Consultation on changes to the PAF^® licence

A formal consultation on the Royal Mail’s 2009 PAF^® licence has now started and will run until the 24th December 2008. To find out more about how to get your comments across and for information on workshops regarding the licence changes, please visit Royal Mail’s website.

We will also continue to be involved with this consultation as both a PAF^® reseller and also with our work on the PAF^® advisory board. We have always and will continue to support the use of per-click licencing, improved options at entry level and making the licence fair, simple and clear. If you’d like to pass us your comments or feedback about the licence we would be happy to hear from you. You can reach us on 01508 494488 or by email.

Working for a better licence

Allies Computing listens carefully to feedback from customers about the PAF® data licence and takes the main issues forward at every opportunity with Royal Mail. The issues we feel strongly about are:

• Allowing Per Click licences for internal use.
• Better multi application and multi company licencing.
• Promoting wider use.
• Improving options at entry level.
• Making the licence fair, simple and clear.

We are responding at every opportunity to encourage changes to the PAF® licence through:

• Meetings with the Royal Mail Address Management Unit.
• Consultation processes.
• Providing supporting evidence.
• Membership of the PAF^® Advisory Board www.pafboard.org.uk who meet bi-monthly.

Royal Mail's consultation process on the 2009 PAF® licence is due to open on 4th November 2008. To keep updated, you can refer to the Advisory Board's website linked above and we will update our website with any confirmed news as soon as we have any.

Customer questionnaire provides great results

At Allies Computing, we value our customers' thoughts and feedback, so conducting a customer questionnaire just made sense to us to see what we are doing right and where we can improve.

We are so happy with the results we wanted to share them with you during National Customer Service week to show what we have achieved so far:

• When asked whether a customer would recommend Allies Computing to a colleague, 100% of those who responded said 'yes', they would.
• 100% of PostCoder for Sage Line 50 customers rated the pre-sales advice from staff as excellent.
• 100% of API Professional & PostCoder for Sage Line 50 customers felt that the supporting product documentation was excellent for these products.
• 100% of PostCoder Pro/Lite/Local, PostCoder for Sage Line 50 and PostCoder API Professional customers felt the products were excellent for meeting their needs.
• 92% of PostCoder Pro/Lite/Local customers felt that the pricing and licensing information provided by staff was excellent.
• 91% of customers who replied said that Allies staff rated 'Excellent' at being friendly, and the remaining 9% rated us "above average".
• 89% of our customers ranked speed of response 'Excellent'.

Other feedback included:

"Excellent customer service"

"Very happy with their service"

"We have found Allies and the way the Software works both straightforward and easy to work with. We like the flexibility of the system"

"Keep up the good work"

"We have received excellent support from Allies Computing, we will continue to use them in the future"

"I am in contact with Allies to order & make payments I am very satisfied with the ease of payment and use of website for this purpose"

All responses were entirely anonymous and will help us work towards improving our products and services further. Allies Computing would like to extend their thanks to all who took the time to respond as this helps us to continue our commitment to our customers.

Allies Computing to exhibit at this year's e-commerce expo

Allies Computing, one of the UK's leading suppliers in address management software, will be exhibiting at this year's E-Commerce Expo at Olympia, London, showcasing products and demonstrating ways in which businesses can expect to increase online sales by up to 25 per cent.

On Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th October, Allies computing will occupy stand 140 at the exhibition and will be giving live demonstrations of their address management software. With 21 years of experience in the field, Allies Computing has perfected the PostCoder® range of products, which contain details of 28 million UK addresses and are subscribed to by 1,700 businesses throughout the country.

Allies Computing's address management software can reduce typing time by up to 80 per cent, increasing efficiency and helping to improve professional image through accurate data. Improved accuracy of address data collected will ensure goods reach your customers first time, reducing both time and costs associated with re-posting undelivered items. Adding address look-up leads to enhanced online ordering which not only makes it easier and more pleasant for customers to purchase but can increase online sales by up to 25 per cent.

Friendly, knowledgeable members of the Allies team will be available during the event to answer questions and demonstrate the impact the products can make for businesses big or small. There will also be information on the products available to take away with you as well as a chance to win a £500 to a charity of their choice in a prize draw taking place at the stand on the final day of the exhibition.

Allies Computing completes cycle ride to raise £1,000 for children's charity

September 2008 - A team from Norfolk-based address management company Allies Computing has completed a 15-mile charity bike ride, raising £1000 for the East Anglia Children's Hospice in Quidenham.

Sponsorship from friends and family of the 10 cyclists who took part helped raise the sum, along with two collection boxes filled by customers of the Bramerton Woods End pub, where the cycle ride started and drew to a close, on 31st August. The two hour bike ride took participants through South Norfolk villages including Rockland St Mary, Thurton, Framingham Earl, Kirby Bedon and Framingham Pigot, where the company is based. Some of the more adventurous cyclists even chose to complete the route twice!

Emma Pinchen, Managing Director of Allies Computing, took part in the cycle ride: "We are a very active company with over 30 per cent of our staff cycling to work on a daily basis, which is why we thought that a sponsored cycle ride was an excellent opportunity to raise money for a good cause. The staff collectively chose to raise funds for the Quidenham Children's Hospice as it does fantastic work to support terminally ill children and their families in the local area. Two hours on a bike, as well as few achy legs, was the least we could do to show our support!"

The Allies Computing team would like to send a special thank you to customers of the Bramerton Woods End pub for their generous contributions.

Customer Questionnaire charity winner revealed

Allies^® would like to extend a very big thank you to everyone who recently took part in our Customer Questionnaire.

We are pleased to announce that the charity who was picked at random to receive £500 is The British Heart Foundation.

A third party agency was asked to send out the questionnaire on our behalf, to enable us to gather honest feedback on our products and services and to use the information to make positive changes.

We have always made a special effort to listen and act upon feedback, but the questionnaire has allowed us to assess the specific areas we are trying to excel in. Over the years, feedback has had plenty of benefits for our customers including:

• Release of new products
• Extra features for existing products
• Multiple product and service enhancements
• Updating our website
• Amending our processes

If you didn't take part in the survey but would like to submit any feedback to us, you can do so by completing our feedback form. We'd love to hear what you think.

Results of the Customer Questionnaire will be posted on the website soon so watch this space!

Don't miss out on ways to save your business time and money at TFM&A 2008

Allies Computing will be exhibiting at the TFM&A exhibition for the 4th year running. With a fantastic free prize draw for a £100 voucher to spend on an experience day of your choice, live demonstrations of their PostCoder^® addressing software, product discount vouchers and details from their helpful, friendly team, you'd be crazy not to visit Stand C18 and see what they're up to!

With over 20 years experience in the Address Management industry, Allies Computing are a key provider of address data in the UK. Customer service and technical support are at the top of the agenda for their easy to use products. Many customers have already benefited from using address lookup software in their businesses. So what's stopping you? Why not give it a go too by registering for a free trial? You'll wonder how your business coped without it!

TFM&A, at Earls Court, London on 12th and 13th February 2008, is the UK's only dedicated exhibition for digital, data and CRM solutions for marketing professionals, giving attendees the chance to see first hand how PostCoder^® address management software can benefit their businesses.

"This is an excellent chance for us to show Marketing and IT professionals how easy address lookup can be. And it's not as expensive as you might think." Emma Pinchen, Managing Director, Allies Computing Ltd

PostCoder^® software:

• Reduces keystrokes by up to 80%, saving your staff and customers time,
• Makes sure only postally correct addresses are added to your database,
• Reduces the costs of re-sending undelivered mail/goods,
• Ultimately improves your corporate image.

Improve online checkout rates ready for Christmas spending!

With millions of orders being placed online every year in the run up to the festive season, can you really afford to have customers dropping off at your checkout this Christmas?

PostCoder Web SOAP from Allies Computing Ltd allows you to add address lookup from just a postcode seamlessly into your online order process. Save yourself and your customer's time, and reduce undelivered goods.

Why not try the service free for 21 days? Register now to get it set up in time for the Christmas spending - www.postcoder.com/pm/xmas

Luxury Belgian Chocolate E-tailer, Chocolate Now! are already seeing the benefits of using address lookup within their online ordering system. Initially customers were required to type the delivery address in manually. However, because over 90% of purchases were gifts being sent directly to the recipient rather than to the cardholder, a significant number of customers were entering incorrect or incomplete delivery addresses.

Now, by using PostCoder Web SOAP, it's easier for their customers - they either simply enter the postcode and the delivery address is completed automatically for them, or they enter the address details they know, and the full address and postcode is looked up for them!

"Since implementing the address lookup, Chocolate Now! has seen a 50% reduction in the number of non arrivals reported by customers. It has also significantly reduced the workload on administrative staff who were previously performing manual checks on incomplete addresses." says Nigel Croft from Chocolate Now!

To read the full article on how Chocolate Now! are using the PostCoder Web SOAP service please see the full case study on our website

To realise the benefits for your business, register for the free trial now!

Allies Computing, proud to support National Customer Service Week, 1-5 October

Allies Computing Ltd, developers of the PostCoder^® range of address management software, were pleased to show their support for National Customer Service Week 2007 by undertaking a number of tasks to strengthen their already high level of customer service and to boost awareness to staff and customers.

NCSW aims to promote the importance of recognising, rewarding and celebrating customer service professionalism. Emma Pinchen, Managing Director of Allies Computing says "We already have a strong dedication to customer service as a company and actively encourage feedback from our customers to improve our products and services. We feel that supporting National Customer Service Week will communicate this message more prominently to our customers".

To support National Customer Service Week, Allies^® staff:

• Communicated verbally to customers and internal staff all week rather than using e-mail to strengthen customer relationships and offer a better standard of service to each other.
• Participated in a Customer Service Quiz to test knowledge and sharpen up skills
• Held a 'Use your head' day - a fancy dress day of random hats and crazy hair to inject an element of fun into the week (see below)
• Communicated our support of NCSW on outgoing emails and on our website
• Encouraged staff to provide excellent customer service, exceed expectations and share stories of success. A prize was offered to the best example of customer service all week.

Above: a few of Allies Computing's staff taking part in the crazy head wear day.

At Allies Computing we aim to surpass all expectations all of the time by dealing with customers in a timely, friendly, helpful and honest way and we will continue to go that extra mile to offer the best level of service possible.

Allies Computing Ltd appoints new Managing Director

We are pleased to announce that Emma Pinchen has been appointed Managing Director with immediate effect, succeeding joint company founder Dr Peter Allies who has been in the position for 20 years. Peter and his wife Rev Dr Lorna Allies still own the company, but are in the process of selling it to the staff via a government-sponsored share incentive scheme. Previously Sales & Marketing Manager at Allies®, Emma has managed a successful team which has contributed towards achieving in 2006 the highest net profit in the company's history. Her background is in Financial Sales and more recently, in the field of Marketing. Asked about the future Emma says "It's an exciting time for us. We are preparing to launch new products and services and are also continuing to improve our current products through innovation and ideas from customers. We have an excellent team who enjoy working together. We are a growing and flexible business with a strong emphasis on honesty and care for people and the environment, and in my opinion, we have a very bright future"

Local Software Company just keeps growing

Allies Computing Ltd, begun in Norfolk in1986 as a software development enterprise, has been specialising in the field of Address Management and Rapid Addressing since 1990. As well as designing and marketing their own successful range of PostCoder^® products, Allies^® are responsible for the development and production of the Royal Mail's UK Addresses software on CD.

Originally set up by the Managing Director in the attic of his house, the Company expanded to an annex office in the early 1990s. By the end of 1999 with a staff of 6, the Company needed more space, and moved to a converted barn on the new business complex at Manor Farm Barns in Framingham Pigot, roughly five miles out of Norwich.

Now they are moving again. Having more than doubled in size since their arrival at Manor Farm Barns, they will be moving across the complex to a new barn conversion, roughly three times the size of their current premises. So how has a small local company expanded so successfully?

With the growth of the Web having increased their visibility across and outside the UK, Allies^® currently have customers all over the country as well as in the Channel Islands, France and the United States. Allies^® software users are not only geographically diverse; they cover a wide range of business types and sizes, from Sole Traders to much larger household names. Director and Project Manager, Dr Lorna Allies, said, "Address Management software is now recognised as an important CRM tool for all businesses."

Allies Computing have room to double in size again at their new location, and hope that with no more moves on the horizon, they can concentrate on continued growth and build on their range of successful Address Management solutions.

10,000 FT TANDEM SKYDIVE FOR BRYAN GUNN LEUKAEMIA APPEAL

Three Staff from Allies Computing Ltd, based in Framingham Pigot, are going to complete a Tandem Skydive on 4th May 2003 at a local Norfolk Airfield to raise funds for Bryan Gunn Leukaemia Appeal, and need your help!

Jumping for the second time in three years, Emma Pinchen, Sales amp; Marketing Co-ordinator, says 'This is a great opportunity to support a local charity whilst doing something we will enjoy. All the staff at Allies Computing are busy collecting sponsorship to ensure we make this a worthwhile event.'

Allies Computing Ltd is a high-tech company which provides Address Management software to Businesses across the UK. They are looking to gain your support and will forward all monies raised to a charity set up by the current Sheriff of Norwich and his wife in 1992. The charity aims to equip local hospitals better, train nurses and other staff beyond the general employer's training and support further research into the causes and cures of leukaemia.

There is now a realistic prospect that a cure for leukaemia could be discovered in Norfolk thanks to the thousands of people who have taken Bryan Gunn Leukaemia Appeal to their hearts.

If you would like to support Allies Computing Ltd, please call 01508 494488 now for more information.

New SOAP Version for PostCoder web service

NEW SOAP VERSION FOR POSTCODER WEB SERVICE - EVEN BETTER ADDRESS FINDING GIVES FASTER RESULTS THAN EVER BEFORE!

POSTCODER WEB SOAP OFFERS ACCESS TO UNLIMITED ADDRESS LOOKUPS AT PREMISE LEVEL ACROSS THE INTERNET ON A "PAY AS YOU GO" BASIS.

PostCoder Web - the Allies Computing pay as you go online address lookup service, for your website or Intranet application, has just been released in a new and improved SOAP version.

The new product adds premise level drop down address searches and "Find the Postcode" search capability to the service, as well as offering the opportunity to bring back OS 100m grid references for the given Postcode. This can be used to supply a "find my nearest outlet" type service on a website when collecting visitor/customer information, or even to locate the address on a map.

"With all the convenience afforded by a Web service (no CD updates, no installation) added to the budget benefits of a per lookup charging system, we think PostCoder Web SOAP is the way forward" says MD Peter Allies.

The new web service is available from this week and can be used using pre-purchased credit packs, or by signing up for one of the monthly payment schemes available. Lookups are charged from as little as a penny per address. Users can seamlessly add the lookup into any address collection forms on their website, allowing customers to enter their complete (and verified) address in just a few keystrokes. The Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF^®) data against which addresses are verified is held on the Allies^® web server and updated regularly, so that users are always checking against the latest edition of PAF^®.

The service is already being voted a success. Technical Support Manager Joe Naylor says, "The feedback we had from customers involved in the beta trial was that the service was easy to set up, easy to use and outperformed expectations for both speed and search capabilities."

Tribal Technology Ltd chooses PostCoder API Professional

Tribal Technology aims to be the first choice for creative IT and information management solutions that improve and transform organisations. They deliver complete business solutions, incorporating both technology and support services to the public and private sector. The solutions aim to maximise the use of information to improve service delivery, back office administration and management planning.

Tribal Technology is the IT and information management division of Tribal Group plc, the fastest growing company supporting the public sector today. The Group's activities cover the full spectrum of strategic and operational support services including consulting, property, technology, resourcing, training and communications.

Tribal Technology's Foundation Software Suite, which is delivered to over 50% of Local Authorities across the UK, uses address management functionality. They recognise that address management is increasingly important to today's businesses in their drive for increased efficiency in speed and delivery of service. Address Management begins with verifying addresses at the first point of contact with customers so that the address can be used throughout the organisation for billing, delivery of goods and maintaining contact with the customer - a key factor in building a long term business partnership.

The Foundation Software Suite incorporates Allies Computing Address Management functionality using PostCoder API.

The Foundation Software Suite, have incorporated address management functionality as part of their total software solution since 1982. In 1999, this part of their solution came up for review and Allies Computing were recommended by one of their Local Authority clients who were already a customer of Allies^®.

"When it was felt that the time had come to replace our existing supplier of address look-up software, we made a conscious decision to use Allies^® based on the overall standard of the software and its benefits to our users" says a representative of Tribal Technology.

Windows was the chosen development environment, because it was the standard environment for the majority of Local Government systems and a widely supported operating system.

The Foundation Software Suite, was originally developed using Visual Basic, .NET and Centura, although across the Tribal Group a range of other Windows development languages are used. PostCoder API offered examples in ten different development languages and gave the developers a range of searching functions, allowing them to integrate address lookup into their management solution with minimum additional development work.

Adrian Whittell, one of the Software development team at Tribal, says "Most of the example applications were used to enable us to fast track the development as much of the existing functionality was able to be duplicated in our own applications. The fuzzy address matching seems to work particularly well. This enables us to match a large number of addresses where the postcode/premise combination is incorrect. We are also able to match an address to an LEA which has also proved useful for our customers."

In addition to functional requirements, with every software purchase, customers need to know that they will be well supported both during the initial development stage and in the future. Allies^® have always offered full technical support with all their solutions (from desktop software to development packages) and provide free evaluations of all applications, so customers can be confident that the software is exactly what they require.

Allies^® sales team worked closely with the Tribal Technology development team from the very beginning to ensure that they were getting the functionality their customers required. The two companies continue to work together on address management and the Tribal Technology development team are consulted during reviews and changes to the PostCoder API software and its additional components.

As Tribal Technology found both the software functionality and the support offered by Allies^® met their requirements, PostCoder API has now been integrated into their Foundation Software Suite.

Adrian Whittell, one of the senior developers at Tribal says, "Over 90% of the Local Authority Management software users take advantage of the PAF^® data through the Allies Computing component, and are always very positive about its functionality"

The PostCoder^® element of the software, utilising a proprietary indexed version of Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF^®) data, offers Foundation Software Suite users the ability to find accurate matches for what can often be poor quality address data coming from a wide range of sources. Its integration directly into the management application allows users to clean data as it is received from source.

In addition, this element has become an essential part of Tribal Technology's Schools Admissions System where accurate addressing is essential. Using the API and Allies' PCGRIDs software, which allows access to and querying of Ordnance Survey's AddressPoint Data (offering .1M accuracy grid references for each address), the system can now calculate the shortest walking distance to a school to within a metre, assisting Local Authorities in assessing appropriate schools placements.

Over the years that the two companies have been working together, Tribal Technology's team have found the Allies Computing customer support team "very good, with always helpful and polite staff", whilst Allies^® have found the feedback from the Tribal Technology developers during consultancy "helpful and useful in suggesting new directions and enhancements for our address management solutions". Says Lesley Hunt, Commercial Director at Allies Computing. "We have benefited from working with Tribal Technology on address management and GIS projects over the years and are hopeful that the business partnership will continue for many more."

PostCoder Web SOAP - a 'Product of the Year' finalist

Allies Computing has received so much positive feedback from customers regarding the PostCoder Web SOAP service that we were confident enough to enter it in the 'Product of the Year' category for the CIM Norfolk & Suffolk Marketing Excellence Awards!

The black-tie gala evening awards ceremony, held at the Holiday Inn Norwich on Friday May 18th 2007, recognised the best brands, products and services from across the two counties together with special awards for individuals who demonstrated outstanding achievement.

The 'Product of the Year' Award acknowledged companies which had a product that they thought deserved special recognition, and also demonstrating a clear strategic approach to marketing the product along with utilising an integrated marketing strategy to deliver tangible business success.

The judges noted how Allies^® consistently applied customer feedback and suggestions into the entire product range and development processes. They also praised how PostCoder Web SOAP allows businesses to add Address Lookup to their online checkouts and forms seamlessly, resulting in accurate data, ease of use and a professional feel to website forms.

We were pleased to be one of just three companies selected to be finalists within the 'Product of the Year' category as it demonstrates the strength of our PostCoder Web SOAP product and our marketing strategies.

To see for yourself why PostCoder Web SOAP was short-listed for 'Product of the Year', register for a free 21 day trial by visiting PostCoder Web SOAP.

The finalists - Allies Computing Ltd, Challs International, Anglia DNA Services	Marketing Assistant Ria Clark with Managing Director Designate Emma Pinchen
Allies® founders - Peter & Lorna Allies with Technical Support Advisor Joe Lambert	The CIM Marketing Excellence Awards

Tools to make filling in web forms easier

Allies Computing has had so much positive feedback regarding their PostCoder Web service, that they will be telling everyone about it at this year's two day Technology For Marketing exhibition in London!

The exhibition held at Olympia, London, on 6th and 7th February 2007 is the UK's primary exhibition for CRM and Marketing related technologies and is this year incorporating interactive online products too. It gives attendees the chance to try out all of the leading PostCoder^® address management software by visiting stand D80.

The PostCoder Web service aims to improve customers' experiences when filling in online Web forms and allow businesses to collect a verified address at the outset, avoiding goods being sent to the wrong address and saving time and cost whilst improving service.

The Web service will be demonstrated live with real examples. There will also be information on how you can try it on your website, enter a free prize draw and take away a free gift.

For more information on our software and for free trials, please visit www.postcoder.com

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New solutions to be released at TFM 2006!

Allies Computing will be demonstrating the latest range of PostCoder^® products at the TFM 2006 exhibition, including BRAND NEW PostCoder Web Nearest, offering a pay as you go "Find my nearest" feature to add to your own website, and PostCoder Batch, our latest data cleaning software with improved address validation and de-duplication functionality. The exhibition, held at Olympia, London, on 7th and 8th February, will give visitors the chance to try out all the popular PostCoder^® address management software and take away free trials.

As part of the PostCoder^® customer feedback process, both the Web Nearest and the new Batch PostCoders have been developed in line with customer suggestions and requests.

PostCoder Web Nearest offers companies the chance to add a "find my nearest outlet" feature to their own websites with minimum effort. It offers a range of functionality from find the nearest outlet/service provider to "find all outlets within x miles/km".

PostCoder Batch will allow businesses to regularly clean and standardise their address databases in-house, as well as offering de-duplicated output - particularly useful where businesses are merging multiple databases.

All the PostCoder^® solutions will speed up address collection and verification for businesses, and can help eliminate bad data in an address database, from totally invalid addresses to simple spelling and typing errors. Anyone who collects addresses as part of their business practice should come and speak to the Allies^® team about a PostCoder^® solution. We'll be on stand C76. And of course all visitors to the stand will be able to take away one of our fabulous free gifts and have the chance to enter our popular annual prize draw!

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Technology for Marketing 2005

It was great to meet so many new faces at TFM 2005. We hope everyone who attended had a chance to visit our stand and collect their free PostCoder^® trial, along with one of our much talked about flashing pens.

We are pleased to congratulate Gerrod Taylor, of Interactive Prospect Targeting, on winning the draw for our luxury chess set. The chess set is on its way to you Gerrod, and we hope will give you many enjoyable hours.

If you didn't get a chance to come and see us, or the stand was too busy for you to speak to one of our team, don't worry! You can still collect your free CD, just by dropping us a line.

Request either our desktop software PostCoder 8, a brand new version of PostCoder^® with some excellent new features all based on customer requests or, for software and website developers, our easy to use integration kit, PostCoder API.

Just send an email to with PC8 or API in the header; include your premise and Postcode, and a CD will be on its way to you within one working day.

If there were any questions you planned to ask us at the show, and you didn't get a chance to speak to one of our team, again, just or give us a call on +44 (0)1508 494488 and one of our Sales Advisors will be happy to help.

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A Christmas present from Allies Computing

For Christmas this year, Allies Computing Ltd are giving away 20 free address lookups per day to all their website visitors. They hope it will give people the opportunity to see how easily addresses can be corrected and find out for themselves the benefits of address management. The free lookups could be used for:

• Sending Christmas cards and parcels to your family and friends
• Businesses sending goods and Christmas gifts to clients
• Businesses for invoicing or direct marketing through the post

Allies^® knows the importance of ensuring your mail gets to the correct address first time.
Commercial Director, Lesley Hunt, says:

"With millions of cards and packages going through the postal system at this time of year, it is more important than ever to send them with a complete and Postally correct address. Everyone wants their Christmas parcels and cards to arrive on time, in the right place, but poor or incompletely addressed items can be delayed or even undeliverable. We hope that discovering how easy and effective address management can be while they address their Christmas cards will make people consider the value of it all year round"

For correct addresses all year round, Allies Computing's PostCoder^® software is also available in a range of desktop solutions, an Internet service for Websites, or a toolkit for developers. Free trials are on offer throughout the year. In the spirit of the season though, Allies Computing have gone a little bit further for December, with 20 free lookups per visitor.

To take advantage of this offer when addressing Christmas cards, visitors should visit www.allies-computing.co.uk and click "Postcode lookup" on the menu.

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Allies Computing Wins Royal Mail software contract

Allies Computing Ltd is delighted to have won the contract for production of Address Management software products for Royal Mail from March 2004.

Allies Computing have previously developed the UK Addresses range of software products for Royal Mail and also produce their own PostCoder^® range, sold nationally through resellers.

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Free 21 day trial

Before making important purchases, it is natural to want to know exactly what you're getting for your money. At Allies Computing, we give our customers the opportunity to find out precisely what our products can do, with plenty of time and no pressure or obligation. That's why we offer our PostCoder Pro, Lite, API and PostCoder^® Plug-in CDs as full-product 21 day evaluations, during which time we provide full technical support. We know that the decisions you and your business make are vital; that's why we aim to help as much as possible in ensuring that your choice is the right one.

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Professional postcoding, an independent review

This month (February 2006) in Database Marketing magazine, PostCoder Pro was independently reviewed by John Fowler of Cognitum Database Marketing Services.

His comments include:

"I found this a satisfying product to use. It was intuitive, clean and uncluttered."

"I called the support desk and the service was excellent. They answered my questions where they could and the one that they couldn't, promised to ring me back with an answer - and did."

To read the complete article please click here.

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NEW PostCoder^® to be launched at Technology for Marketing 2005

Allies Computing are demonstrating a range of PostCoder^® products, including NEW desktop PostCoder^®, at this year's Technology For Marketing show in Olympia, London on 8th and 9th February. They anticipate a lot of interest in both the new desktop product and their integration tool for developers, PostCoder API, and expect to meet representatives from a range of organisations to increase awareness of PostCoder^® business tools and promote the importance of Address Management.

Sales and Marketing Manager, Emma Pinchen, who will be heading the TFM team, says:

"The new PostCoder^® gives users even more control over how they manage their addresses. Many of our PostCoder^® customers say they don't know how they managed without it! We are looking forward to launching the new edition at the Expo, but expect an equal amount of interest in our API which has offered consistently good address management integration for developers since 1999."

PostCoder^® speeds up address collection and can help eliminate errors in your address database, from wrong addresses to bad spelling and typing mistakes. With ready to use desktop versions, an API for integrating into your own solutions and a SOAP service for use on websites, PostCoder^® offers a range of solutions for use in all areas of business. Call Centres, Utility companies, Web developers and Mail Order companies are just some examples of industries where PostCoder^® is currently making a difference.

Anyone who collects addresses as part of their business practice should come and speak to Allies^® on stand C76. The Allies^® team can go through your business practices with you and show where a PostCoder^® solution could help, improving efficiency, reducing mail returns and keeping databases correct and up to date.

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Computer Shopper Review Success

NB: This article refers to one of our previous web products, PostCoder Web B2S, which has since been replaced and upgraded to PostCoder Web SOAP.

This month (March 2004), in the Computer Shopper case study, PostCoder Web came under the scrutiny of the resident reviewer, Steve Baxter.

His comments included "The function is extremely simple to implement...we had the feature up and running in minutes".

To read more of the review, click here.

The complete article appears in the Help Section of the March 2004 Computer Shopper Magazine (pp270-271).

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Computer Shopper Review Success

"Step one in the enhancement plan was to add a postcode lookup feature that would make it easy for people to submit their full addresses to the mailing list. We could use this information to alert the people in just one road. It would also be useful for weeding out people who'd moved - if we get a second subscriber living at 30 Moon Crescent, it's pretty obvious that the first subscriber has moved out...

...The PostCoder Web browser-to-server (B2S) facility from Allies Computing looked [more] promising. The website (www.allies-computing.co.uk) advertises a price plan based on the number of people who use the service. This could be quite cheap, considering there are only a couple of thousand households in Priorslee. Allies^® gives you a choice of two per-click pricing plans. You can pay either 1p for each address with a minimum charge of £50 (5000 addresses) or 5p an address with a minimum charge of £20 a month (400 addresses). We decided to try the latter plan.

The function is extremely simple to implement. Although there's some complex JavaScript coding going on in the background, you download everything in module form and cut and paste blocks of code into your website. All you have to change is your account ID number. We had the feature up and running in minutes. It didn't look brilliant, but having such a facility on a lowly community website is impressive in itself."

Steve Baxter, Computer Shopper 193 March 2004

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Sage Visions 2003

It was great to meet so many new people at Sage Visions this year, and good to catch up with some familiar faces too.

Congratulations go to Tony Marron, Managing Director of ISM Business Solutions Ltd. As the winner of our Sage Visions prize draw he took home a beautiful solid wood chess set.

Hopefully everyone found time to come and collect their free trial software and gift. If anyone did miss us, or would like to be sent further samples and information, just give our sales team a call on 0845 644 8111

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National Direct Marketing Show 2003 - Did we see you there?

It was great to meet so many of you at the NDMS this year. Congratulations to Emma Marston of Capita IT Resourcing, the Winner of our Prize Draw. The solid wood classic chess set is on it's way to you!

If you did not get a chance to visit our stand, or pick up a free trial of our software, just give us a call or contact us by email to receive your free CD and information pack.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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