Happy New Year

No song titles this week (there aren't enough to fill my blog) so it is just a simple message.

2013 was the year in which Zipporah turned 10 years old and it is a year in which much has changed.  It started quietly enough with the expansion of the team and has now seen us enter a period of restructure which will allow for the business to grow and develop for the next 10-20 years.

As with any company that is starting out and building year on year we have reached a point where a new structure is needed to give us more freedom to react quicker and deliver faster.  Demand increases every day and lean thinking and better processes are the key to helping that delivery alongside the larger team size. Our search for a Delivery Manager is in progress to ensure that day to day management is dealt with quickly and our Business Development team are working harder to ensure that all relationships are maintained so that we can better serve our clients future needs as well as today.  This also means that our delivery specialists (formally project managers now given the wider remit to ensure quality control alongside ensuring project dates are controlled) will be focussed firmly on delivery and quality to ensure that everyone gets where they need to be at the correct times.

Its been an exciting period from Zipporah since the summer.  What began with our 10th anniversary party has seen a lot of change and with the first quarter of 2014 set to bring more with some exciting new appointments then we expect to see 2014 put Zipporah in the strongest position to carry forward our vision of making our clients the most efficient they can be.

As with any large scale change we have a few humps to get over and a few pitfalls to avoid but we are lucky in that the people in our team are flexible and are committed to what is being achieved.  2013 focussed heavily on getting our Neo systems out there and this has been done to great success and so in 2014 we turn our attention to ensuring we have a team that is properly supported and nurtured to help us in our continual improvements programme.

In 2013 we have also gained a number of close working partnerships which have seen us work with some of the best suppliers in their field and we look forward to strengthening these partnerships with close integrations and more joint projects in 2014, both in the UK and around the world.

There is so much happening that whilst it makes you nervous I am so very proud and enthralled that the small business that I started with Emma 10 years ago is now growing and succeeding in doing so much on the cutting edge of technology.

So as we say goodbye to 2013 and prepare for the excitement and adventure of 2014 I take the opportunity to wish colleagues, friends, partners and clients a very happy new year and a prosperous (and more efficient!) 2014.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Scott

Merry Christmas Everyone

Already 2013 is drawing to a close as Christmas descends on the Zipporah offices.  Despite is being Christmas Eve we are still beavering away on making sure everything is ready for the New Year chase as everyone gets back to work.  That is until I finally say stop the cavalry and we all join our families and take a well earned break (for a day or two at least).

I'll talk about the year gone by in the traditional look back at 2013 next week.  Today I want to concentrate on making it warm this winter as we step into Christmas, taking a moment away from the mistletoe and wine to celebrate our team.  

It has been a year of change at Zipporah and during the course of this year and as we enter the next this will be a continuing theme as we restructure to become a stringer organisation to deliver better service.  Unfortunately this means you lose a few people along the way but its often forgotten to congratulate those who are getting behind such change.  All of the teams at Zipporah have worked like the little drummer boy over this year and have consistently supported the drive to do better and have pulled with us our efforts to achieve more.  Never afraid to stay another hour or stay another day they have worked long and hard to meet the demands of our client base.  Nobody gets everything right but nobody could do more in trying and for that reason I would wish all of the team a wonderful christmastime.

I have been constantly enthralled by the innovation that the technical team have shown this year with some fantastic innovations as we have developed the Neo systems.  Even more enthralling is the reaction I get to see from the clients when they look at what they have available to them as a tool.  I'm convinced that if a spaceman came travelling he would look at our work as the most cutting edge in our field.

I'll also take the opportunity to say Merry Christmas to Emma, without whom the day to day business would not operate so well.

It is at Christmas that you think about what you have and how fortunate you are and I feel very fortunate indeed.  I sometimes feel like I'm walking in the air as I think about the fantastic clients, colleagues, partners and friends that Zipporah has.  This really is the most wonderful time of the year and if Santa Clause is coming to town then he could just bring me some more team members like those I have and things won't go far wrong.

To everyone that has been involved with Zipporah in meeting and exceeding our expectations this year I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and as I'm driving home for Christmas this evening I will sing a song for all of you.

See you next week.

Scott

P.s.  I've managed to put a lot of song titles from popular Christmas Singles in this blog.  Did you get them all?

Santa & Elf Dash success.

This year’s Santa fun run took place at 11am on Sunday 8th December and Zipporah’s team including Scott, Kathryn, Imran, Nick and myself, along with hundreds of other Santa’s and Elves took part in this festive dash. The event was organised by Welsh Hearts charity which mission is centred on the prevention and management of heart diseases in Wales. The charity goal is to preserve, safeguard and promote the cardiovascular health of all person, while ensuring that monies raised in Wales are utilised and distributed within Wales.

In the run up to the Santa Dash, everyone on the team got involved in raising cash for Welsh Hearts. We organised two Coffee & Bake mornings in our offices based in the Cardiff Business Technology Centre. Each event was a huge success with many turning up on the day! The delicious cakes, rocky roads, mince pies and cute and delicious cupcakes were sold on the day! It was truly irresistible experience for anyone at the CBTC! All the baking would not have been possible without help of Jackie Hawkins (Will’s mum) who prepared an astounding variety of handmade cakes, from vanilla to chocolate cupcakes , and everything in between! In result we managed to raise a total of £250 pounds for Welsh Hearts , the money that will be used to buy defibrillators and emergency lifesaving equipment.

The run itself was a huge success with Nick finishing the race third! With over 700 participants this was a remarkable achievement, although for Nick, a keen and experienced long-distance runner, 5k dash came effortlessly! Imran followed closely after Nick, becoming the first Elf to cross the finish line! The rest of us set more relaxed pace, taking our time to complete the run, while enjoying festive atmosphere and the breath-taking scenery of Cardiff Bay. All in all, it was a great day!

Merry Christmas everyone! I will see you again in January 2014!

Anna Mazur

Marketing Executive

Writing quality code in Zipporah.

When it was first mentioned that we would be writing a blog I thought 'that'll be easy, I’ll just write about being the new guy'. It turns out that Zipporah is a fast moving place and I’m not the new guy anymore. There are already new faces in the office and each is needed because ambitious plans are afoot.

Neo systems are being developed as prior blog entries mention. We have customers on the other side of the planet. (Again mentioned in earlier blog entries.) None of the many goals we have could be met by chaining a single developer to a desk and feeding him a steady stream of energy drinks and fast food. It takes a team of people with the aptitude and desire to write quality code.

As developers here at Zipporah it’s true we spend most of our time developing for the Web. Its such a large part of what we do that its right there in our job titles. However it’s not all we do. Since there are people who use desktop applications that means there is work for us at Zipporah to do in that field. Whether on the Web or right on your desktop we work with technologies with a dizzying array of acronyms HTML, .NET, C#,SQL, RAZOR etc and probably a few back-ronyms too.

Zipporah developers come from a range of backgrounds. Mine is more years than I like to mention writing desktop software. Others have large amounts of web experience or come from graphic design backgrounds. This diversity has the useful side effect that whatever the challenge chances are someone will have an idea how to tackle it or better still there will be multiple solutions proposed informed by the varied experiences in the room. However much you know about one given technology chances are you will need to use some other technology that someone else in the room knows well. We have a well stocked shelf of books on a swathe of topics but perhaps the most valuable repository of knowledge is in the heads of the other people sat in the room.

An army of gurus with a narrow knowledge base may get a job done but over time it can lead to a collective myopia about the best way to achieve a goal. Diversity and exchange of knowledge are useful tools for any development team. They introduce us all to the newest technologies and if you are to continue delivering quality solutions to customers requirements it’s definitely a good idea to keep everyone learning new things. As they say 'Every day is a school day'.

Chris Habgood 

Web Developer 

Time is creeping up on us again.

So it’s December again already. I heard my first Christmas song on the radio this morning and everywhere I look people are starting to count down the days. Outfits are being prepared for the Christmas Party and I haven’t even started the questions for our annual quiz yet with only 2 weeks to go!

Fortunately the Christmas leave is a headache already sorted with ample cover now in place for all of our clients across the globe. In planning and business terms though I’m already focussed towards the New Year when Zipporah will be entering the final stage of its changes to structure to deliver a better service and solution to our clients for the future.

Whilst Christmas sees me taking over a number of projects to cover for leave, the expected news of a birth for our Project Manager Luke and some departures, but the New Year will see some exciting changes.

As of the start of January we will be changing things around as our Project Management team will be refocused as Delivery Experts. This will see their roles encompass project management, business analysis and include quality control (I like to compare them to the chefs at the pass – but with a little less colourful language). They will be focussed on the delivery of projects for clients. Whilst the Delivery Specialists will focus on ensuring the projects are all moving forward the Business Development team will be taking on the client liaison outside of projects to ensure user groups are ongoing and to take in ideas and thoughts in a more general sense from our clients.

To top the process off we will be putting our new Delivery Manager in place. He will manage the teams focussed toward delivery of our solutions and will become a key resource for managing things internally and working with our clients to ensure that everything works as smoothly as freshly packed snow on a ski slope.

It’s an exciting time and it’s the right time. As our clients are getting squeezed more and more my role will be far more focused toward finding ways to help them beat the squeeze and improve our service to help them improve on their service. Our work on the systems is already paying off and our work with several clients has seen great strides being achieved in speed of implementation and customer satisfaction and now with our restructure we have a team which will fully support this and improve on things for the future.

Just one more thought for the day. As you read this across the UK ecommerce and online transactions are at their highest point for the year with anticipated usage expected to be particularly high as it always has been for the first Monday in December. This is the time when online transactions are considerably higher than in store transactions as people choose the ease of shopping in the break between Coronation Street and Eastenders over stepping out into the cold. Now take a moment to think about what you want to achieve in terms of customer transaction online rather than through call centres and in council attendance. Your customers are more than ready for the online world and more than prepared to take advantage whether its online services such as licence requests or bookings we have the tools to help you deliver this. As we reach the final stages of the financial year for councils and the forthcoming budget cuts loom for the next financial year maybe its worth getting in touch to see quite how much you can do online with your citizens.

Happy December everyone, I’ll be back before Christmas. In the meantime, its just 23 more days to go……

Scott 

Zipporah to take part in The Great Cardiff Bay Santa and Elf Dash!

With Christmas fast approaching many companies are preparing for the challenges that can be faced at this time of the year.Whether it is looking to get the last changes in before the Christmas change freeze, preparing for increased volumes of traffic, or simply ensuring there is sufficient cover of staff over the festive period. At Zipporah we are preparing for an additional challenge... The Great Cardiff Bay Santa and Elf Dash! An event organised by Welsh Hearts where participants get dressed up in Santa or Elf costumes in the freezing winter weather and complete 5 kilometres around the Cardiff Bay area. Welsh Hearts is a welsh charity whose mission is centred on the prevention and management of heart disease for people in Wales, and to fund cardiovascular medical research.

Having just completed my first marathon in Amsterdam at the end of October, an amazing experience although possibly the hardest thing I have ever done, I'm looking forward to a slightly shorter, though never the less demanding, distance. One of the most important questions when faced with a challenge such as this is: do I wear a Santa outfit and stay warm in this cold weather OR wear an elf outfit, be cold but more aerodynamic? When your coming in level peggings to the last kilometres these decisions can be the deciding factor.

There has even been some fighting talk, which has resulted in a competition between a number of us to see who can complete the race in the fastest time. Fellow developer Imran is feeling pretty confident he can pip me to the post, with the shorter distance not being my typical race distance. Having bigged myself up as a keen club runner the pressure is on for me to deliver. If all else fails, I've got a bag full of race excuses which I can look to churn out. Excuse number 1: I've just come off working nights for the last two weeks and I'm still tired. Excuse number 2: It was the Zipporah Christmas party on Friday.

On a more serious note, we will be having 'Coffee and Cake' days on Friday 29th Nov and Friday 6th Dec in our Cardiff Office to help raise some funds towards the challenge. As well as each member of the team looking to families and friends for their donations.

Any donations would be greatly appreciated, or if your in the Cardiff area on 8th December then head on down to the Bay and watch what could turn out to be a tight contest!

Or if your feeling adventurous you can enter at http://welshhearts.org/santa/.

Nick Masefield 

Web Developer

Zipporah solutions now available through G-Cloud IV.

Zipporah is proud to announce that our solutions have been made available as a part of G-Cloud IV framework. This important milestone was achieved following the extended evaluation process with the outcome announced in the beginning of November.

G-Cloud IV was launched on the 29th October 2013, and is the latest iteration of the Government’s procurement framework that aims to simplify the way in which the UK public sector procures digital services. There are now over 1183 suppliers offering their services to public sector buyers through the marketplace listing called CloudStore, and 84% of these are SMEs. In all, G-Cloud now features more than 13,000 services, which are available in four categories: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS); Platform as a Service (PaaS); Software as a Service (SaaS); and Specialist Cloud Services.

The launch of G-Cloud IV opens doors for many public sector bodies to buy cloud-based infrastructure, platform, software and specialist digital services quickly in a transparent and effective process. For SMEs in particularly, G-Cloud presents greater opportunity to interact with the public sector clients. So far, almost 60% of the Government's total £53.5m expenditure has gone to SMEs. The ICT suppliers market is dominated by international firms which often present costly solutions. Introduction of G-Cloud IV is important to the success of many small companies, and it shows government commitment to support local economies.

For us at Zipporah it was important milestone to expand our offering through CloudStore, making the acquisition of our systems more accessible and cost effective. The cost of procurement often outweighs the cost of the solution itself, thus becoming an approved supplier at the G-Cloud eliminates the barrier for many of our prospect clients.

Visit CloudStore to see our listing or contact our sales team directly at sales@zipporah.co.uk if you are interested in finding out more about our offering.

Anna Mazur

Marketing Executive 

New report sheds light on the state of digital services in local government.

“Local Digital Today” is the latest survey of 200 senior local authority and supplier executives and decision makers on the state of digital services in local government. The report commissioned by the Department for Communities & Local Government, researched, written and published by UKAuthority, highlights the belief that digital technologies will play a vital role in helping councils to deliver better services to their citizens for less cost to the public.

According to research, the local councils which have delivered digital savings have reduced their spending by an average of £1 million. In the light of these findings, minister Brandon Lewis urged all local authorities to take advantage. He said: ”It is heartening that 6 in 10 councils are already reporting savings from their digital endeavours. However it is equally troubling that 40% of councils are yet to drive efficiencies from this opportunity and I would urge these councils to reach out, learn from the best, and accelerate their digital programmes.

So what holds councils back in adopting digital services? ‘Legacy systems and ICT infrastructure’ (72.7%) and ‘Lack of development funds’ (59.4%) are quoted as barriers to progress digital programmes. Other barriers included ‘Culturally uncomfortable for the organisation’ (50.6%) and ‘Unwillingness to change/non-cooperation of colleagues’ (49.7%). Legacy systems topping the list is surprising and it shows the scale of technology infrastructure and investment over the years that must be integrated with new digital processes and service delivery.

The report concludes, that there is no denying that digital services are viewed as an enabler with 80% respondent believing technologies will make organisations more cost effective. However there  are social, cultural and technological hurdles that are preventing councils to accelerate channel shift. Strong leadership and need to develop solid business cases as well as sharing best practice and experience of developing local digital services is crucial for the change to take place. 

Anna Mazur

Marketing Executive 

Cross-browser compatibility: keeping up to date with the latest trends.

As one of the newer members of the Zipporah development team, when reflecting on some of the experiences I have had since joining the company, and considering what my very first blog would be, I began to think of any potential issues I have faced working within the web development industry as a whole. One that instantly sprang to mind, which is something that I am sure is a bug bare for all web developers out there, is cross browser compatibility. It's that moment when you've finally cracked that Javascript or finally got the layout of the page looking right. Yet when you open it in another browser, or you click that compatibility view button, it all falls a part in front of your eyes.

This issue is most evident when developing web pages that are public facing, which for us here at Zipporah, is the vast majority of solutions we develop. Whilst you can state to a client when developing an internal website which browsers you will support, when developing a web page aimed toward the public, you have to accept the fact that many different browsers may be used, and more than this, many different versions of a single browser (Internet Explorer 7,8,9,10 I'm looking at you) may be used. Each different version can have its own quirks ("features") which need to be factored in when carrying out development and testing, keeping us developers on our toes by requiring smart development by making the code efficient whilst managing these different quirks. It can also increase the volume of testing required, to ensure that us developers have captured these issues.

Of course there needs to be a limit on how far this browser support will go, even when developing public facing web sites, it will inevitably still result in a larger umbrella of support being required.

For the most part, cross-browser compatibility seems to be a trend that has become more of a focus for the major browsers out there. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox in recent years have begun to adopt a rapid release approach to upgrading their browsers. These releases can occur within several weeks of each other and are carried out automatically, helping to quickly quash any bugs found and also prevent users from clinging on to older versions. As the remaining old browsers, such as IE 6, begin to fade out we should start to see less of these issues occurring. However, the ever increasing usage of tablet PC's and smartphones can introduce issues of their own and we as web developers, as ever must endeavour to keep up with these trends in cutting-edge technology in order to survive. See Jonathan's blog on Mobile Development for more on how Zipporah is keeping up with these trends.

Nick Masefield

Web Developer

Having a Prince

Well as many of our readers will be familiar with Prince 2, I thought I might incorporate that into this blog. As you will know Prince 2 is very versatile and can be tailored to fit a variety of projects, so I had an interesting project that I thought I would compare it to. My wife and I are having a baby, so I thought it might be interesting to see how this would fit into Prince 2!

First and foremost we have the mandate, now this came in the instance of being planned however it was still a surprising and exciting time. When we found out we were pregnant, we followed this up with lots of reading and research. I learned many things at this stage, for example you have to wait 20 weeks until you know if you are having a boy or girl. Much like in a project at work, when you receive a mandate you start to look at all the different aspects, and begin to gather information.

This formed the bases of our business case, or more literally a shopping list of requirements. Through reading books, internet pages, and about 1,000,000 product reviews we soon came up with what we needed to buy, when we needed it, and what we needed to do. I soon learned that the project budget would need to be in the thousands! This information lead to a business case, and the beginning of a plan. This was of course thoroughly reviewed by the project board which consisted of grandparents to be, doctors, and the nosy neighbour. We implemented tools to track progress, by using our Facebook pages to keep everyone updated.

Our plan looked something like this:

• Weeks 8 – 12 – Keep it quiet, it was exciting but this stage was all about secrecy until the first doctor’s appointment. Deal with morning sickness, and researching. This then produced an initial shopping list.
• Stage Boundary – First doctors scan
• Weeks 12 – 20 – Tell friends and family, and refine shopping list by getting rid of all the stuff we hoped others would buy us. Make space in the house for the baby. This lead to building fitted wardrobes to clear out a bedroom for the little one.
• Stage Boundary – Second doctors scan
• Weeks 20 – 30 – Now that all is normal and healthy with the baby, start shopping with items from list. This resulted in long Saturdays at the shops and Sunday’s building flat pack furniture and decorating the bedroom. After this stage all is ready and waiting for the baby.
• Stage Boundary – Neo Natal Classes
• Weeks 30 -36 – Waiting patiently for the little one, and monitoring all movements and thoughts that it may come early. I have an important role here to keep the Mommy calm, and ensure all preparation is complete. Outputs from this stage are a hospital bag, and excitement.
• Stage Boundary – Follow up with midwife
• Weeks 36 – 40 – Wait patiently for the little one, and ensure the mother stays calm
• Closing the project – Well this is expected to be the most exciting and scariest part, and is when the little one arrives and fills us all with joy!

Now you may be thinking that this approach trivializes the important and large occasion that having a baby is. However, I feel that this shows how using a structured approach can take an overwhelming and complicated task and make it look quite reasonable and simple. We are currently 32 weeks so are building up to the last stage of the project, so my next blog might be a bit different! Let’s remember now that a project is a temporary team of people working together to implement change. So my next blog after the baby is due will focus on business as usual, or as I’m told crying babies and dirty diapers!

Luke Stegall

Project manager/Business analyst

Introducing our NEO upgrade.

Zipporah is in a state of change at the moment. We are introducing our Neo systems to our clients which is both exciting and challenging for the organisation as a whole and for us as developers. We are getting feedback on the system which we are constantly acting on to make the systems as versatile as possible. All of the team are working hard to ensure that our systems will meet the high standards expected of us from our clients as we roll out the Neo systems to replace the existing solutions.

It’s a long process (and suddenly you realise quite how many clients we have) as we work with each client to guide them through the biggest system change we have had for quite some time. Until that time our teams have to juggle two sets of systems simultaneously, keeping the older systems up and running whilst primping and pruning the Neos. The continuous multitasking means we need to switch our mind sets from one system to another when communicating with clients and internally amongst ourselves. It’s all a question of balance, balancing work on Neo system with supporting existing applications and balancing work schedules so that no solution falls between the cracks. Balance and time management have become watchwords for the organisation at present and everybody is working hard to ensure that the transitions are as smooth as possible.

You might think it’s all hard work but there’s joy in this dynamism. From a developer’s point of view it means we get to learn how to use a new technology and we developers love to feel like we’re on the cutting edge. In particular I think we all feel the joy of a job well done and the client feedback has been excellent. They find it easier to manage everything in the system and our support has dropped considerably. It’s fantastic to hear that the hard work of the organisation and our dev team is leading to such well received results.

So, it can get challenging but the customer satisfaction is our bottom line. And although these are demanding times, it is rewarding to know that our customers continue to be impressed with the work we do. Keep those positive comments coming as they help to make it all worthwhile!

Imran Khan 

Web Developer

KANA Connect 2013

A few weeks ago we were invited to attend the annual KANA Connect conference, which was held at Manchester United’s home ground, Old Trafford. Zipporah were attending as we have undertaken a wide range of integrations between our solutions and the Lagan CRM and have developed increasing out of the box integrations to make it easier for Local Authorities to combine online and CRM.

Now being a huge Manchester United fan, I was extremely happy to attend the conference for obvious reasons! However, it also gave us an excellent opportunity to meet with a large group of delegates, ranging across multiple sectors including a large number of Local Authorities. Whilst we are very well known in our marketplace, being one of the leading suppliers of online business solutions to the Public Sector, it is always great to meet new people, find out how they are currently managing interaction with their citizens and discuss some of the solutions that we have on offer that are helping similar authorities to save substantial amounts of time and money.

The conference as a whole was excellently put together, with some great Keynote speakers including James Cracknell OBE, and Bernard Fenton of Derby City Council, who’s speech in particular was extremely interesting to hear.

After a busy but rewarding day, all conference delegates were then treated to an Old Trafford stadium tour, which I’m not too proud to admit I jumped at the opportunity of taking part in! All in all, a very successful conference for Zipporah!

Jordan  Burnell 

Business Development Executive 

Can BYOD work in public sector?

The recent Gartner report identified BYOD as an emerging trend to revolutionise workplace and shape the performance of organisations . BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) is a scheme permitting employees to use personal devices including laptops, tablets and smartphones to access company information and applications

According to Gartner, up to 38% of companies expect to stop providing devices to staff by 2016, with the estimated 75% of employees in high growth markets such as Brazil and Russia and 44% in developed markets already using their devices at work. As the vast amount of data and services is now cloud-based and accessible via multiple devices, the implementation of BYOD is increasingly becoming a norm. But can it be adopted by public sector?

Theoretically, there are many benefits of BYOD, no matter what sector you look at. There are significant savings to be made by reducing or avoiding cost of hardware, which is estimated at £500 per employee across public administration. Also the greater mobility and flexibility to work when using your own devices, coupled with greater employee satisfaction and increased productivity is another reason for public sector to harness the power of BYOD.

But as it is easy to imagine there are also certain concerns surrounding the concept, with the security issue being one of these. The coexistence of enterprise and consumer applications on a one device is a major concern, with the risk of breaching company’s confidentiality and resulting in potential financial loss. Notably, Gartner estimates that by 2017 40 % of enterprise contact information will have leaked into Facebook via employees’ increased use of mobile device collaboration applications.

Whilst BYOD becomes common practice in the private sector, there are already public body organisations in the UK considering the options. MOD for example has already prohibited any sort of BYOD as a matter of policy, whilst Norfolk County Council is one of the only councils that allows employees to use their own devices. Will others?

Do you think local government can benefit from BYOD? Join us at Facebook & vote in the poll!

Anna Mazur

Marketing Executive

Zipporah celebrates its 10th Anniversary!

Hello again. It doesn’t seem long since I was last writing the blog but already it’s time to write another. Time really does fly which brings me neatly to the topic of my blog today. Time has really flown by here at Zipporah and as of July 9th this year we reached our 10th anniversary. A landmark for a small business and quite an achievement.

In 2003 we set out to build a business that would be something different, a business that would deliver to its clients not just what they wanted by what they needed. A business that would listen to its clients and would use that knowledge to continuously improve. We began by acting as consultants to build up the required capital that would allow us to build a development team and set about creating our products with no specific clients but an ethic built on hard work and professionalism. In 2003 there were three members of staff. In 2013 we have 19 team members, a client base of more than 80 local authorities (in three countries) and a large range of products.

We were wise in the choices we originally made as to our client base. We chose local authorities as it was clear that they were beginning a process of transformation that would see them seeking greater online transactions and looking for these transactions to be fully functional rather than the previous process of using a form to send an email (giving the customer no better a service). It’s a process that is still on-going and while it takes a while (and still takes some convincing sometimes) the changes in local authorities have been quite surprising. I often think that people don’t give their local authorities credit for the innovation that they try to create. When you consider the amount of completely different services they deliver and the amount of work that is needed then their work to get services online overshadows some of the bigger private sector organisations out there that still don’t offer fully transactional services.

But I digress. The last 10 years has seen Zipporah grow against a backdrop of doom and gloom for several years as recession and belt tightening threatened all businesses. It’s a testament to the hard work of our teams and to the delivery of the products on their promised savings that Zipporah has grown year on year during this time. Many still question a business case on savings for local authorities with online systems but the continued use and purchase of our products is the greatest proof possible (not to mention the amazing ROI calculations we gather from clients……ask us about them, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this years ago).

In 10 years of success it’s fair to say we haven’t always got it right in terms of business decisions, choices of products and even sometimes clients we have pursued. We are lucky that being small gives us the ability to react quickly and to turn a bad decision into a good option. Either through sheer hard work or one or two flashes of genius. We have always been lucky though that we work in a close partnership with our clients and this has ensured that we have been successful in what we have attempted (and conversely the one or two bad choices are generally tied up with scenarios where we haven’t been given the opportunity for that partnership).

Earlier this month we threw a party in Cardiff to celebrate the success that Zipporah and its hard working team members have achieved. Unfortunately its difficult to invite clients to this who work for local authorities because it can be seen an attempt to influence them and also they are spread far and wide. That being the case I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank our clients for their support in our success. Its obvious that any business would fail without clients but so many of our clients contribute so much to making our products better and to helping us to make Zipporah better. I cannot name names here but you will know who you are, those of you who joined us early on and have continued to work in partnership offering us guidance on what would work better for your busy services, those who let us know what we should be preparing for in future and those who come to the user groups and give their time. My particular favourite – those who are willing to debate the best way to achieve the goal we are all aiming for challenging my views and letting me challenge yours.

The last 10 years have flown past and it is apt that this year begins the start of another 10 as so much is changing in the organisation at the moment to build and improve for the future (all will become clear over the coming months). Thanks to everybody who has contributed to our success for the last 10 years, there are too many to mention. I hope to catch up with you all over the next 10 years as we work together again to make Zipporah stronger and our products even better.

Scott Burton

Director 

Mobile Development

With some industry analysts predicting that tablets will outsell PC’c and laptops by the end of this year, it was very timely that Zipporah had already taken steps to improve its offering in the mobile workspace. So from a simple web app to allow an employee to view their jobs for the day through to utilising a full responsive design front end, Zipporah is taking steps to ensure that we stay ahead in meeting the demands of a mobile public that views everything through either a tablet or smartphone.

Despite the .com bubble bursting a number of years ago the Web and its offerings has continued to grow at an extraordinary rate and shown no slow down as an access channel for people to communicate, purchase things and gather information.

This growth has paved the way for technology companies such as Zipporah to explore new ways in which we deliver solutions to satisfy the demands of a generation that has never known a world without email or mobile phones.

To meet these demands we upgraded the architecture of our solutions to a .Net 4 framework, which to the non-techies amongst us, such as myself, doesn’t sound very exciting, so looking beyond a version change why do it then?

Well apart from the enhanced functionality, more stable environments and greater control for customers, it’s the ability to exploit technology to meet the increasing demands of the mobile device that excites us most about this upgrade.

The mobile development has opened up a new world in terms of added features to our solutions, such as enabling an employee to receive a job in real time direct to their device, containing all the information they need to complete said task and report back with status to the job or any updates to notes etc. We didn’t just stop with the mobile workforce; as the responsive design will now allow for our entire customer front end booking solutions to deliver a consistent and exciting view no matter what device they are being accessed from.

We are very much looking forward to seeing how these enhancements will take shape in the “live” environment over the next few months, and bringing you further news about them as we begin the roll-out to our existing clients and a number of exciting new projects.

Jonathan Stewart

Business Development Manager

'zzZZzzZZzz’…Zipporah The Company That Never Sleeps

As you all know we now have a number of clients in lovely Australia which means us lucky (or unlucky depending how you look at it) developers now get to do night shifts every few months. I am now a veteran of the nocturnal team and there have been a number of different challenges and obstacles I have faced whilst being on the support desk during the night.

The first thing you notice is that you're all alone as the office is quite open and usually buzzing with activity (Though on occasions Scott does randomly appear through a night and scares the living daylights out of you). Being on your own does have its perks though, it's peaceful, calm and you can concentrate better (I think it so) on your tasks without the everyday noises. Also you don’t have the day to day distractions, no Project Managers asking you to have a quick look at a problem, no questions from colleagues and hardly any phone calls. Don't get me wrong these are a part of everyday office life and help us to work as a team, it's just nice to be able to focus on just your work without them every so often. These are the advantages of working on the night shift, (oh and the fact the shops are all empty, so no queues and fresh stock is plentiful!) it does have its drawbacks.

One of the toughest challenges I have faced whilst on nights as a developer is not having as much access to the knowledge of my senior colleagues. This has helped me to develop my technical and investigative skills, as any problems I have not faced before require me to delve deep into the system. At times this feels like a very daunting task but as we always strive to find solutions it pushes you to learn and whilst frightening it certainly gives you the challenge to step up which isn’t without its benefits. Even though I mentioned earlier that it's nice to have some peace and quiet, after a few days you do start to feel that the silence can be daunting. Working on nights your imagination does start to get the better of you, wondering where that strange noise is coming from (I'm convinced it's the fridge but others disagree) as you wonder when it is going to get light in the morning. As I am sure you all have guessed the hardest part of a night shift is keeping awake but that's nothing a mixture of coffee and energy drinks can't fix (and the excitement of a job well done of course).

Well there you have it, a little insight into the 'Dark' side of Zipporah. So next time you get nice and cosy in bed and just about to have a good night's sleep, remember that Zipporah is awake providing support to our clients 24 hours a day 365 days a year wherever they are in the world.

Darryl Shehan
Junior Developer

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Testing

We will take you on a journey through the wonderful world of Testing by running through the Testing Lifecycle. For those of you who are not familiar with the Testing Life cycle the story starts at the very beginning with the Clients requirements. From here it enters the planning Stage then swiftly moves onto the Design & Build, where the Developers create the magical system that the Client requires. We then move onto Test Environment Set Up and Test Execution, where the Test team gets involved by creating Test Scripts & raising any Defects/Issues.

Our day to day journey can vary depending on the tasks assigned to us, which could be reviewing requirements or writing test scripts which will be run during test execution. We raise any Defects/Issues we encounter along the way which are assigned to the Developer who built the system. We then test any fixes that the Developer has implemented before the system is delivered to the client.

During test execution we create a user manual/guide & send this to the client ready for them to use whilst they complete their testing. We also visit the clients and deliver a User Training session which consists of running through the system configuration, creating users and setting up any data that the Client will require to test the system.

To complete the process, we ensure delivery of the system that is implemented and that it meets the requirements from the beginning of the journey. We are also at hand to support our clients when it is time for them to enter the world of testing, so that their journey becomes a wonderful experience.

Introduction to the Testing Team:

Denise Hicks - Senior Software Tester – I have over 13 years testing experience, I previously worked as a Senior Test Lead in the Finance Department at Lloyds TSB Insurance before commencing with Zipporah in July 2012.

Sally Ashman - Software Tester – Graduating with a 2:1 in Mathematics from the University of Glamorgan, I also gained my testing experience in the Finance Department at Lloyds TSB Insurance, before commencing with Zipporah in April.

That was a very quick run through of the wonderful world of testing; let’s hope the next journey with us will be just as exciting, just remember “The principle objective of software testing is to give confidence in the software”.


Denise Hicks

Senior Software Tester

&

Sally Ashman

Software Tester

Channel Shift – A Shift in Business Practice

Whilst being the newest member of the Zipporah sales team, it has been a steep learning curve during the first half of 2013.

With mobile technology and web based applications becoming the norm for both businesses and consumers it is refreshing and exciting to be part of the revolution here at Zipporah. With the business going from strength to strength and having just celebrated our 10 year anniversary, Zipporah are well positioned to continue its success within their established market places and beyond.

Certainly the way the public have interacted with organisations such as local authorities has historically been the traditional method of picking up the phone and processing requests and payments manually. The onus is now on being able to provide these services via an on-line portal, thus providing efficiency gains as well as improving the customer experience.

When considering a Channel Shift program across a range of or even a single business area, metrics of success always need to be considered. Just a few of our clients have been able to report revenue generation of £3.6m taken through the Zipporah system including £1.6m in online invoice payments during a single calendar year. Another client reported public payments in excess of £30,000 for a single quarter for Pest Control appointment bookings alone.

Couple this increase in on-line payments with a vast reduction in transactional costs, the Zipporah offering becomes more of an attractive proposition. So if you are considering a channel shift program, allow the experts at Zipporah to provide you with an insight into our success stories so far.

With a shift in people’s preference to interact, organisations are increasingly looking to shift their own business practices to meet the demands of the 21st century – Zipporah look forward to the next 10 years of being at the forefront of on-line interaction and commerce.

Tommy Ludford
Sales Executive

Happily ever after with Zipporah

The planning of a marriage ceremony takes time and energy, and although some may say the stressful period of planning is later easily forgotten, the hassle to organise everything from the reception and invites through to notice of marriage and the ceremony can be simply overwhelming. I have been working with Zipporah long enough to know that e-booking systems are our speciality and something that we pride ourselves on doing exceptionally well.

I know that we have a large client base within Registration Services, it is needless to say that my expectations were set high when it came to register my notice of marriage at my Registration Office. It came as a slight disappointment when I discovered that my local registry office had no booking system. I initially did not give it a second thought, I grabbed a phone and called, but still a bit baffled I was thinking e-booking system?! Why not?

It was while trying to make my own arrangements that I realised booking an appointment the old fashioned way using pen, paper and phone is far from perfect. My partner and I both work during office hours and the booking involved fitting in several phone-calls (involving myself, my partner and the Registry Office) to arrange a suitable appointment into an already busy day. Having seen the impact that online booking systems can have I know there is a better way. By allowing your customers to book online, you save yourself time and money, and frustration for your customer who don’t want to be put on hold. Customer convenience is incredibly important to you and your service, so give your customers flexibility to book appointments when it suits them best.

The benefits of online booking systems is not only matter of convenience, but the efficiency savings that you are guaranteed. With the portfolio of over 60 clients here and abroad, we have seen how our solutions transform your services. The e-booking solutions free the time of your staff, allowing them to dedicate more time to your core business. Our back-end functionality makes sure your appointments are managed between offices and registrars making sure the work schedules are updated and all the confirmation emails are delivered to customers at the point of booking. No double bookings occur and the automated reminders help remind your customers when they should be at your office, eliminating no shows.

So regardless of the size of your Registration district, why don’t you take a 5 minutes of your time to call our sales team and arrange a demonstration !? We guarantee you will see software like no other in the marketplace.

Anna Mazur

Marketing Executive 

What a long trip it's been

We shall start where all good stories should start, at the beginning. Nearly 5 years ago I graduated University and got a job at Zipporah. As all jobs go as a graduate, it started with a lot of learning and a lot of menial tasks, a "style this" here and a "make this button green" over there. As time went on I learned more of the business, more of the products and more of the code. Gradually my mistakes slowly disappeared, eventually (rightly or wrongly) client interaction started to come in and I started to find out what issues our clients had and how we could help them.

Time then went on as time does and confidence grew, I got more involved tasks until about a year in, I was made lead developer on a build of a system. Unfortunately, (or fortunately for me as it left a better impression and I learned more), it wasn't the easiest of projects to do, but it went out, went live and I can happily say it is still live to this day with a reasonably low support rate.

From here I kept progressing, kept getting projects and also kept getting to deal with the clients, slowly learning and slowly remembering. This kept going till I hit my about 3 year mark with Zipporah, at this point me and a fellow developer got the chance to make a system from scratch. This led to some tested patience, a lot of learning and some "interesting" discussions, but I have to say the day that went out to clients and it got a good reception it was worth the effort to get there.

A couple more new projects were needed, and as a team we got these implemented and then out to clients. Then the day came for my first solo build from scratch. This was a smaller project, and I have to admit that a few mistakes were made and some stress was had, but as with all good projects, it went live and in even better news it is still live to this day, with one of the lowest support rates of any system for Zipporah.

Now we come to today. About 300 projects, 30 client builds and 4 full system builds later I have been able to revamp our Registrars (most popular) system. It's been a long road to get here, a lot has been learned, a lot has been broken then fixed and a lot has been done to make this the best system for the clients, but you are all starting to get to see it and I am so proud of the system it has become I can't wait to hear the feedback.

Thanks for reading my rambles.

William Lee

Senior Web Developer 

Bridging gaps

I've learned a lot in my professional career, and one important lesson that no matter the project, industry, or country is that we always make assumptions. When managing projects, and especially development, the only way to meet deadlines, specifications, and client expectations is to ensure that we don’t assume what is needed.

It reminds me of a lesson I learned when first living in the UK. As you may know, I'm American, and moved here about 3 years ago to be with my wife. In my first day here, my soon to be wife offered me some “squash”. I as a picky eater, turned down the nice offer and had some potato chips (crisps). A few days later I was at her parent’s house, who also offered me some squash which I politely refused, and thought “The British really love squash!” A few days later I went on a night out and stayed at a friend’s house in London. The next morning, the first thing that they offered me was squash. I stopped them and had to ask what the reason for this obsession with squash was! They gave me a puzzled look, and after a confused conversation, I learned it was a drink, and not a vegetable that you eat at thanksgiving!

Working with projects can be a lot like this in many ways, as clients have an idea of their requirements, and assume that others will understand this. This can be dangerous if time is not taken to ensure that the requirements and needs are fully understood and documented, as neither myself nor the client will be the one implementing and testing the solution. A large part of my job is to ensure that all assumptions and understandings are documented in a way that can be passed through the life cycle of a project, to ensure that the development team are able to make an excellent system, that meets and exceeds our customer’s needs and expectations. To do this, we use many different tools and techniques, and most importantly we welcome the opportunity to sit down with a client and learn more about their business and ensure that a system that we implement works for them and their needs!

Luke Stegall
Project Manager

First-class solutions require first-class customer service.

So under our new approach to blogging, you may now have learned that you will get a blog entry from a member of each of the individual teams within Zipporah, to give you opinion and comment from all areas of the company. I was tasked with writing the first for the Business Development Team, consisting of myself, Tommy Ludford and the Business Development Manager Jonathan Stewart.

Over the past 12 – 18 months, it’s been no secret that Zipporah has been undertaking some exciting changes, with substantial growth into new countries and new markets. This has inevitably seen our client list grow, and something that Zipporah as a whole, and specifically the Business Development team, has had to ensure is that our existing clients continue to get the first class customer service that everyone has come to expect from our company.

We have always engaged with our existing clients, and we are always striving to ensure that our customers’ needs are met. Whether this is rallying to fix a potential issue, all the way through to using our experience in assisting a customer with some queries on how to better utilise their system, we are always keen to make sure we are approachable, available and perhaps most importantly, honest with our customers. We don’t see our job as providing a product; we see our job as creating a partnership with our customers, looking at potential problems they face within their individual business areas, and providing a first class solution based upon the invaluable experience we have gained in the past 10 years. 

Our support structure is now the best it’s ever been, with every customer having full access to the dedicated support team, via email and telephone. As well as the support desk, every customer has their own Project Manager to oversee any implementation, and an overall Account Manager to give our customers every opportunity to have someone to speak to at any point they feel they need to.

Here at Zipporah, we believe the quality of our Customer Service needs to match the quality of our solutions, and we have worked hard to ensure that it does.

What are your thoughts on the Customer Service you have received from Zipporah? We are always grateful for feedback, good or bad – we won’t get too upset we promise! All information is helpful, so don’t be afraid to let us know!

Jordan Burnell
Business Development Executive

Home again

So it has been about 4 weeks since my last blog and it has been a very busy time at Zipporah (2 new Australian clients implemented, 4 new UK clients signed up). That has meant it has been a pretty long few weeks for me personally as I've been working closely with the UK teams whilst also working on a variety of projects in Australia. What has struck me working on two continents is that so many of the basics of a project are just identical no matter where you are in the world, and surprisingly where these things are needed, the same mistakes are made.

It is funny to think back to when we started on our journey towards international delivery, we heard at home and abroad all about ensuring that we have “globalisation” whilst also managing “localisation”. People made so much of us understanding “local” ideas in another country, but when it comes to IT I believe that “localisation” for a country is no different to your standard “localisation” for a client, and we shouldn't be afraid to bring forward the best practice of what we learn in delivery to every project whether it is in the UK, abroad or (for the future) on Mars!

Good practice in managing a project or delivering systems is the same the world over. A good system is a good system the world over. Now, any system or methodology needs a bit of tweaking for its audience, but that’s the same tweaks that you make for different types of clients it’s not like working in another culture suddenly means everything you know and do goes out the window. Your systems may need language changes, or you may need a new feature here and there, but in my experience take those things back to other clients and they will actually see a benefit. It may be that you need to adapt the way you manage the project, but the rules are pretty much the same. So just to remind you, here are some key points for a successful project:

• Agree a plan. This includes some dates. Even if you are not going to meet them you need the focus.
• Engage your users. You need to overcome worried users fear of online systems and the effect on their jobs.
• Review a plan and keep it relevant
• Engage users to think about how they will use the system. 
• Keep a list for issues and changes so that you have something both parties can refer to.
• Use the best practice that comes from experience of others. It’s a very valuable asset.

It’s that time again and I didn’t get to tell you all the latest news. Keep watching the website it will all be there.

Scott 

Why to check cross browser compatibility?

Ah the joy of being the first to write the developer’s blog. Stereotypically words don’t come easy to the humble programmer whose livelihood consists mostly of writing lines of code, unintelligible to the standard passer-by, but I’ll try to be as coherent as I possibly can.

Being coherent is an important a skill as any and there’s no difference when it comes to the applications we make. We make web based software to be used by a variety of public, private and personal computers. This means that our software has to work on many platforms which we can’t possibly predict. So we try to make our software as coherent as possible across this diverse range of computers.

One such issue which recently faced us was the recent upgrade to the popular web browser Internet Explorer 10 (IE10). An upgrade which meant that the some of our systems didn't recognise it as an internet browser (a curious change seeing as the underlying technology we use and IE10 are both products from Microsoft and should work together seamlessly). Whatever the rationale at Microsoft might have been, we have quickly rolled out a solution to many of our clients and will continue do so with rest as soon as we can.

This is just one instance of a struggle we have to try and create universally coherent programs. It may not always be possible to accommodate those who stubbornly cling onto outdated versions of their favourite browsers (or those who simply forget) and sometimes new browsers can cause a headache too. Yet we strive to make software everyone can use and we will continue to do so for as long as there are people browsing on different setups. We’re in it for the long haul.

Imran Khan
Web Developer

What would we do without SMS?

I finally got round to upgrading my phone today! So my trusty old IPhone 3 (almost a relic I hear you shout) is now officially retired. As I started to move everything over to my new phone, I began to realise how much we all use our phones, to organise our lives. We all take for granted that we expect to be able to access information, make bookings, shop online, text , and oh yes don’t forget actually phone to speak to someone (or is that old fashioned now?), as well as many other things, and we don’t give it a seconds thought what time of day or night it is.

It’s a busy time for Zipporah at the moment as we roll out many of our new and exciting Neo Online systems. Our ongoing partnerships across the UK, Ireland and as far afield as the beautiful Australian coast have ensured that our ongoing investment in development ensures that we are at the fore front of our technology as we all demand more and more from online experiences.

Our system now integrates with SMS service providers which is a must for anyone like me, a busy mum who relies on text messages to remind me what I have done, what I should be doing , and what is coming up next.

SMS integration is a simple and inexpensive way to remind people about the appointment time and the required documents they need to bring along. If you need to cancel, you can call the number embedded in the body of the SMS and reschedule to a more convenient time! This simple solution proved to save both time and money in the number of Registration Offices across the UK already.

So this July, as you register with your local council to give notice for your up and coming marriage ceremony, booking your active courses to get fit, or ordering visitor books for your holidays, it may well be an experience that has been provided by Zipporah ensuring your online booking experience is second to none.

Lastly, while I am writing about SMS messages, I will leave you some advice my 14 year old daughter gave me recently by text message:

Daughter: Mum, why are you using LOL in your text message?

Me: You made me Laugh

Daughter: You can’t use LOL!

Me: Why?

Daughter: 1. You’re not a teenager
2. Nobody uses LOL any more, it’s not cool

Me: Oh, so how am I to express that you made me laugh?

Daughter: Use haha or :D

Me: OK, is heehee acceptable?

Daughter: Ok, I will allow you that one


If anyone else has some useful text message advice for us, please let me know :D


Kathryn Hubbard
Zipporah Project Manager

The Spending Review 2013 hits hard on local government

With the recent announcement of Spending Review 2013 and release of further cuts in the budget aimed at local government, the pressure on local authorities is mounting. The recent review revealed the cuts will proceed at roughly the same pace into 2015-16, taking a further £2billion out of local authority budgets. Some fear this could inevitably affect the provision of frontline services and the communities that these serve. The economic downturn, coupled with demographic growth in the young and old is causing increased demand for the council services, with estimated budget gaps of 20-30% predicted.

In March 2012, PWC conducted an online survey of local authority chief executives to explore how councils have coped with central government funding cuts. The aim of the survey was to develop an understanding on where councils have generated savings and the actions they have taken as a part of their cost reduction programmes. Surprisingly, the findings of the survey have shown that local authorities have successfully delivered against an ambitious programme of financial savings over the year 2011/12 without any marked reduction in the quality of frontline provision.

PWC’s report identified that the majority of savings came from the changes in internal operations, including improvements in back office operations and transforming processes. The report showed that pragmatic stance paid off, with the 90% of council’s executives reporting that they have met or exceeded their savings targets while managing risks.

Councils increasingly have to work on the assumption that continued austerity will be the new norm, and the fresh approach is needed to match the ambitious financial cuts forced by central government. Interactions between authorities and the public have been identified as an area where there are significant gains to be made. Targets for improved service in these areas are easily attainable with sophisticated IT systems for managing services online, which Zipporah already delivers to a number of authorities in the UK and worldwide.

Back office processes are often fragmented, requiring more highly paid and skilled staff to re-work reports and operate complex procedures where integrated process environments would increase performance and decrease workload. The range of these benefits is often accredited to our solutions which are not only integrating complex processes, but are also delivering significant savings across different departments in local government.

Although the changes have shaken the world of local authorities, there is a belief that local governments can drive more efforts to deploy better services for less, by pursuing the innovative business models including commercialisation of service, shared services approach or more effective use of ICT.

In our opinion, the public sector should adopt more prudent and innovative ways to leverage the gap between the income and expenditure in order to generate better value.

Zipporah is heavily involved in the design and deployment of software solutions aimed specifically at local government and we will be bringing more news and blogs with our opinions across on the world of the public sector. Watch this space!

Anna Mazur
Marketing Executive

We're back in blogging business!

Hello Everyone. It’s been a while since we last blogged. It’s been pretty busy for Zipporah around the world so time and resource has been tight but now we are back and we won’t leave you again!

I commented in a previous blog how much time keeping your social network presence up to date takes and alongside creating an international business out of our original SME something had to give and I’m afraid it was the marketing. That’s the problem with growing pains I suppose, trying to balance everything. Still, enough about that for now can’t use all my blogging material in one day. I have also commented that whilst it’s a tough thing to keep on top of the whole marketing and keeping your presence “out there” is still very important and so we given ourselves a solid objective to get the blog back up and running and keep regular content flowing.

My first “real” blog will be coming soon but for today by means of a catch up I thought I would just give some updates. Since last I wrote we have finally made the planned inroads in Australia and we are now seeing that area really pick up pace (I write to you from an airport in China as I book a meeting for 2 hours after my landing as the diary is so busy with people wanting to see us). We have also started to make some progress in Canada and North America. In the UK we continue to grow through our partnerships and ongoing strong relationships with clients. All teams have expanded and we have appointed a position specifically to deal with marketing.

There is so much information to convey. I haven’t even mentioned the Neo systems yet (all complete), nor the expansion plans and new clients in the UK and abroad got pretty short shrift. There will be plenty more blogs though so we have time. Don’t forget where we are and you can hear all about things and get to know our team members – each of whom will be contributing a blog at some point in the coming months. So many things to say but my flight has been called so I have to run. I think Anna is up next so I will see you on the blog again soon.

Scott