Web Applications UK News

M.D. says no to big C

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:08:20 GMT

Yesterday, Web Applications and our M.D., Craig, appeared in the Oldham Advertiser, in an article by Ed Stacey on the recent Congestion Charge vote.

“Web Applications UK offers a pretty good template for the sort of business that Oldham needs if the area’s economic regeneration is to succeed.”

Although Web Apps took no official company position on the Congestion Charge, preferring to keep politics out of the office, it was hard to find anyone who was in favour, and the board members were unanimous in their disapproval of the scheme, which they felt to be very poorly thought out and bad for businesses and the local area. Instead they stand ready to participate in any scheme that is properly planned and is for the genuine benefit of the local community, delivering real improvements to the transport infrastructure.

Webbie Winners

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:16:44 GMT

Last night saw the employees of Web Applications gather for their annual Christmas Party and the much anticipated Webbie Awards 2008.

Competition was really tough and there were a few surprises on the night, not least with Steve Elliott being the first man alive to walk away with two Webbies, taking his collection to three and making him in the most successful Webbian in the history of the sport. Steve Morgan was controversially pipped at the post for the Scrooge award by Peter Bettison, but he managed to secure the Early Bird Award, despite being unable to turn off the alarm.

The night was a great success, culminating with Jeff Ng (winner of this year’s Nike award) performing a rousing rendition of Michael Jacksons “Billy Jean”, complete with “Hee hee hee”, supported by Craig Dean (winner of the Mission Impossible award) on tambourine and Steve Elliott on backing vocals.

The complete list of winners is below:

The Loch Ness Award	Kamal Choudhury
The Starbucks Award	Bob Hall
The Bruce Forsyth Award	Steve Elliott
The Mission Impossible Award	Craig Dean
The Scrooge Award	Peter Bettison
The Early Bird Award	Steve Morgan
Cool & the gang Award	Steve Elliott
The Nike Award	Jeffrey Ng
The Agoraphobia Award	Robin Lester
The Judith Chalmers Award	Shui Ip
The Pride of Web Apps Award	Lee Tudor

For the complete list of nominees see www.webapplicationsuk.com/News

2nd Annual User Group Seminar 2009

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:41:39 GMT

There’s so much going on at Web Applications these days that we couldn’t wait to get everyone together to show them what we’re up to, so we’ve booked the venue for the second User Group Seminar on 31 March 2009.

The details can be found here, we’re really excited about the venue which is frankly stunning and should be a great day for all concerned.

Following in the wake of last year’s success we’re opening the event up to more people this year. We’ll be writing to each of our daily contacts individually to encourage them to bring a ‘decision maker’ (e.g. a board member), and a couple of actual users (e.g. from the call centre and operations staff), along with them. This will give them the chance to really build excitement within their user base, and allows us to hear from the coal face directly.

If you have any questions please email info@webapplicationsuk.com for more details.

New look newsletter launched

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:10:35 GMT

Today see’s the 3rd Web Application’s Newsletter, full of interesting info and fascinating facts! We’re really proud of the work that’s gone into producing it, and are especially keen to hear your feedback.

Most excitingly though, we’re launching a flash version of the newsletter for viewing in your browser that allows you to flick through the pages on screen, or you can continue to download and use the PDF version. If you like your news ‘old skool’, send an email to info@webapplicationsuk.com and ask for a printed copy, which we’ll happily mail out to you.

Of course, the newsletter can’t replace your trusty news feed, which is now available at www.webapplicationsuk.com/rss.xml and is auto-detected by most browsers allowing it to be added to your favourite news feeds easily.

Web Applications provides cutting edge reservation system to Holidaybreak

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:00:29 GMT

At Web Applications we believe in letting our clients speak for us. Graham Sadler was the I.T. Director for Holidaybreak’s Camping Division throughout the implementation and installation of the Tr@veller product as their core reservations system. This is what he has to say of the experience, “As part of the IT strategy for the Camping Division I recognised that their in house developed reservation system was starting to prevent the business from progressing its business strategy in the way the stock was controlled and the way it communicated with our web sites and those of our partners.

We therefore set about looking for a system that would help us in satisfying our IT and business strategy. After a review of the reservation systems on the market we decided on Web Applications’ 'Tr@veller' system. This was for a number of reasons, the main ones being that they most closely matched our requirements in terms of system functionality, their knowledge of our market, the technology they were using and their ability to be flexible.

The project required Web Applications to tailor the software to our specific needs. Web Applications have grown considerably from when we first engaged them and have developed into a professional software house which is always looking for new ways to use technology to enhance their products. The new web services system 'Babel' which they have developed is a great example.

The software is now in place for the main brands and markets of the Camping Division. The performance on the web sites using the new Babel web services system that Web Applications have written is excellent.

I believe that the choice of Web Applications Tr@veller was the correct one for the Camping Division and one that should allow the business to move forward in the future.

The former system had been in place for many years and it was an endorsement of the Tr@veller system when sales staff who had been used to the old system said that once they had used Tr@veller they did not want to go back to the old system.

Training required on Tr@veller for our sales staff has also been greatly reduced with some staff being able to make bookings within a day of being shown Tr@veller.”

Graham’s views were echoed by all our clients during a recent User Group Seminar when we received outstanding scores for our customer service and delivery. As we continue to grow our business we work hard to offer the best service possible to our clients, because at Web Applications delivery is everything.

The Travel Technology Show 2009 on stand B15

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:45:33 GMT

Visit us at The Travel Technology Show to discover how we can help your company get the most out of your IT infrastructure.

At our stand we will be demonstrating our Tr@veller Management/Reservation System and Tr@cker Mailing List Extractor.

Stand: B15
Date: 10-11 February 2009
Place: Earls Court 2, London

If you would like to make an appointment, please contact Kamal Choudhury with your preferred time.

Business North West concludes

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:21:29 GMT

Thanks to everyone who came and talked to us at the Business North West exhibition in the GMex on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. It was a great show and we made lots of really interesting contacts which we hope to follow up on in the coming weeks.

Craig’s presentation on “Putting the head back on the Chicken” generated quite a lot of interest and we may put it online in the near future, if the video comes out OK. In the meantime we will be sorting through all the business cards and getting in touch.

Webbies wear pink

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:22:18 GMT

Getting into the swing of things, Web Applications staff raised a respectable £155.67 for cancer charities, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Breast Cancer Campaign. Staff held a coffee morning and it took part in the annual “Wear it pink” day, a colour not often seen on display except when the red team shirts end up in a hot wash.

We’d like to thank everyone who got involved and Cheryl Diskin for organising the events.

Webbies 2008 Nominees Announced

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:20:10 GMT

It’s that time of year again, when the 2008 Webbies nominees are announced. Competition, is again fierce as the voting begins and speeches are being written in anticipation of the Award ceremony on 7 December. Some awards appear to be foregone conclusions, with Robin Lester hot favourite for the Agoraphobia award, and last year’s David Brent award winner, Craig Dean, surely a shoe in for the Mission Impossible Award. But many categories remain stubbornly close, with strong nominees in the Starbucks and coveted Cool & The Gang groups.

Loch Ness Award
(Never seen in the office)
1.Craig Dean
2.Gordon Pearce
3.Jane Fitzpatrick
4.Kamal Choudhury

Starbucks Award
(Largest consumer of Coffee)
1.Andrew Stanley
2.Bob Hall
3.Him Yip
4.Robert Illing

The Bruce Forsyth Award
(Best Entertainer in the Office)
1.Gordon Pearce
2.Jeffrey Ng
3.Peter Bettison
4.Steve Elliott

Mission Impossible Award
(Shortest Fuse)
1.Bob Hall
2.Cliff Dean
3.Craig Dean
4.Steve Elliott

Scrooge Award
(Moans about Christmas too much)
1.Darren Mitchinson
2.Peter Bettison
3.Shaun Austin
4.Steve Morgan

Early Bird Award
(Always early to the office)
1.Alistair Brown
2.Jeffrey Ng
3.Jonathan Sawkins
4.Steve Morgan

Cool & the Gang Award
(Best team player)
1.Jane Fitzpatrick
2.Jeffrey Ng
3.Shaun Austin
4.Steve Elliott

Nike Award
(Just Do It)
1.Jeffrey Ng
2.Lee Tudor
3.Steve Elliott
4.Vivienne Dean

Agoraphobia Award
(Never leaves the Office)
1.Jeffrey Ng
2.Lee Tudor
3.Robin Lester
4.Shui Ip

Judith Chalmers Award
(Holidays the most)
1.Cheryl Diskin
2.Gordon Pearce
3.Shaun Austin
4.Shui Ip

Pride of Web Apps Award
(Colleague of the year)
1.Bob Hall
2.Lee Tudor
3.Naomi McKenna
4.Steve Elliott

Web Applications refocuses brand

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:02:19 GMT

As part of a concerted effort to launch Web Applications into the future we’re refocusing our brand with a number of new advertising initiatives. Probably the most important is an emphasizing of the ‘webapplicationsuk’ domain over the existing ‘webappuk’ domain. For existing clients, the most noticeable change will be in our marketing of email addresses, etc. which will be changing to using the fuller domain name over the coming month. The old domain name will be held indefinitely, and mapped to the new domain, so emails will not bounce. For new clients, it will make our websites much easier to find, and email addresses much easier to remember.

In conjunction with these changes we have launched a new advertising campaign, entitled “Lighting the road ahead”, in which we position Web Applications as a solution provider capable of driving businesses forward, even during the difficult times ahead.