The evening started with drinks and the opportunity to browse the six finalist's stalls.  I think between us and our guests there were something bought from each stall; such was the quality of the products on offer.  Personally I purchased two reusable sandwich wrappers from Future Prospects who went on to claim the overall prize at the event; I must have a good eye!

The event then moved upstairs to the ballroom where we were joined at our table by two students from Mus-eco - a team from Inverurie Academy.   They had used old records to produce cake stands, bowls, plates and clocks and their products were definitely the most eye catching of the evening.  Mus-eco went on to win the most awards of the evening which, based on the quality of the products and professionalism of the team, were thoroughly deserved.

The first speaker of the evening was Jamie Hutcheon of Cocoa Ooze (www.cocoa-ooze.co.uk), who started his company at the age of 17, an inspiration to all budding entrepreneurs.  I have had the pleasure of sampling Cocoa Ooze chocolates before and have to say I was delighted we were all given a little box to take away.

The key note speaker of the evening was Michelle Mone of Ultimo bra fame.  She gave a really interesting, honest account of her rise to success with some good lessons that she learned along the way.  Again, a brilliant inspiration for all at the event especially the Young Enterprise companies themselves who having just sampled a taste of running their own business could see from Jamie and Michelle's presentations that if you are driven to succeed and have a passion for what you do there is always opportunity to thrive in business.

This was our 3rd year of attending this event and it is definitely something a little different from the normal awards dinners. It was a great opportunity to entertain our guests at such a worthwhile and interesting event.  It is one we will definitely be attending next year and one we would highly recommend.

Turning 12 may not be a significant milestone to most companies but we decided it was a great reason to throw a party.  It gave us an opportunity to get together with clients and associates and, of course, for staff to celebrate the end of an exciting year. 

The last twelve months has included a number of highlights including three new members of staff, some exciting, ground breaking new projects (more on these as and when they go live!) and the launch of MAX, our asset and personnel tracking software. 

Last year also saw the departure of Emma T to the sunnier climate of Perth, Australia.  Emma has been with Codify for over 8 years and so we decided not to let distance get in the way of her role. With a few tweaks to the way we work Emma has continued her role from no less than 9,000 miles away from Codify HQ.  We hope she will be back in the next few years as her presence is missed around the office.

As we start our new financial year we're excited about the new challenges and new customers 2012 has in store.  If it is anything like the last year we have exciting times ahead.

Thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate. I wonder what excuse we can come up with for next year's party?

These spreadsheets are driving me crazy

Don't get us wrong, spreadsheets are a great way of analysing your data and are brilliant for creating graphs and charts. They also let you have the power to change what you want, when you want without jumping through hoops.

However, using spreadsheets to store your data often leads to questions such as 'which is the latest spreadsheet?', 'who changed that cell?', 'who has locked the spreadsheet?' and 'whose turn is it to make the tea?' OK, perhaps not the last one, but in our experience trying to make sense of spreadsheets and how they are associated leads to headaches that only a good cup of tea can fix.

Here's where we can help. We will take away your dependency on spreadsheets and implement a database application where you will only have to input data once, never worry you are looking at the latest information and give you an audit trail of who did what. Then we will hook up a connection to Excel that will allow you to create as many graphs, charts and reports as you like but pulls the data from your shiny new application! Best of both worlds - flexible reporting and a robust source of data.

I love my existing system but it's no longer up to scratch

Sometimes even well established and effective software needs a bit of TLC. Perhaps your current software fit the business perfectly a few years ago but things have moved on, the company has grown, diversified or perhaps you just fancy a change.

Re-developing old databases in the latest technology can result in huge performance and usability improvements. We also ensure that the look and feel of our applications is modern and intuitive making the application inviting and simple to use.

We will take a look at your current software and discuss the reasons why you love it and also the parts which get you frustrated. We will then work with you to identify the way you would like to be working and how the new software should support your business. We build all our applications in well known, robust Microsoft technologies ensuring that your software will always be supportable and flexible to grow and change with your business.

I can't find anything that does what I need

Perhaps your business is unique in what it does or you can't find existing software that fits your business? Maybe you are fed up of working the way your software dictates rather than the other way round? With almost 12 years' experience in creating custom software we feel qualified to claim that we can help!

Over the years we have built a range of applications for our customers ranging from training, manifesting and logistics to sales, recruitment and specialist engineering systems. Our customers range in size from the large multinational company with thousands of employees to the local small business round the corner.

Our customers choose us because not only are we brilliant at developing applications (if we do say so ourselves!) but we have the experience and skills to really understand your business. This combination of skills allows us to build software that meets your needs perfectly.

I hate escalating licence costs

For some companies licence costs can take up a huge part of their IT budget each year. Software that starts off just being used in one office can quickly spread throughout an organisation and for large organisations this can mean buying hundreds or thousands of licences.

This is where having a custom application can really benefit - you own the software. It's yours, you can add to it, change it, integrate it and roll it out to as many users as you like, locally, nationally or globally. It's yours and we won't charge you any more if you roll it out to 20, 200 or 2,000 users. Take one of our case studies as an example, they rolled out their software to over 650 users in more than 40 countries. If they had bought a large ERP application this could cost more than £700 per person in licensing alone, not even taking into account any customisation or set-up costs.

Before I get too carried away I should highlight that the use of Microsoft SQL Server (i.e. the database which holds your data) does have licensing costs. However most large organisations have this covered by way of a SQL Server Processor licence for example, which means all users are covered at no extra cost. For smaller companies you may need to buy some SQL Server licences but at around £100 a licence it can still work out more cost effective. Sound interesting? Get in touch and we can discuss how we can help.