News

Blueberry’s tech team have created a completely new way to share data between devices, using rapidly changing QR codes to send megabytes of data rapidly.

The tech is very useful in extreme environments where there is a need to share big files between tablets, but there was no internet - environments like airports or the Saudi Arabian desert.

It involves the sending tablet converting the data into a sequence of huge QR codes – each one holding 256 bytes. The receiving tablet captures the QR codes with its camera and turns them back into data, and just like that - files transferred!

You can read the entire story here.

Blueberry has won the Innovation Thought Leader Award for Business, which was presented to Blueberry CEO, Martin Green, at the 2022 Innovation Awards Ceremony, held on Friday 16th September at Edgbaston Cricket Ground.

The Innovation Awards were organised by the Technology Supply Chain and are designed to recognise, celebrate and reward the businesses, organisations and individuals who are dedicated to innovation.

Finalists for the Awards were assessed by an independent judging panel, consisting of industry experts from universities, companies, and key organisations, such as the Institute of Directors.

“Innovation is vital to the success of businesses and the prosperity of the UK. These awards recognise those who have developed new products, new services, or new internal processes,” said the TSC about its awards.

Blueberry won the award based on its internal processes, it’s dedication to furthering technology excellence and its development of its Rewind product, a one-click session replay tool which is designed to detect and report software issues.

Blueberry has gained Cyber Essentials certification, indicating that the company has taken a proactive stance against cyber attacks.

The certification enables Blueberry to showcase its credentials as trustworthy and secure when it comes to cyber security. It also demonstrates to customers that we have taken essential precautions to protect our organisation against cyber threats.

Cyber Essentials is a Government-backed and industry-supported scheme that helps businesses protect themselves against the growing threat of cyber attacks and provides a clear statement of the basic controls organisations should have in place to protect themselves.

Blueberry Consultants has been selected as a finalist in the 2022 Tech Innovation Awards, for the Innovation Thought Leader of the Year award in the business category.

The need and ability to constantly innovate is widely recognised as one of the major contributors to business success, and innovation is vital for the UK’s economic growth, productivity and prosperity.

As a result, the Innovation Awards were designed to recognise, celebrate and reward the businesses, organisations and individuals who are dedicated to innovation.

The category for which Blueberry has been selected recognises Thought Leaders who create the space for innovation through finance, facilities, platforms or technology.

Winners will be announced at the TIA Awards in September, 2022.

Blueberry has been named by DesignRush as one of their top custom software development companies in global rankings, as of May 2021.

Their expert analysts identified the leading custom software development companies that build solutions that help companies increase their sales potential.

You can find the news story here and our listing on their website here.

Clutch has released their list of the top-performing service providers in the United Kingdom for their 2021 cycle. The Leader Award winners represent the best in their respective fields, and Blueberry Consultants has been named a top UK B2B firm in its Development & IT Services category.

A 2020 report found that tech sector growth in the UK is outpacing both China and the United States. The UK tech industry saw a 44% growth in venture capital investment in 2019.

In order to select the highest-ranking B2B companies, Clutch utilises a rigorous selection methodology. Their team looks into a company’s past work, online presence, brand reputation, and reviews on Clutch.

“These Leader Award winners from the UK represent the best of the best,” said Clutch Customer Operations Representative, Austin Ellis. “We are continuously impressed by the tenacity, attention to detail, and drive displayed by these service providers.”

Blueberry Consultants will be named one of Britain’s Top B2B Firms in an official announcement from Clutch on January 26th. More on this award shortly!

Blueberry is proud to be sponsoring the 10th anniversary meeting of Science Capital in Birmingham on April 28th, 2020.

Science Capital brings together scientists, business experts, innovators and investors to pitch their ideas to a panel of advisors, who are there to provide expert guidance, investment and support at a vulnerable stage of translating their innovations into useful market solutions or scaling their business.

The aim of the event is to encourage the exchange of ideas and contacts. The event provides an open forum for debate and action on how best to support new ventures and growth.

Now that the UK’s trajectory is clarifying, working together is critical to ensure that entrepreneurs and startups can thrive.

Teams are welcome to present a business plan in any field or stage to a panel of supportive legal, financial and entrepreneur advisors for free. Everyone is welcome to register to present and input in the discussion about how to better support innovation.

Included on the panel of advisors will be Martin Green, Founder and CEO of Blueberry Consultants, who will focus on the creation of new products and companies.

Other Advisors include:

Beverley Nielsen is the Lib Dem candidate for West Midlands Mayor, and Associate Professor and Director at the IDEA Institute at Birmingham City University where she supported the growth of >45 new start-ups.

Chris Moore, Partner, HGF, covers engineering and chemistry fields, with specialisations in aerospace and automotive technologies, green technology, medical devices, plastic electronics, ceramics, polymers, CVD and plasma deposition, fuel cells and analytical chemistry/instrumentation.

Richard Miner, Director at Enterprise FD Limited, with experience with growing entrepreneurial business, finance raising, investment appraisal, identification of value drivers and exit planning.

Geoffrey Beanland, with experience directing companies in healthcare and biotechnology markets.

Paul Heaven, Director, Jerroms Corporate Finance, providing corporate finance services for small to medium sized businesses in a diverse range of sectors.

Patrick Duxbury, Partner, Gowling WLG (UK) LLP. Specialises in all aspects of non-contentious intellectual property law in the life sciences sector.

Giles Brindley, Director, Enterprise Mastery, is a self-motivated, adaptable and highly qualified Business Advisor with a wealth of success working with others to help them deliver solutions to business problems.

Hans Nieuwkamp provides expertise and advice on international patent rights as a free-lance IP counsellor.

Speakers include:

Charles Craddock, Academic Director of the Centre for Clinical Haematology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and Professor of Haemato-oncology, at the University of Birmingham.

Liam Grover, Professor in Biomaterials Science and the Director of the Healthcare Technologies Institute at the University of Birmingham, focuses on the application of materials science and chemical engineering for the regeneration of tissues.

Tim Dafforn, Professor of Biotechnology, Founder of Linear Diagnostics Ltd and Dioptica Scientific Ltd and director of knowledge transfer for the college of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

Barry Shrier, Founder, Giant Health, connecting healthcare technology innovators worldwide.

To register, go to: www.sciencecapital.co.uk

Blueberry has been featured as a 2020 Clutch Leader in their report on the top companies in the UK, featuring in the Developers category. The Top B2B Company accolade is the third time Blueberry has been recognised by the review site, the other two being Top UK Developer and leading UK .Net developer.

Clutch factored in the companies’ level of industry expertise and ability to deliver scores into their rankings. The rankings take into account comprehensive reviews collected from former clients through in-depth phone conversations.

The 350 companies on Clutch’s list display a track record of industry expertise and delivering high-quality products for their clients.

Clutch’s selection methodology looks at companies’ offered services, brand reputation, and awards, as well as the recency, number, and quality of verified reviews on the companies’ Clutch profiles, among other criteria.

The most commonly offered services among the UK leaders are mobile app development (14%), search engine optimization (13%), and custom software development (11%).

“Clutch is proud to recognize the 2020 top B2B firms in the UK,” said Clutch Analyst Carolyn Rider. “These companies have shown a strong commitment to their clients and a desire to be leaders in their respective industries”

Clutch is a B2B ratings and reviews platform based in Washington, DC. Their team is committed to helping small, mid-market, and enterprise businesses connect with potential clients. Their independent analysts conduct reviews of clients over the phone to produce transparent and fair rankings.

Blueberry’s combination of technical and business skills has led to the company being recognised as a top developer in the UK by Clutch, the B2B ratings and reviews platform.

Blueberry has also been featured on Clutch’s sister sites, The Manifest and Visual Objects. The Manifest is an industry data resource that showcases a notable project and Visual Objects is a portfolio website that displays past projects in a creative manner. 

CEO, Martin Green, said: “Being recognised by Clutch as a leading full stack custom software development company is a great privilege for Blueberry. We’ve been in business since 1997 and we’re justifiably proud of the team we’ve assembled and the client friendships we’ve cultivated over the years. Our mission has always been to solve challenging technical problems in partnership with our clients, using the latest technologies.”

We make a concerted effort towards getting to know our clients. It lets us understand exactly what their needs are and build software to specifically fulfill them. Because we ensure our clients are always satisfied with our work, Clutch has named us among the leading .Net developers in the UK.

We look forward continuing to grow our reputation on Clutch’s platforms and meeting new clients with their help!

Clutch is a B2B ratings and reviews platform. Clutch assigns two scores, according to location and industry. ‘Focus’ shows the vendors’ expertise within a specific service while ‘Ability to Deliver’ stresses client reviews, market presence, and work experience.

The company for which Blueberry developed a healthcare pharmacy app for repeat prescriptions has been acquired by the Co-op in a multi-million pound deal. The Co-op is hoping the purchase will help it to grow into a digital competitor within the £10.5 billion pharmacy market.

Dimec, which facilitates the ordering of repeat prescriptions by linking up patients with GP surgeries and pharmacies via an app, has been acquired for an undisclosed sum in the first takeover by Co-op’s Ventures division.

Dimec, founded by pharmacists Chris Turner and Andrew Bailey in 2013, also syncs medical records and prescription information to ensure that patients are taking their medicines properly.

It sends alerts directly to GP surgeries and a network of 12,000 UK pharmacies when a patient is running low on medicines. The app-based platform is supported by the NHS.

The Co-op is hoping the purchase will help it to grow into a digital competitor within the £10.5billion pharmacy market, which is seeing a boom in repeat prescriptions thanks to an ageing population.

The digital pharmacy arm is part of a new Co-op offering in addition to the mutual’s large network of physical stores and services including groceries, funerals, insurance, legal and an online electrical store.

Tim Davies, Director of Co-op Ventures, said: “The acquisition of Dimec allows us to accelerate the development of our healthcare proposition, and provides the technology required to ensure customers can interact with their NHS GP more conveniently.”

The deal will create a number of digital, operational and clinical roles based in Manchester and Merseyside and will see co-founder Turner and Bailey, move into the Co-op Ventures team.

Read about the Dimec project here.

Blueberry has won the 2018 award for Best Full-Service Software Consultancy in the 2018 Midlands Enterprise Awards, hosted by SME-News.

The awards are designed to recognise and celebrate the small and medium sized businesses that excel in their ability to offer the highest levels of customer satisfaction, performance and innovation.

Natalie Farrell, Awards Executive from SME News, said: “Every one of our award successors can rest assured that their recognition was truly deserved, as we carefully evaluate everything from their performance over the past 12 months – their commitment to innovation, their methods and even their competition, to ensure that only the most deserving names walk away with one of our prestigious accolades.”

Blueberry is committed to GDPR compliance. We are also committed to helping our clients comply with the GDPR by providing stringent privacy and security protections that are built into our service and contracts.

Our custom software will allow your organisation to fulfil its regulatory requirements of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All features required to fulfil the regulatory requirements will be built into the software used for handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in the scope of the GDPR.

Paul Hannon has joined Blueberry as a Project Manager. Paul has a 1st Class degree in Computer Science and brings with him an extensive skill-set, having previously worked as an Analyst Programmer for Fujitsu, and before that in a variety of roles that included Software Engineer, Lead Analyst Programmer and Senior Developer.

Also new to Blueberry is Brian Taylor, who joins the company as an Assistant Project Manager, and Emma Rickards as Personal Assistant to CEO, Martin Green.

Washington DC-based research & review website, Clutch, has named Blueberry in their ‘Top UK Software Development Firms’ for 2017.

Clutch is recognised as the go-to resource for buyers and sellers of app development services. It was created in 2012 to identify leading software and professional services firms that deliver results for their clients.

https://clutch.co/profile/blueberry-consultants

Blueberry has built a tool for Creative Lighthouse which helps carry out advance planning of nurse staffing levels in hospitals and has been endorsed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The ‘Establishment Genie’ tool allows senior nurses to input and review planned care levels provided by nurses and healthcare assistants compared to the budget available.

It also allows them to review information including skill mix, the context a ward is typically operating within – such as its number of admissions, average fill rates for nurse shifts and its number of vacancies – and how much annual leave and maternity cover will be required.

In addition, planned staffing levels for different wards can be compared with one another at three different points in a 24-hour period.

Patient outcomes, such as the number of falls and pressure ulcers associated with certain staffing levels, can also be reviewed alongside potential changes to the workforce model.

The Establishment Genie (EG) system:

1. Allows hospital staff to enter details about bed utilisation and staffing for their ward. They are led through a user-friendly 15-step process for capturing all the required information.
2. Uses this data to produce a very detailed 21 page report covering ward staffing levels and budgets. This report calculates a number of key performance indicators that are used within the NHS for comparison and benchmarking.
3. Provides a way for a hospital trust to benchmark across all wards using a combination of 400 different metrics. This results in a detailed report containing graphs for each metric combination, along with a narrative explaining what each means.

In an interview with Nursing Times, Richard Cooper, co-founder of Creative Lighthouse, said: “Nurses need to have really good information to counter some quite strong pressure on them to, perhaps, make cuts to staffing or see where they can make savings.

“We wanted to give something to nurses to help them hold the line in those difficult discussions, which complements their professional judgement,” he told Nursing Times.

Eve Mitchell, fellow co-founder of Creative Lighthouse, said: “Our tool has come into its own as people are looking at service redesign and how they might staff new areas or where they are looking at completely new areas of staffing.

“For example, we see a lot of intermediate or medically-fit-for-discharge wards that are very much nurse-led, and with many healthcare assistants, that come up with all sorts of ways for working that fit in with new demands.

“So they can use this tool to put in the number of beds, how they are configured and used, and it will estimate the level of whole-time equivalent staffing required,” she added.

You can read more on the Establishment Genie system by visiting Nursing Times.

Blueberry Consultants has been named Best Custom Software Solutions Company – UK in the TMT 2016 Technology Awards.
The 2016 Technology Awards aim to highlight the key players across the vast world of the technology industry, and the Awards aim to highlight key players, individuals and innovative firms who have provided the world with new, cutting-edge techniques.

Blueberry won the Award for Best Assistive Technology App 2016: Remind.

Blueberry has just released a beta version of one of their new products, FlashBack Rewind.

The product is related to our successful FlashBack screen recorder product, but focuses on recording something that has already happened, and the ease to then report or share the recording.

Instead of pro-actively starting to record your screen, Rewind has a low resource overhead that just silently runs in the background, recording all the time. So if you find something that you want to share with someone else, it’s already recorded, leaving you to share or send as a report, with additional files. It also integrates with FlashBack Connect, so if you already have a Connect account then you can use that with Rewind too.

You can read more about its capabilities in our Resources section.

Blueberry Consultants has been named Best Custom Software Solutions Company, for its Assistive Technology App, “Remind” in the TMT 2016 Technology Awards.

The 2016 Technology Awards aim to highlight the key players in the technology industry that are involved with how the world conducts business across a variety of industries and platforms.

The Awards recognise individuals and innovative firms that have provided the world with new, cutting-edge techniques to improve the lives of consumers and customers.

Blueberry has launched a new weekly series of technical blogs that aim to provide in-depth discussion and insight into the world of bespoke programming.

The blogs include both general interest stories that cover business in an IT-connected world; humourous tales about the intricasies and dilemmas facing software developers, tricks and tips for coders, to the big issues affecting everyone that loves and uses software.

The blog posts are split into two main areas – general interest and a series on ‘How Blueberry Solves’ that explain how Blueberry approaches the software design process to solve the unique challenges found only in bespoke developments.

You can find Blueberry Consultants’ custom software blogs here.

Blueberry has developed a free assistive technology application (app) for tablet computers that makes life easier for people living with dementia.

Called ‘Remind’, the app allows carers who live away from a person with dementia (or other memory loss conditions) to send automated prompts to a tablet located in the person’s home.

The carer simply types messages they want to display to the patient on the message screen from their account using any computer, tablet or mobile device.

There is a choice to send the message prompts immediately, or schedule them for certain times of the day, as well as set up recurring messages.

Jonathan Allan has joined Blueberry as a Technical Project Manager. He has a PhD in Computer Science and a BSc (Hons.) degree in Combined Science: Computing with Chemistry from Nottingham Trent University.

Jonathan previously has 12 years’ experience working with online projects within the oil and gas industry. This has allowed him to work with teams all around the world.

Jonathan was born in Hull and grew up in East Yorkshire, with a year living in the Cayman Islands when he was 3 years old. He is now settled in Birmingham and enjoy spending time with my wife and his young old son.

Mike Thomas has joined the Blueberry Software team as Technical Marketing Executive, so strengthening Blueberry’s marketing capabilities further as the company continues to expand into new markets.

Mike comes from a marketing background with over five years’ experience, specialising mainly in digital communications and inbound marketing.

He is primarily working on promoting Cloud Machine Manager (CMM), the cloud server cost reduction tool launched earlier this year by Blueberry Software.

Blueberry Systems has launched its new company website. The Cheltenham-based sister company of Blueberry Consultants was launched two years ago with a focus on commercial projects for larger companies.

Since 2013, Blueberry Systems has become established as a leading bespoke software house with a strong track record of technical and commercial experience across a range of industries, having successfully reduced costs and improved the efficiency of a number of major businesses.

The company skill-set includes the development of business applications, software integration across devices, Web and desktop development, updating legacy software, cloud solutions and software support.

Blueberry Group has held its 2015 annual company conference at its headquarters in Birmingham.

The event provided insight into a number of new technologies and products that are to be launched this year, as well as an opportunity for a photoshoot of HQ staff, which will be utilised in brand new websites currently being designed for Blueberry Software and Blueberry Systems.

Blueberry Group is a privately held group of small technology companies with activities in consultancy, retail software products and online software products. Blueberry has been creating award-winning software for some of the world’s most demanding clients since 1997.

Andrew Oakley has joined Blueberry as a new Project Manager. Prieviously, Andrew was Head of Software at the Higher Education Statistics Agency for six years, the body which compiles university league table data and assists government departments with HE planning. Before that, Andrew was Head of Anti Spam at Symantec MessageLabs and also ran his own small software consultancy.

Andrew lives near Tewkesbury with his wife and three children, and runs Cotswold Raspberry Jam (cotswoldjam.org), family-friendly Raspberry Pi computing events with coding tutorials for children, and he’s also created children’s wearable electronics projects with Arduino.

Blueberry Software will shortly be launching Cloud Machine Manager – a very simple, very scalable, and very affordable Web-based Cloud server management tool with the potential to significantly reduce the costs of Cloud computing for Amazon EC2 pay-as-you-go customers.

In essence, Cloud Machine Manager is an on-demand scheduling tool that turns cloud servers off when they are not being used, and back on again when they are – all automatically and without the need for technical staff or access to the AWS console by end users.

Cloud Machine Manager (CMM) has three primary features:

• It can be configured to switch off a server outside office hours – and back on again ready for the next day’s work.
• It can be configured to allow an employee to start a server on request – a job usually requiring a call to technical support.
• It can monitor the usage levels of the server, recognise when it’s not being used, and switch the server off.

The product is currently in beta phase. Companies interested in trialling Cloud Machine Manager can get exclusive early access through Blueberry’s Early Adopters Club.

To become an Early Adopter, please visit www.cloudmachinemanager.com for more information.

A new database system has been delivered to Mechatherm International Limited to replace the Access database they were previously using to manage their projects.

Based in the West Midlands, Mechatherm has been designing and supplying furnace equipment predominantly for the aluminium industry since its formation in 1973. Each bespoke installation requires a complex list of parts to be manufactured and procured.

The new Blueberry system, built using Blueberry’s web template technology, BBWT, is expected to be a quantum leap forward for Mechatherm.

The project has been delivered in a timescale that the customer is very pleased with, and they are now planning a number of additional projects for Blueberry

Blueberry has completed a new vehicle tracking system for Arla Foods.

Arla is one of the largest food manufacturers in the UK, which runs 24/7/365 to supply fresh milk to supermarkets across the UK.

The system Blueberry developed is based on BBWT1 (Blueberry Web Template) and manages all the vehicles coming in and out of the Aylesbury site. This includes booking vehicles in via a portal exposed to Arla’s customers, and tracking the location of lorries as they move round the yard.

The main functionality is for handling drivers starting and ending their work shifts, and being assigned to vehicles and delivery routes. This includes some fairly complex logic, taking into account despatch times, vehicles types and loading bay availability.

Blueberry has been working with an entrepreneurial marketing company to build a sophisticated software tool for analysing a company’s web rankings – but it goes far beyond tools like SEMrush, providing a richer end user experience aimed at marketing agency professionals.

A marketeer working on a new digital campaign for a large brand can use the software to understand not only what keywords people use to search for relevant products or services but also what people are saying about the products on Twitter and Facebook, offering a unique insight into the public perception of a brand which can then be used to drive a highly targeted digital marketing campaign.

The software is now in support, with further enhancements planned.

Blueberry has been working with an entrepreneurial marketing company to build a sophisticated software tool for analysing a company’s web rankings – but it goes far beyond tools like SEMrush, providing a richer end-user experience aimed at marketing agency professionals.

A marketeer working on a new digital campaign for a large brand can use the software to understand not only what keywords people use to search for relevant products or services but also what people are saying about the products on Twitter and Facebook, offering a unique insight into the public perception of a brand which can then be used to drive a highly targeted digital marketing campaign.

The software is now in support, with further enhancements planned.

Blueberry is continuing to grow year-on-year. To be able to service the strong on-going stream of project enquiries alongside our existing customer projects, we have, over the last year, recruited four additional full time project managers and also significantly increased our software development team. Now, we are announcing a brand new division of the company, called Blueberry Systems, which will focus on commercial bespoke software projects.

Blueberry Systems, based in Cheltenham, will be run in the same way as Blueberry Consultants, with Martin Green still as the overall director and owner, but Commercial Manager, David Lee, will run it day to day in his new role as Managing Director (Systems).

David said: “This is a logical way forward for Blueberry so that we can look after the growing customer base without losing what is great about Blueberry – the personal touch, technical excellence and attention to detail. Martin and I felt strongly that we don’t want to create layers of management and bureaucracy, so we felt that by creating a new division we can maximise the growth potential without losing that special “Blueberryness” that we know our customers value”.

As part of setting up Blueberry Systems, some head office staff have transferred over to the new division, so as to retain continuity of work and business relationships. All three divisions of Blueberry – Consultants, Systems and Software – share management and administrative resources and our growing team of software developers. There is a common infrastructure in place so that whichever Blueberry team you work with, you will find the same high level of service and technical expertise.

There are more new faces at Blueberry this month as the company continues to flourish due to new and repeat business, and progress on innovative technology which will lead to the development of new products.

Steve Moorse has joined Blueberry as a Project Manager. Originally from Woking in Surrey, Steve studied Chemical Engineering at Birmingham University and has extensive experience in developing software for Life and Pensions companies.

Other new faces include Assistant Project Manager, Dario Cattano, from Gloucester University, and Sam Hendriksen, who comes from Warwick and studied Computer Science at Aston University. Sam joins us as a Junior Developer.

Blueberry has developed the code for the new GCSE apps for BlackBerry smartphones.

The free SmartStudy GCSE science wordbook apps not only includes a huge amount of content for teens to swat up on, but each section also contains a test, which comprises a number of questions with three possible answers to choose from – and with a timer running on each, the pressure is on!

For more on the apps, click here.

Blueberry Consultants Ltd has joined the AWS Solution Provider Program to bring the power of the Cloud to businesses requiring innovative software solutions to increase profitability and run more efficiently.

Blueberry provides a complete solution for small and medium businesses wanting to scale up their e-commerce activities.

Managing Director, Martin Green, said: “Hosting e-commerce in the cloud is increasingly the first choice for businesses. If you’re interested in moving your internal servers to the Cloud, we can plan and implement your AWS migration strategy, and provide on-going management services to minimize TCO on Amazon. We also have skills in integrating AWS infrastructure with existing enterprise applications over VPN.”

“If you have a web application which needs to scale up to meet high demand, we have the skills to achieve this using the unique features of the Amazon platform.”

He went on to say: “Blueberry is currently working with a major localisation company who are shifting their server hosting onto the Cloud using AWS. This is a typical example of the way in which many organisations are looking to utilise the AWS platform at the moment. By moving to the Cloud, the company can focus development resources on their systems and ultimately on their business processes.

Martin added: “Having implemented AWS infrastructure systems for a variety of companies, Blueberry is well placed for development in the Cloud.”

Blueberry is a full service consultancy, providing a range of services, including technical consultancy, the design and development of standalone Windows Applications, the creation of websites requiring enterprise-quality databases and backend infrastructure, the design and implementation of database systems using Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL or Oracle, and the expertise to create cross-platform products that run on Windows, Linux and Mac.

The Blueberry team comprises highly-qualified, talented and innovative IT professionals with experience that spans the full range of bespoke software development, from small entrepreneurial projects to complex systems for major corporations.

More information.

Blueberry is pleased to announce that it is now a Microsoft Gold Partner – representing the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies.

The new certification will encourage a much closer working relationship with Microsoft through improved support and access to new product releases, ensuring Blueberry stays at the forefront in the implementation of innovative Microsoft technologies.

Managing Director, Martin Green, said: “We have worked hard to gain this accreditation and achieving this highest level in Microsoft’s accreditations demonstrates the depth of our knowledge, capability and commitment within our solution areas.

“This is also good news for our clients as they will benefit directly from the latest developments.”

He went on to say: “Achieving the Gold competency underlines the high level of expertise we can offer our clients and has helped us clarify our “best in class” capability to other Partners. It is yet another demonstration of our level of investment in our chosen area of expertise.”

Blueberry has received good scores on the Microsoft Customer Net Satisfaction (NSAT) survey, a standardized survey conducted at the end of last year. Microsoft requires the survey as part of the process to maintain Microsoft Gold Level Partner certification, and customers awarded Blueberry above average scores on a range of questions.

The survey reveals that:

Overall Blueberry scored 170 points, putting Blueberry in the top 5% of Microsoft partners scoring in CSAT surveys.

Blueberry scored particularly above partner averages for:-

• Ease of doing business (80 points vs partner average of 70.65)
• Quality of communication (90 points vs partner average of 67.33)
• Ability to meet customer needs (80 points vs partner average of 68.50)

80% of customers are “Champions” of Blueberry – they like our work and would buy again.

90% would recommend us and 80% said they would repurchase and believe our products gave them a competitive advantage.

Blueberry has developed an Android mobile phone app for Leeds University, which is being used as a key tool for delivering a weight loss intervention programme.

The Nutritional Epidemiology Group, which is part of the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds, successfully secured a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) grant to investigate the use of mobile phone technology to help people lose weight.

To help instigate the study plan, the Group contacted Blueberry as it required a technical consultancy with proven expertise in mobile technology and database systems to help create the app.

Blueberry created the ‘My Meal Mate’ Android mobile phone application, which provides users with:

• A database of 35,000 common food items, which allows the user to record what was eaten throughout the day in a food diary.
• “Photo mode” where the user can use the phone camera to take a photo of a meal as a reminder for completing the food diary.
• “Favourites” feature to store common meals to make data entry easier.
• Exercise entry to log calories used during the users’ daily exercise.
• Target weight loss settings, with limits to prevent unhealthy rates of weight loss.
• Progress tracking and graphing.
• Upload of diary entries to a reporting website.
• Text message feedback based on the user meeting targets and completing the diary.

Read the full case study here.

Blueberry’s continued success and growth has resulted in a number of key new people being recruited to the head office in Birmingham.

James Evans, Blueberry’s new finance manager, is now responsible for handling all financial matters for the Blueberry group, including the complexities of online sales from around the world for Blueberry Software.

Development manager, Chris Bevan, has experience in many different areas of business – including academic research, defence and aerospace, financial data analysis, leisure and gaming, and telecommunications. Chris specialises in mobile device development, working on Windows Mobile, Windows CE, and the Google Android operating system.

Last, but not least, Geraint Llewelyn joins Blueberry as a support developer. Geraint has 14 years experience in IT, including technical services for contact centres and the engineering and financial services sectors. His role at Blueberry includes both technical support for customers and development.

Blueberry Consultants now has its own Facebook page.

As most of you probably have a Facebook account, please feel free to use our new social channel to get the latest news from Blueberry Consultants. Do you have a technology comment to make? An observation you’d like to share with others? Become a Friend – “Like” our page, share it with your friends, post comments, etc.!

Blueberry Consultants has launched a new health division specialising in the development of effective and innovative solutions for the healthcare sector, building on the company’s experience and expertise in designing and implementing software systems for hospitals and clinicians.

Blueberry Health, which has its own website at www.blueberry-health.co.uk, is working closely with healthcare professionals to develop solutions that meet the exacting requirements of the health sector and actively enhance the patient journey, from admission to discharge.

Blueberry Health focuses on providing information technology to the healthcare sector cost-effectively and on time, without the overheads and inefficiencies associated with traditional software providers.

As part of its brief, Blueberry Health will be increasing its partnership with NHS organisations and suppliers to create leading-edge software which improves patient care.

David Lee, Senior Healthcare Consultant for Blueberry Health, said: “Blueberry Consultants has an established track record in bespoke software development for the health sector. We have implemented many leading-edge systems in the health sector and built a great reputation based on results.

“We have detailed knowledge of technical healthcare standards, such as HL7, ICD-10, DMD, and we have created solutions which are hosted within the NHS N3 network and integrated with PAS systems.

“This experience, coupled with our technical expertise, means we are perfectly placed to provide a first class service to the healthcare industry in these times of ever tighter budgets.”

Blueberry’s ‘Klok’ Patient Monitoring System – an essential management tool used by staff at two busy hospitals run by the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust – has reached a milestone: Since the patient monitoring system was installed at the Lister in Stevenage and the Queen Elizabeth II in Welwyn Garden City, the two hospitals have treated over half a million A&E patients – all managed by the Klok system.

The system is in use 24/7, not only for managing patient flow but also for providing data which is used to report on the hospital’s performance against various government targets.

Read more about the Klok project here.

Blueberry Consultants has created a Word document manipulator which is to be used by ‘Translators without Borders’ a voluntary organisation which arranges pro bono translations for non-governmental humanitarian organisations (NGOs).

Aid groups working in crisis situations around the world are often faced with the urgent need to disseminate knowledge into the local language of those who need it, and delays caused by language barriers can cost lives.

It is in such crisis-hit communities that NGOs have a desperate need to have written content translated quickly and accurately.

However, because the translators provide their services on a free of charge basis for NGOs, they often need to work on translations in parallel with their other (paid) work, so if the document they’re working on is large – for example 20,000 words – it becomes difficult to complete without interruption.

In order to increase the throughput of documents from NGOs to the translators and back, what was desperately needed was a way for a large document to be split into smaller, more manageable chunks on which several translators could work on at once to complete the project quickly.

Rubric Ltd, a company specialising in the translation of computer manuals and programs into foreign languages, contacted Blueberry on behalf of TWB with the problem.

One option for Blueberry was a browser applet to split large Word documents into smaller chunks hosted on the servers run by Translators Without Borders. However, this would have required a great deal of support, so wasn’t an attractive option for Rubric.

Instead, Blueberry created a Microsoft Word add-on to perform the splitting and re-assembling.

Blueberry’s Microsoft Word add-on allows foreign language documents to be split into manageable chunks, so making the job of translators easier.

Duncan Forsyth, the Senior Software Designer for Blueberry who developed the software, said of the project: “One of the joys of software development is that a couple of hundred kilobytes of the right code in the right place can make an enormous difference to people’s lives.”

Blueberry helped sponsor the innovative Digital World Meeting, held in Birmingham in October by independent organisation, Science Capital.

Science Capital’s aim is to create a sustainable and internationally recognised hub of entrepreneurial activity that contributes to the development of an innovation-driven economy in the West Midlands.

The Digital World Meeting consisted of seminars and networking events, focusing on the needs of individual scientists, entrepreneurs, financial and business experts interested in working together.

Blueberry showcased its expertise across a range of project types, from aerospace and transport, to mobile and health.

Martin Green, managing director of Blueberry, said: “We hope the success of our projects will show what regional companies like ours can achieve.

“Whether you’ve got an idea for a new business or you want to improve the efficiency of your existing business, we have the software development expertise right here in the Midlands to make it happen.”

Blueberry recently participated as a sponsor and exhibitor at the Innovative Healthcare event, held in Birmingham in September as part of the British Science Festival.

The Science Capital event brought together scientists, business experts, innovators and investors from across the West Midlands in an environment where they could explore the latest technological advances alongside the investment and legal frameworks needed to make them a commercial reality.

Blueberry showcased its latest health related projects, which included:

• An A&E patient monitoring system which helps to reduce 4 hour breaches, and streamlines the interface to other departments such as X-Ray, Medical Records and Bed Management.
• A complete hospital in-patient management system for East and North Herts NHS Trust, which included Emergency Department (ED) Functions, Ward Functions, Bed Management, & Prescription Control using an electronic TTO.
• A product provisioning database system for one of Britain’s leading suppliers of Stoma Care Products, which was required to operate nationally rather than as separate installations at each trust.
• A video-phone system to help patients with dementia for Newcastle-based healthcare supplier, Connect4Care, which Blueberry designed and implemented from scratch. The system utilises video conference technology to enable Personalised Remote Cognitive Stimulation Therapy, remote medication prompts and a range of Assistive Technology devices to ensure safety and autonomy.
• Bespoke analysis software for a 3D body scanner to be used as a possible long-term alternative to body mass index (BMI). The software is also the main user interface for the system.
• A standalone program for an NHS organisation that was using a very large Excel sheet to manage staff utilisation – but the sheet was becoming very slow in use. We analysed the problem and specified a program that was 100 times faster.

The Science Capital event was supported by Anthony Collins Solicitors, Binding Site, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Science City, FD Solutions, Lunar Society, MedilinkWM, Netnak, Royal Society of Medicine and UnLtd.

Blueberry has been fortunate enough to work on many interesting bespoke software projects since its formation in 1997. Although some of these are included in the projects section of this website, we can’t include them all. Some have NDA restrictions, others have been replaced by newer projects, and there are a number waiting to be profiled into case studies.

With a growing portfolio of successfully completed bespoke software projects under our belt, and more on the way, we decided the time was right to assemble the most interesting of them into a booklet, NDAs permitting of course!

If you’d like a copy of Blueberry’s 30-page booklet of custom software case studies, showcasing our strong programming skills across a wide variety of project types, contact us today.

‘Get A Word In’ is an inspirational piece of permanent public artwork in the student entrance of Cambridge Regional College. The artwork enables students to voice their opinions, messages, stories, poetry and emotions. Words, phrases and icons can be uploaded to scroll across a custom built double-sided display screen and be visible from the College’s square.

Blueberry designed and implemented the software required for the project, which included a touch-screen interface for students, a remote access administrative interface, and a control system for the large CCFL screen. See the case study for full details.

Blueberry has won a contract to design a web-based messaging and content display system, which will be capable of showing material in broadcast quality across a range of devices.

In addition to text and graphics, the software will be capable of combining any selection of live video, data feed or animation to create stunning finished content.

Martin Green, MD of Blueberry Consultants, said: “The software will allow different types of content to be amalgamated, and then displayed concurrently on the same display device.

“The system will be is infinitely scalable, and extremely flexible, able to run over any TCP/IP network that allows HTTP traffic, through any internal firewalls, as well as configurable for SSL connections.”

Blueberry Consultants has completed a new online site which puts renters of holiday homes into direct contact with holiday home owners, so cutting out the middle man. The site, called Cazure, is owned by Rubric founders, Ian and Francoise Henderson, and has been designed and developed by Blueberry to allow web users to find their ideal holiday home quickly and easily. Ultimately, it is hoped the site will feature every holiday home available and so become a ‘hub’ for holiday-makers who want to find their ideal villa, apartment or chalet directly from the Internet. There is no charge to holiday home owners for listing a property on the Cazure website – an incentive which it is hoped will encourage many more holiday homes to be included than would otherwise be the case. Cazure is already experiencing high volumes of traffic – a good starting point to attracting future advertising revenue.

In the ongoing programme of developments for GSMA’s Wireless Intelligence online system, the GSMA wanted to take advantage of the reporting possibilities within SQL Server Reporting Services 2005. Requirements on the security of the reports necessitated a concurrent update to both SQL Server and Visual Studio. The updated system was first trialled using VMWare and then deployed over the course of a weekend.

Blueberry has been shortlisted for Best Innovative Product in the Fourth Annual ICT Excellence Awards 2008.

Blueberry has completed the first phase in a programme of updates to the GMSA’s Wireless Intelligence online system. The GSMA is the premier international trade association for the mobile phone industry. Wireless Intelligence collects and distributes industry statistics on the mobile phone market. The website successfully moved over the course of a weekend.

An innovative and easy to use system for the production of 360 degree panoramas for Estate Agents is now up and running. The system incorporates High Dynamic Range photography technology, significantly improving the quality of pictures.

With the success of our ongoing programme of developments for GSMA’s Wireless Intelligence online system, the GSMA requested Blueberry’s assistance with another reporting site – Infolink. Infolink was to be repositioned in the market as a ‘Lite’ version of Wireless Intelligence re-using the reporting technology of Wireless Intelligence whilst retaining premium content for the primary site. Working with Infolink’s external design team, Clarity International, the site was redesigned and new functionality added so that the site could take its new position in GSMA’s offerings.

Blueberry has completed a sophisticated, yet intuitive, management system for ChinaONEcall – a company serving the growing number of travellers to China requiring a way of interpreting between English and Mandarin.

Blueberry has completed a consultation project for Healthcare at Home, to convert its paper-based registration system to a web-based system.

In the ongoing support of GSMA’s Wireless Intelligence online system, Blueberry has deployed a PHP server, Subversion source control server, and a wiki for the distribution of documentation amongst their suppliers. Blueberry provided the support required to quickly and efficiently deploy these powerful tools.

Blueberry has won a contract to implement a new system for the creation of 360 degree panoramas for Estate Agents. The system will allow Estate Agents to make walk-through panoramas quickly and easily – and includes automatic upload to the web.

A tender support tool, designed and implemented by Blueberry Consultants, has won the 2006/7 Chartered Institute of Building Award for Innovation and Research.

Ternion Corporation in Alabama, USA, is Blueberry’s latest high profile convert to BB FlashBack Screen Recorder – using it to demonstrate state-of-the-art computer-based simulation software that is used mainly in military applications.

Blueberry Consultants has earned Certified Partner status in Microsoft Corporation’s Partner Program, recognising Blueberry’s expertise as a software solutions provider in the technology marketplace.

Many schools in South Africa are struggling to provide pupils with their first taste of the Internet and email. One headteacher found a solution to his problem of scarce I.T. provision in the form of a free BB FlashBack Express program he found on the cover-mounted disc of a PC magazine.

Blueberry Software has released the latest version of its screen recording software development kit, BB FlashBack SDK.

BB FlashBack SDK 2.0 offers developers and software publishers an easy way to incorporate screen recording, movie playback and editing features into their applications, using plug-in ActiveX controls.

SDK 2.0 is based on the high-performance recording engine used in Blueberry’s award-winning BB FlashBack screen recorder – a product which has been acknowledged for its performance level, its intuitive interface, and its sheer ease of use.

After a period of testing and research, Blueberry has deployed a new VoIP phone system based on the popular Asterisk open-source PBX server.

VoIP is catching the technical headlines because of its ability to route calls over the internet for free. Blueberry’s interest in the technology lies in its amazing flexibility and its ability to allow employees working from distributed locations to connect to a central phone system.

Blueberry has adopted the DotNetNuke CMS (Content Management System) following a review of 20 open-source CMS systems.

After a number of months development time BB FlashBack 1.4.5 has been publicly released. This version includes a considerable number of improvements.

BB FlashBack 1.4.1 has been released. This is a minor release containing mainly bug fixes. The main new feature introduced in this version is improved displaying and searching of key presses in movies recorded by BB TestAssistant.

This new addition to the FlashBack family is a feature reduced version of BB FlashBack that offers great value for users needing to make simple screen recordings. It has the same ease of use and recorder technology as its big brother, while leaving out the advanced editing and presentation functions.

This is a major upgrade to BB TestAssistant, to give it the improved usability, recording and editing functions of BB FlashBack 1.4.1. Users can now annotate movies with text, graphics and sound, and export to Flash, AVI, EXE, WMV and PowerPoint formats.