GDPR references

31st January 201831st January 2018Rick Marengo

This link is the official UK Information Commissioner’s Office website and the pages of content are

the authoritative source and
clearly explained.

The fines associated with General Data Protection Regulations which come in on 25th May 2018 are huge. None of us can afford 4% of turnover. The reputation damage to your business would be much higher.

Just like you, AXLR8 have beeen burning hard earned reserve cash preparing for GDPR on top of our Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Scanning and the resulting remediation action plans.

Many people are claiming to help you with GDPR if you pay them money. If, like of most of our clients, have more sense than money and some basic legal IT understanding, you should visit this ICO link. It is the official UK Information Commissioner’s Office website and the pages of content are authoritative and clearly explained. All you need to know is that you are the “Data Controller” and AXLR8 is your “Data Processor”. Obviously, if you have in house systems as well, you are both DC and DP for those systems.

If you have any queries about the matter, please do not hestitate to call and book a (free) call with one of our consultants. “A stitch in time…..”

AXLR8 time and attendance and Paxton attendance recording systems

18th August 201718th August 2017Rick Marengo

AXLR8 now have a fully developed Paxton interface using the Net2 architecture. It allows you to use physical Paxton scanning devices to check that staff have arrived for their shifts on time and can record check in time, check out time and other times such as tour locations and breaks. This is popular with agency staff and permanent staffing in:

security
stewarding
inspection
cleaning

and many other areas.

The systems are being deployed to check staff in and out and to record security and other tour paths in football stadia, building sites, shopping arcades, factories, warehouses, hospitals and other large organisations where staff attendance needs to be recorded. This involves physical Paxton hardware installed at critcal places on site This could be for, e.g. a fingerprint or RFID card scan.

How does this compare with the AXLR8 Proof of Location smart phone app?

Where you have staff attending sites just once or on an oocasional basis – e.g. field marketing or once-off experiential or other services, naturally, you will still require the AXLR8 Proof of Location system using the staff’s BYOD smartphone and or web apps. This is based upon a selfie on site and the satelite geo data proving that:

the specific employee you booked and trained for that job
was actually there at or before the shift time and, if necessary
standing in a prescribed uniform
with e.g. a demonstration kit set up.

As they may be in any town, at another site on any day, you cannot install hardware for a fingerprint or RFID scan. Many of our clients have staff rotas at locations where they cannot or may not install or use T&M hardware for other reasons.

So the AXLR8 BYOD PoL solution is complementary to the T&M solution for permanent work places.

AXLR8 BT telephone maintenance 17th August 2017

15th August 201714th December 2018Rick Marengo

BT Openreach are expanding capacity in our area. This will affect our telephone and internet connectivity, the last few yards of which come overhead.

We have spoken with the contractor and agreed that this will not happen till after your Helpdesk Support hours.

It seems we need a new telephone pole as part of the process. Nine metres is just not enough these days. The new one will be ten metres high.

We are so proud. Obviously, this growth is another great achievement for AXLR8. I am not sure what effect this post (see what I did there!) will have on our SEO.

However, it means all our telephones will not be connected from around 5 p.m. on 17th August for around three hours. If super urgent, please call a director’s mobile. If not, please email support or log one on the portal. We will pick it up the following day.

All telephones and office landline based internet should be restored by Friday morning 18th.

Thanks for your patience. Please plan a visit soon to discuss your systems requirements over a cuppa and see the new pole.

Crowthorne to Windsor Castle off-road Bike Ride 28th August 2017. 11th year!

2nd August 20172nd August 2017Rick Marengo

August 28th Bank Holiday Monday: come on our off-road bike ride from Crowthorne to Windsor Castle through woods and parklands. 11th year!

A lovely bike ride through woods and parklands from Wellington Sports Club to Windsor Castle and back. Just turn up on August Bank Holiday Monday at 9.30 at club reception. Book the day out as we let the slow ones catch up and stop at a couple of pubs. Return about 5pm.

Make sure your bike is up to it. We will also organise some short practice runs. You must have a number you can call if you need to drop out (bike problem, tired, etc.) and need someone to pick you and your bike up. Contact rick.marengo@axlr8.com if you have any questions.

No membership, money or RSVP required. No organisation involved. Involves pubs. 11th year and nobody died yet!

Aspire Spinal Injury Care Charity swim

24th June 201726th June 2017Rick Marengo

About Aspire.

Every eight hours, someone in the UK is paralysed by a spinal cord injury. It can happen to anyone at any time. Without warning, someone’s life changes completely. Aspire exists to provide essential support, equipment and advice to people with spinal cord injuries in the UK and Ireland. Charity Registration No. 1075317

Please sponsor me for June 25^th Henley Classic https://www.justgiving.com/RickHenleyClassicSwim for Aspire spinal injuries.

Please donate to this worthwhile charity. The event happens tomorrow at 5 a.m. and I am swimming the 2.1k Henley Regatta route against the current of the Thames from Temple Island to the Leander Club. Not bad for a wrinklie!

AXLR8 Commercial Asset Finance V4.0 launches

30th January 201731st January 2019Rick Marengo

Version 4 of the AXLR8 Commercial Asset Finance offering is now available.

What’s new? The system is GDPR compliant.

It now includes compatibility with:

AXLR8 Trigaware: which automates alerts and messages for end of funding period and other actions.
AXLR8 Exchange Vault: which automatically stores proposal and client email traffic in the correct places by using the client email address and, if relevant, to a quote or proposal, using the funding opportunity (also called “finance requirement” or “funding requirement”) reference in the email subject line. This is an invaluable tool for both client service and relationship building as well as compliance audit transparency. All the email correspondence for contacts from funders, suppliers, clients and others may be found in their file and likewise, all the correspondence for a quote or funding proposal may be found quickly with that funding requirement’s record.
AXLR8 Mailing Manager: this includes AXLR8 Newsletter Builder which is an effective tool for new business sales as well as keeping clients informed of news and developments at your company. It also has extensive mail merge capability so that it can produce contracts for clients or employees and many other forms of correspondence. In more advanced forms, the AXLR8 Mailmerge system can merge context specific information into one or more funding proposals documents including:
- Funder Details
- Client Details
- Equipment Supplier Details
- client bank, accountant, and other details from KYC and profiling (e.g. length of time at residence and home ownership and unlimited other profiling information).
- Equipment details
- Background information and funding business case.
- Financial parameters such as equipment costs, advances and all the other data required for any funder’s decision.
AXLR8 Report Builder: This allows the creation of reports on the fly and the creation of ad hoc operational data queries. These may be combined and the data can be exported to other systems & tools. Thus, the requirements for compliance reporting (e.g. Gabriel reporting) or funder reports, supplier reports, sales commission calculations are all avaialbe with a few clicks.

…..and many other AXLR8 modules. The system parameters, vocabulary, labels, statuses, profiles and menus can be updated by the your superuser without expensive programmer intervention.

Cassiopae Freehand

AXLR8 have also been working with Cassiopae UK behind the scenes to integrate Cassiopae’s market leading Freehand quotation software in to our AXLR8 proposal management system for Commercial Asset Finance Intermediaries.

Is it compatible with my system and do I need to ugrade? It is based on the AXLR8 CRM (Dragon release and above. Those clients still using the previous version on Cobra releases have been contacted about options, dates and plans for upgrading.

AXLR8 off line data collection

29th September 20164th June 2017Rick Marengo

AXLR8 has been providing the tools for clients’ mobile workers to collect data using an online tablet or smart phone for around ten years. The first ones ran on devices like the the Blackberry.

For example:

building surveys
health and safety audits
field marketing store visit reports
supplier audits
staff vetting workshops
local authority social sureys
consultation surveys
staff surveys

AXLR8 Clients collect tens of thousands of data items around the world, every minute, using this technology.

Surveys with no internet

However, customers still find that there are some places they must go where it is impossible or inconvenient to acquire an internet connection. Places with unreliable or no internet connection include:

an agricultural setting
a basement or underground carpark
festival fields
on board ship
a shop or building that blocks or shields 4G and 3G
no data allowance for the period using BYOD
a remote foreign location with no (secure) internet.

So a couple of years ago, AXLR8 created an app that allowed offline reporting.

You download the surveys/ report questions to your device before setting off at a point where you can use a WIFI connection. Then you open the questionnaire and fill in the responses as you move around: inspect the building or inteview the public or check merchandise levels – or whatever your field task is. Following that field survey, when you return to the internet connection, you can submit the saved survey and all the data and pictures/files/video are uploaded to the cloud.

From there, the usual functions are possible by you or by your trusty back office support staff: creating documents, presenting the data on AXLR8 designed client portals, extracting the data and writing analyses, etc.

Explainer animation: Click here

For more information, please call AXLR8 on +44 1344 776500.

AXLR8 job applications up ten fold in 2016 Q1

25th May 20164th June 2017Rick Marengo

In the first quarter of 2016, applications coming through AXLR8 applicant tracking systems rose to 10.21 times the comparable number in 2015 in the same first calendar quarter. This is partly because the number of clients adopting AXLR8’s HR systems have increased and partly because of the increase in applications for work at our clients. The latter is probably because they are great places to work and they are winnig more business using our sales tools.

We will also be researching if our automated “job position broadcasting” system and “staff recommend a friend” systems are helping.

It could potentially be that the application forms have constantly been improved. Thanks to all our clients helping this function develop.

AXLR8

Systems for Event & Campaign Staffing, Sales and Marketing, Freedom of Information, Job Tracking, Assets, Case Management

Author: Rick Marengo