We’re extremely pleased to announce that SEC has reached the final of the Electrical Industry Awards 2011, after being nominated earlier this year.

The award we’re up for is the most Innovative Software Product Of The Year 2011, where our acclaimed CYPHER1 estimating software has been nominated.

The final is taking place on the 20th October at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London. If you’d like to book a seat at the event, you can reserve you place on 01689 899 170. If you’d like to see a full list of this years awards and nominations, you can do so by clicking here.

SkillElectric, the annual competition that sees the most promising electrical trainees from around the country compete for the title of SkillElectric Champion. The event, which will be held between the 14th and 16th September at Leeds College Of Building, is part of the range of competitions run by SummitSkills, also including SkillPipe, SkillFridge and another 7 events making up the SkillBuild competition.

The SkillElectric finalists (named below) will compete in a final that will see them install numerous different circuits (that must include various components, control circuits and fire protection) in a strict time frame and to exact specifications set by the judging panel.

The finalists are Aston Baker (DPL Electrical), Ross Borland (Claud Hamilton Electrical Services), Martina Waberseck (Bristol City Council), Paul Tuton (SES Ltd), Callum Hill (GRS Electrical Service), Josh Sharp (Alan Manchip), Josh Day (CW Electrical), Sam Henshaw (Lowe Electrical), Adrian Canning (RMG Electrics) and Alexander Culverhouse (NES).

You can check out more on the competition and future SkillElectric events at http://www.skillelectric.org.uk

Neil Collishaw from SummitSkills had this to say about the upcoming event:

“We’re looking for someone who can deliver a high quality of work precisely to specification and within timescales; we wish all finalists the best of luck.”

BEAMA, the members-only organisation which was set up in order to provide leadership and expertise in the areas of product safety, energy efficiency, sustainability and performance, has released two new and updated technical guides – the new Guide To Forms Of Seperation and the updated Guide To Verification (in reference to BS EN 61439-2).

The new Guide To Forms Of Separation has been particularly anticipated, as it has been the industry-accepted standard guide to the various methods of meeting the necessary internal separation since the early 1990′s.

You can download both guides completely free of charge from the BEAMA website.

If you’re considering investing in our industry-leading estimating software, but there’s something you’re not sure about, then feel free to get in touch with the team and ask. We boast one of the best customer services elements in the industry, and we’re more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

You can get in touch with us on 01905 640064 or via our contact form, or if you’d prefer, just ask your question using the comment form below and we’ll do our best to answer your questions as quickly as possible.

Alternatively, we offer no-obligation demonstrations of the software completely free of charge, where we’ll be able to show you exactly how the software works and answer any questions you’ve got. We also have a collection of demonstration videos, which might well cover what you need to know.

We’ve recently recorded and uploaded some HD videos walking you through the functions, applications and benefits of the Cypher1 estimating suite. So to give you an idea of the benefits of the software, here’s the first part of our introduction to SEC’s Cypher1 estimating suite:

You can view the other parts to the series in our videos section. If you’d like to find out more about the software, or to make an enquiry about ordering, you can get in touch with us via the contact form.

SEC offers dedicated training packages to anyone looking to explore the benefits of our specialist estimating software, which can either take place on-site at the SEC head office or at your own offices anywhere in the UK.

Throughout May we offered discount training packages to customers, which proved so successful that we’re extending the offer until the end of June.

If you’re interested in taking advantage of our discounted training packages, get in touch with us via the contact form or give us a call on 01905 640064.

If you’re new to using dedicated software packages to improve your overall contract costing, stock control or estimating protocols, then it can be tough to decipher the technical language used and information presented by software development professionals.

To help give you a clearer idea of how dedicated estimating software can help your business, here’s a simple run down of the features and benefits of the Cypher1 software suite (available to purchase from the SEC shop):

- Ease of use
The Cypher1 suite is exceptionally easy to use, with an intuitive and simple user interface. This ensures that you can make full use of the software package, regardless of your level of technical expertise.

- Accurate database
Estimating software can only be as accurate as the information in its materials database. The Cypher1 suite utilises an extremely accurate and regularly updated database featuring over 500,000 products, ensuring you always get accurate calculations from any of the software’s packages.

- Value for money
Our software suite is extremely well priced and provides the best value for money software available on the current market.

- Versatility
The Cypher1 suite features numerous different packages, including estimating, contract costing, stock control, planned maintenance, purchase order processing and sales invoicing. This means you can use the software for a variety of different purposes, all designed to improve your efficiency and save your company money.

- Time saving
Using our software suite not only provides you with extremely accurate estimates, but saves around 75% of the time it would take to provide accurate estimates manually.

- Always up to date
The SEC software suite is constantly updated and is always undergoing software development to ensure your package is always up to date.

If you’d like to find out more about the SEC estimating software suite, get in touch with us to arrange a no obligation demonstration or simply to request more information.

With any software packages and business solutions, support is a key issue. Even when the software is flawless, having a knowledgeable advisor on the other end of the phone is very useful. SEC has both phone and online support systems, staffed by our friendly and dedicated team. We can also offer remote support, and we pride ourselves on having the best service in the industry.

As all of our software packages and suites can be fully customised to suit your needs, so can our support. We offer custom training for every module, meaning you get the quickest rollout for your new systems. We offer this training at a time and place to suit you, either on site at your office or at our dedicated training facility near Worcester.

Have a look at our software, training or support pages now for more information.

Everyone knows that times are tough at the moment. Since the financial collapse of 2009 many companies have been struggling to keep afloat, with lots having to shed employees in order to survive. SEC are helping to battle against this with their estimating software. Our software can help businesses increase efficiency in many ways, including the following:

- Up to date market pricing information
- Integration into other SEC suites
- Quick, efficient and accurate estimates and costing
- Automated tasks
- Reporting

With these packages you can automate many business taks, as well as being able to efficiently calculate estimates and pull off details. With the combination of this, our constantly updated pricing database and our mobile solutions you can work quickly and flexibly. So have a look at our software and services page, and see if you can increase your own business efficiency.