enjoy the celebration...

...along with Atlas Director Craig Cameron and wife Jacquie.

Pictures from Atlas Business Kick-Off Meeting 2012

Atlas held our annual Kick-Off Meeting at Oulton Hall near to Leeds on Friday 13th January. Below are some pictures from what turned out to be an energetic, productive and lively day.  You can read a full report of what happened in our main news section.

Our hosts at Oulton Hall provided great facilities for the meeting, held in a room at their golf club.

ASM Engineer Michael, ready for the day's action.



Ben Butler prepares for his presentation.



TSM Engineers (l-r) Adam, Gary and Matt.

Melanie Bilyj and Kath Welsh, during the day. The Kick-Off Meeting was Kath's last day before she retired from Atlas, having been involved with the company for over ten years.

Group Managing Director, John Butler, kicks off the Kick Off Meeting



Director John Bilyj shows the room how to accurately hold an imaginary box.



All Atlas employees not involved in customer work on that day attended, making for a crowded and productive room.

ASM Engineers Ruth and Michael gave a lively a humour-filled presentation.

John and Keltha are entertained by the presentations.

Adam and Stuart represented the TSM team.

Head of TSM David Lambert and Richard Walliker work on a task together.

Director Diane Lonsdale and John share a joke.

John presents Kath with a certificate commemorating her long and excellent service with the company.

Kath's colleague Catherine presents her with a bouquet of flowers.

At the end of the day, Kath looks over the signatures from her many friends in the company.

Pictures From Our Atlas 'Business Growth 2012' Event

You can read more about our Business Growth 2012 event at the Atlas website here.

John and Daphne: The Movie

Picture courtesy of UKTV

For those of you that missed Atlas Business Group’s MD and Company Secretary John and Daphne Butler’s recent television appearance, you have another opportunity as the program is repeated at 8pm this evening (Tuesday 15th November 2011) on Sky Home channel 246.

The program is titled “My flat pack home” and follows the Butlers as they plan to erect an office in the garden of their home in Clyro. Eagle eyed viewers may also spot guest appearances from Joe, Sam, Ben, Lara, David, Ian, Ruth and Michael who were all captured during some of the filming at our Head Office in Globe Works, Nantwich.

Surf's Up - A Quick Guide To Web Safety Abroad

Accessing the Internet whilst on holiday abroad is an increasing trend amongst British holiday makers. But is that Internet cafe down the road from the hotel safe and if it isn't, what steps can you take to make sure your surfing is secure? Our resident Internet expert Stuart took a look at the dangers of surfing abroad.

Surfing abroad can be a risky business to the unprepared, as hidden dangers lie out of sight. It might seem that you're flying along those familiar waves as if back home, but you may be tumbling towards the rocks without even realising it. Coming from C2 Internet, I am of course talking about surfing the web. As we are leaving the busiest time of year for holiday making then this may be a little late for some of you, but hopefully with your holiday fresh in your mind it will make you take note of the risks to your data security whilst abroad, that pose danger at a time when people may be likely to drop their guard. Whether we like it or not it is getting more and more difficult to stay completely offline when taking time off, but even if you’re just checking personal emails, you must be careful.

A convenient method of getting online when abroad is to use an Internet cafe; they can be found in almost every tourist destination and can even be found within many hotels. So for a small fee someone might jump on the Internet for 30mins, before logging out and heading back to the beach. This is fine if they were just having a look the weather forecasts and catching up on the news, but not so good if they logged into their online banking, their Gmail account or even worse, their company system. The biggest threat faced in using a publicly available computer to access the Internet comes from key loggers. This is usually done using a simple application that logs the keystrokes entered. This method is used for malicious purposes to obtain the user's complete login details. It could even be a hardware key logger, attached to the computer.

The only way of getting around this problem is to use your own device to access the Internet, no other solution can ensure your data security is secure on a public computer. This could mean using your laptop, tablet or even smart phone to connect to a wireless hot spot. If using your smart phone, you need to be very careful to ensure you don't mistakenly connect using your mobile Internet connection, as this could lead to a costly phone bill.

Unfortunately for those wanting to ensure their Internet usage is not intercepted, this is still not enough. Even if using your own device, the wireless connection itself may be intercepted. Most people these days are aware that they need to use a security key to secure their Internet usage. But the key is obviously no secret if it’s a publicly available connection, and someone can therefore use that to bypass the encryption. But before you start packing the satchel of pigeons into your suitcase, there is a safe way to surf, and it’s a lot less noisy and messy than using our feathered friends to communicate with friends and colleagues.

To secure your wireless hotspot usage, the best method is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This can be used to connect from any wireless point, and it will encrypt the traffic. So what VPN should you use for safe web browsing, well that depends on what device you're connecting from. Below I have included a few examples of the sites that provide these services:

http://hidemyass.com/vpn/
(paid for service - covers most laptops, tablets, smart phones)

https://www.ipredator.se/
http://www.acevpn.com/
https://www.vpntunnel.se/en/

Most of the secure browsing VPN suppliers have user guides to take you through the process. I would add that when using a VPN, there is a method of quickly confirming that it’s ready, so that you can begin browsing safely. Before connecting the VPN go to:

http://www.whatismyip.com/

This website will display the public IP that (as far as the Internet is concerned) you are browsing from. Make a note of this IP and close the browser. Connect your VPN, now go to http://www.whatismyip.com/ again, the IP displayed on this website should now be completely different.

So there you go, you've gone from casually connecting on an Internet cafe computer and having a quick catch-up, to having to connect your smart phone up, then enabling a VPN to encrypt the traffic. Well I never said it was going to be plain sailing. This is not an exhaustive list, there are many methods to lessen the risk, but using your own device and a VPN is probably the best sure fire way of protecting yourself from the main dangers discussed in this article.

The potential threats continue to increase on the Internet, this is a trend that will not be stopping anytime soon, but with a little effort you can learn to safeguard your usage, so you can continue to enjoy the benefits without putting your privacy/finances at risk. Or as Jon Kabat-Zinn put it:

‘You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf’

Our MD’s talks with Bank of England Governor’s Deputy

(Outlooks and Growth 2012-2015)

(or is that better as, His talks with Me?!)

Hobnobbing and name-dropping with The Great (and, maybe, The Good)

Our Group MD participated this week in an ‘intimate’ gathering with no less a personage than the Deputy of the Governor of Bank of England, at the invitation of our RBS Corporate Bankers. He (the Deputy) was seeking in Davy Crockett scouting style (though without the skunk hat!) to get a ‘Status and Outlook’ reading from the binoculars of us ‘coal-face’ SME business leaders. He also gave us some interesting and challenging insights on where the big wise-men see our ‘seasonal climate’ likely backdrops over the next year or two; particularly the practical paradoxes of The Bank’s policies to support the funding and capital needs of businesses by our big corporate banks which the Government are ‘desperate’ to see expand and grow successfully.

Setting and Organisation of the Event

The small private dining room at Crewe Hall with its beautiful panelling and white linen place settings for twenty for luncheon certainly didn’t add to the air of open relaxed informality for the exchange of views which nice intelligent Simon (who previously was a lobbyist for the CBI) said he was looking for ... ... ... but this ‘stiffness’ was counter-acted by the fact that he had to settle for talking directly to us from his Powerpoint notes because the projector/screen was unavailable /Kaput! This was certainly just as well though! (See below!)

The ‘PPP’ Principles of Practised Hobnobbers (Position, Position, Position)

I had drifted in as ‘tail-end-Charlie’ on the in-bound procession to table, and found myself to be ‘last-man-standing’ after all my lunch companions had shown the typical English reserve, politeness, and hanging-back deference (for which we are so justly modestly famous around the world!). Thus, the only chair left for me was at ‘God’s’ left-hand (the one to his right was occupied by a lady much prettier than I, who subsequently turned out to be a solicitor, though only of the boring kind for conveyancing mortgagees into debt with their bankers!

Lunch with, or without, Refried Chips or Power points, Sir?

Accordingly, in my place right ( I mean left!) next the Great Man, I was ideally placed to observe his speaking notes on this three-to-view Powerpoint slides (as well as to pass the butter, offer him water etc. because 500 years of ‘butlering’ service do leave one with politeness instincts towards male colleagues as well as ladies!) Anyway, but for the ‘duff’ projector, I think that the Man who had come ‘to listen to us’ would have otherwise given us the treat of an hour-and-half barrage of charts (line, stack, pie, soup and nuts!) which would surely have guaranteed an unquestioning white flag surrender by any survivors from the battle of the bulge lunch!

Passive Audience becomes (slightly) Animated Actors!

As it was, however,! ... ... ... it turned out to be congenially frank and thoughtful in both directions of the conversations around the suitably elliptical table! Just over half of those 20 souls there to ask and to observe were bankers (our hosts) or auditors, financial advisers ... ... ... so I guess that makes it about representative of the same proportions that the rest of us seem to find in real life these days!

Degrees of Freedom and Constraints in the ‘Hadron Collider’ Canteen

If ‘elliptical’ and ‘frank’ seem a bit odd joined in a single sentence, it’s important to remember that there’s truth in the old proverb about ‘not biting the hand’ that you hope is going to feed you ... ... ... (at least until its clear that it won’t!)

Neither is it polite to kick sand or good white wine onto white linen in pique at the inexplicable refusal of whole wunches of bankers to give growth-inducing economic quick-start, substantial unsecured, ten-year, low-interest, capital-repayment-free, loans in the style of big corporate bonds to all SMEs that can find good use for them ... ... ...

Surely, this is what ‘QE3-SME’ ought to be all about, isn’t it? ... ... ... or are these only truly needed by those with great big commercial properties as anchors (not sure whether these are seen to be on the assets or albatrosses side and sandy bottoms of bank balance sheets these days!)

Definites, Maybes, and May-not-Bes

It may or may not be that we will all be helped indirectly by the magic of ‘trickle-down’ from Government and Bank of England policy, through further multi-billion loans and further ‘investments’ in sovereign debt of Greece, Ireland, Mexico and Brazil all over again. After all, I.O.U. £s from a ‘sovereign’ state must be more secure than ‘risky’ loans to SMEs mustn’t they? (even though the true debt value might be devalued by some healthy inflationary erosion and exchange losses between £s and sovereigns!)

Or even, from ‘Government Knows Best’ strategies through direct investments into secure ‘vital infrastructure’ projects like a new series of three-week skills transfers courses to get the unemployed assembly line workers from Bentley Crewe or BAe Wharton productive again ... ... ... as innovatory web developers, or hair stylists ... ... ... or maybe they will do a ‘direct-jugular’ injection into town-centre redevelopments, white elephant domes, virtual Camelot spires, or just more old-new state of the art fire-stations.

Making our Own Luck

Overly heavy irony and sarcasm, maybe, but the assessment from all of the above for ourselves, and our business success in 2012, is that we need to do our damndest to help all of you to succeed! ... ... ... and that you, and we, will be very well-advised not to place our faith in external helping hands, steering, buoyancy aids; and especially not banking hot-air balloons!

On the Cusp; 2011 going into Rear View, and Steering into 2012

It has been brilliant for some, and bruising for others. Regardless of what mix of good seeds, fruit, and weeds you’re celebrating or crying over on this last day of September 2011; whether for you the fat lady is singing yet, the fact is, that for almost all of our UK clients this ‘Today’ is the ‘cusp’ and cross-over point in Business Seasons between ‘current 2011’ and ‘Emerging’ 2012!

Autumn equinox passed this week, and the Harvest Festival full-moon didn’t slip late into October from its more normal mid-September timing (though many are finding that the business economic ‘flatlands’ seasons are running slower and weaker than hoped earlier in the year – unlike the natural seasonal cycles, which are wildly out of kilter the other way. Many species are starting their 2012 growing and flowering rush many months earlier than ever! ... ... ... And that’s exactly what you should be doing in your Business 2012 , starting with our Business Growth Success 2012 Workshops in early November (see separate listings for these).

Or, will the current balmy benign Indian summer weather and economic sunshine be guillotined at knees (or higher still)! by bitter winds from frozen Urals, with icy statues of fleeing bankers immortalised in Russian easterlies ice, until they thaw in five years or more from now?

John Butler

30 September 2011


PS: If, by the time we meet with you in early November, it really has transpired that Greece has fallen out of the Euro, and that an indefinite UK-wide and General Strike has been called to herald the start of a New Ice Age in January 2012 ... ... ... then we promise we shall bring you a valuable present of your own personal pair of ear muffs!

A Must For Company Laptops

Laptop protection software has hit the headlines recently with some high-profile success stories of laptops recovered after having been stolen. Always keen to protect Atlas' technical equipment, our team of techies went on the hunt of the popular software.


Prey is a small free piece of software that is designed to protect personal and company laptops from theft and enable easy recovery if they do happen to wind up in the possession of a criminal.
The website sets out the software's aims...

'Prey lets you keep track of your phone or laptop at all times, and will help you find it if it ever gets lost or stolen. It's lightweight, open source software, and free for anyone to use. And it just works.'

So how does it work and why should you use it for company laptops?

The install is clean and easy to achieve and the nice little piece of software just sits on your laptop doing not much at all until the point of panicked realisation... 'OH MY WORD MY LAPTOP HAS BEEN STOLEN/LEFT ON A TRAIN/ABANDONED WHILST I WAS HAVING THAT SNEAKY CUP OF TEA AT BURGER KING.

You then login to your control panel with the email and password you used when you set it up and click the missing button.

The software will then activate and as soon as somebody turns you laptop on and connects to the Internet it will start sending you information on where the laptop is. If you have a built in webcam the software will even provide a photo of the person using it.

The UK police recently recovered a laptop stolen during the London riots, after the software was activated by its owner. After just one day the owner had enough evidence for the police and when the offender turned it on again the police raided his house to find him sat on the sofa with the stolen laptop on his knee. He was subsequently prosecuted for handling stolen goods and the laptop returned to its rightful owner. Just one of several successful stories for the project so far.

Beetle's About!

ASM Engineer Michael Hughes blogs about the joys of owning a forty-year old VW Beetle and how the atypically German car actually has a colourful English heritage.

The long summer evenings lend themselves to escaping the television and taking my forty year old VW Beetle for a gentle amble round the leafy lanes of Cheshire.

I have owned the car for a long time, running it as my first car for nearly a decade before replacing it. But I just couldn’t part with this thoroughly reliable beast even though it had started to look a little frayed around the edges.

I had offers to buy it but that only encouraged me to keep it. I therefore decided to have it restored professionally - a project which lasted for a little over two years. It returned to home looking like a shiny new vehicle which now appears on dry days or at the occasional Classic Car show.

But how did this vehicle become iconic being manufactured across different continents of the world for forty plus years and become the centre for films Walt Disney has made based on the character ‘Herbie’? It’s not exactly an attractive or practical vehicle yet it still doesn’t look out of place on our roads. Its origins as the “Peoples Car” for the German people before the Second World War is well documented but the destruction of the factory at Wolfsburg at the end of the war may well have seen its demise.

What may not be known is that it was left to a British Army major to organise the restarting of production after the end of the Second World War. Major Ivan Hirst of the Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers was responsible for the Beetle project under British Administration and he restarted the production of the Beetle car. Beetle production was eventually passed back to German Heinz Nordhoff to organize production. He quickly increased production and by 1955 the one millionth beetle had come off the assembly line.

Taking the Beetle to Classic Car Shows is always interesting. Many people approach you to recall the days when they had a Beetle and discuss how reliable it was and what fun to drive. They always were reluctant to part with it but growing families meant it was no longer practical to keep it.

I have been asked by children if this is “Herbie” from the films but explained that it is Herbie’s first cousin. This has satisfied the young inquiring mind. Shortly after the launch of the last Herbie film children wanted their photograph standing by my Beetle because, being Pastel White, it is close to the colour of Herbie in the film.

The fun for me is in owning the car for so long as well as the fact it is so reliable. It is always quick to start. It also a reminder that cars of its era are very basic and that car technology has come a long way since my Beetle was built.

Bugernomics In Images

Confused about what Burgernomics is? It's an economic scale that analyses currencies, lifestyles and stability by closely analysing the prices of McDonald's Big Mac burger in countries across the globe. Don't believe us? Read our news article and check out the graphed images of burgernomics below.

The Hidden Cost To Your Business Of Not Training Your Staff

Atlas Director and project consultant Diane Lonsdale blogs about the risks businesses take when they fail to invest properly in the training of staff members and the impact this can have on their ability to provide great service to their customers.

This article, on a website aimed at employees with problems in the workplace, interested me as I train end users and am involved in our Application Systems Management department.

Your company will have invested in business software solutions in order to maximise the potential of the business and to ensure that your workflow processes are as lean as possible. One interpretation of lean is to maximise production with the minimum of labour resources. This can only be achieved if the users of the business software solutions know how to use them correctly and in the most effective way.

When your company invested in these solutions you will also have invested in specialist training, delivered in a way to ensure the solutions were used correctly and in the most effective way, but what happens when these trained staff leave your employment?

Do you have dedicated members of staff who can train any new employees effectively in all aspects of the systems they are expected to use? Or is it that the incumbent staff member simply spends a few hours showing their replacement what they think they need to know, and will more than likely just hand over the sections of knowledge that are pertinent to their job role rather than the whole spectrum of the solution. Is the potential value of the software diluted during this 'training'?

Can you afford not to invest in initial training or indeed refresher training on a regular basis?

Cost is the main reason cited for not implementing this process but if you don’t then the value of the original investment is diminished.

It may be more cost effective to ensure key members of your workforce have the necessary skills to train new employees, and this is not just about your IT solutions, it also needs to be your business processes and Health and Safety Regulations.

Another reason cited by Senior Management for not investing in staff training is that if they normally have a high staff turnaround then the investment is wasted, as soon as the employees have been trained then they leave the business and therefore incur high costs. Research has proven the opposite to this theory. In an article by Jonathan Moules in the Financial Times, he quotes the latest piece of research on the subject,

“The biggest motivator for 43 per cent of staff surveyed was having a passion for their job or company. Seven out of 10 workers said that an employer’s commitment to staff training is important in helping them feel valued, and 69 per cent said it was important in making them want to work hard.”

Training employees on a regular basis ensures your investments - in software, in people, in the very core of your business processes - don't diminish and enable your workplace to remain productive, proactive and happy. Training isn't an 'optional extra', it is a must have which empowers workers and ensures customers are satisfied.