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We were wise in the choices we originally made as to our client base.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