During the Christmas break our out of hours service will take effect.

Tengo Media would like to wish all our customers and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

(Photo courtesy of invisibletrees’gallery)

HMRC in the UK have recently announced that from April 2012, Gift Aid claims will have to be submitted electronically. Is your charity ready for this change?

We’ve been preparing for the new HMRC system since it was first announced, and are delighted to announce that our software packages are ready to submit Gift Aid claims directly to HMRC, enabling charities to comply with the legislation.Tengo Media have been helping charities with their ICT needs with innovative solutions for 7 years, with charities such as the National Trust and Age UK trusting us with their data.

Whether it’s directly from our industry leading Gift-Aid EPoS system for charity shops and visitor attractions, from the revolutionary tengoCloud on-line charity back-office, or from a bespoke system written to your exacting specifications, Tengo Media have got Gift-Aid covered.

Update 15/4/2013

HMRC’s service launches on the 22nd April, and we are now processing sign-ups for charities who wish to use the service. Call us on 0845 8622 992 today.

Simple to set up and program to their own specifications the team have found the system a “godsend”, freeing up more time to liaise with customers and concentrate on the homely welcome Hazel and John are so well known for.

Scott Edwards enthused “This till is great! It’s simple to use, even for those who are not technologically-minded. All we needed was a quick explanation and we were away! From cashing up to tracking sales, it has the lot and with detailed feedback too. If we need to change any items/prices it’s a simple process.

“Absolutely  brilliant!”

Save money
Having a full time IT Support service on tap needn’t involve expensive in-house support staff – a dedicated IT guy will be an expensive hire, and will be human – holidays, sick days and off days are all par for the course. Our standard Gold and Platinum service contracts offer outstanding levels of support at great value fixed prices (see our schedule of rates), or alternatively we can work out a bespoke SLA (Service Level Agreement) to meet your needs. All of our outsourced IT department contracts give you the expertise you need 364 days a year.

Improve availability and productivity
All of our IT Support Contracts include remote monitoring as standard – chances are, we’ll know there’s a problem before you do. Our remote support systems supply us with a constant feed of information enabling us to ensure that your systems are always available and performing to their full potential. More up-time, and less time troubleshooting and reporting problems means greater productivity for your team. If you have a problem, issue or training requirement, just email or call your dedicated team – our systems will be connected to yours in such a way, to all intents and purposes we will be your in-house IT department. We can connect into your machine to look at your issue quicker than it would take your IT guy to wander over from his office.

Access to vast pools of knowledge and resources
Unlike an in-house IT guy, using Tengo Media as your outsourced IT department gives you access to specialists in multiple disciplines across the full-range of IT related products and services.

Consultancy & procurement services
We’re not just there to offer support when something goes wrong – Tengo will become an integral part of your technology decision making process. We can advise what to buy, how to implement it, even design completely bespoke software and hardware solutions to meet your goals.

Contact us today to find out more, we offer a free consultation to all organisations considering an outsourced IT package. We can visit your site or you can drop into our North Wales or London offices.

From our industry leading EPoS Software tengoPOS which helps charities’ maximise gift-aid revenue, through to IT Support and Website Design, Tengo Media have been working with charities such as the National Trust, Age Concern and many charities for several years.

All charities are eligible for a completely FREE ICT Consultation where we can run through the various areas in which we may be able to save and make you money with our high-tech solutions.

Contact us today or call into our North Wales or London offices, and start making the most of technology to support your cause – for details of our charity discounts, please see our rates page.

As we’re constantly travelling up and down the UK to work with our existing clients, we thought we’d give everyone a heads up on when we’re in your area – if you’ve been thinking of talking to us, why not contact us to let us know you want us to pop in for a chat if we have a consultant near to you – whichever service(s) you’re interested in.

We’ll be announcing our whereabouts on our twitter page, with a hashtag of #tengoroadshow. Remember, the consultation is free, so why not give it a try! Be sure to follow tengo on twitter to keep up-to date with our location.

The service offers SMEs a safer alternative to traditional methods of backing up such as external disk drives.

MD of Tengo Media Tom Strapps said: “Pen drives and portable disk drives, while saving data, can create their own security risk. Too easily such devices are lost or left behind.

“With cloud storage the backups are stored on secure servers far away from that business. It means that should the worst happen and a business suffer a fire, IT failure or break in, that data is safely stored, intact, many miles away.”

Tengo Media has specifically selected UK-based secure servers to comply with the Data Protection Act.

Tom said: “Many of our clients are aware of the DPA and its emphasis on data being stored securely within the EU. We wanted to take that extra step and ensure that the data is right here in the UK for their added piece of mind.

“This service is particularly beneficial to Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) who face even greater restrictions with regards to data security, through their regulator the FSA, than many other businesses.”

Tengo Media’s data backup service has no storage limits. It costs just £1 per month per gigabyte of data, rounded up to the nearest gigabyte. There is a one-off £60 setup fee.

The venue will be using EPoS systems supplied by Tengo Media, including mobile tablets for taking orders at tables that automatically get sent through to the kitchen.

We would like to wish Pete and his team all the best!

In 2009 Tengo Media produced the www.loadingramps.co.uk website to showcase the company’s products and services.

After two years of being live, WM Systems Managing Director Llyr Williams explained how the website has helped boost the company’s sales. Llyr said:

“The website by Tengo Media has been a great success for us. Along with Google Adwords we’ve increased the traffic to our site by 400% over the last two years. Google Analytics proves that people are spending more time on the site and many are commenting on its slick look and how easy it is to use. Despite the difficult times for the economy, 2011 has been a record year for WM System and I’m positive that our website has contributed to that.”

A manual system is fraught with difficulties, causing lengthy queues while the form is being filled out, or requiring the financial burden of extra staff to help customers complete the forms. Added to this, often the data is illegible or incomplete and cannot be submitted.

Under the direction of the National Trust, Tengo Media created a totally bespoke EPOS system, designed to facilitate rapid transactions and accurately capture payees’ information.

The bespoke EPOS software, tengoPOS, is designed to be easy to use, while still being able to process high volumes of transactions. With no subtotal screens or unnecessary processes, tengoPOS has an intelligent data capture form requiring just an initial, surname and post code. It frees staff to concentrate on customer service rather than worrying about data capture.

Tengo Media first installed tengoPOS at Bodnant Garden in February 2009. The property quickly saw benefits, clocking an increase of 34% on completed Gift Aid declarations. Tengo have since installed tengoPOS and supplied hardware to National Trust properties across England and Wales, from the flagship Lanhydrock Country House and Estate in Bodmin, Cornwall, to their newest addition, Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland.

The software is also integrated with the National Trust’s back-office property management and retail systems, and is continually being refined to foster benefits and cost savings far beyond its original remit.

Following the success of tengoPOS in National Trust properties, Tengo Media is now installing the system for a number of other UK charities. The software can be installed on any current PC-based EPOS hardware that is already in use. Tengo Media can also source new hardware if required.
Both visitor attractions and charity shops can benefit from Gift Aid, full details of the scheme for visitor attractions can be found on the HMRC website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift_aid/rules/admissions.htm, and details for charity shops at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift_aid/rules/retail.htm.

Tengo Media are offering a free consultation to any charity interested in maximizing their revenue from the Gift Aid scheme through tengoPOS.

Here are a selection of comments from people within the National Trust that have been involved with the project:

“Since having our new tills in place, with postcode look-up facility, we have found that our Gift Aid data capture has increased by an additional 34% as this information is now taken at the time of the transaction – rather than requesting the visitor to manually complete a card and leave it with us before they left (which, of course, many did not thus resulting in lost potential additional revenue). Tengo Media were a dream to work with on this project, they provided valuable advice and support at the preliminary stages, and fully incorporated our needs within the bespoke software program. Additionally they sourced the best possible hardware (tills, printer, scanners etc.) to meet our requirements whilst keeping within our budget, and had endless patience when responding to the many changes we made along the way! The support they have provided to us post-installation has been excellent – there is always someone at the end of the telephone to answer queries or deal with any problems which, very infrequently, arise.”
Ann Smith, Visitor Services Manager, Bodnant Garden

“The introduction of the Gift Aid software has dramatically increased the revenue that we are able to process. At a busy property like ours, time is of the essence and not only has the Tengo solution speeded up the process of collecting visitor information, it has also drastically improved the accuracy of the information collected. This means that nearly 100% of visitors electing to Gift Aid can be processed successfully – despite a projected drop in Gift Aid revenue due to the recession, we have exceeded our yearly financial targets in less than 5 months of using the software. In addition, the tengoPOS tills are incredibly user friendly and the support we have received has been phenomenal – we couldn’t be happier with the solution that Tengo has provided.”
Becky Hitchens, Visitor Reception Manager, Lanhydrock House

“The new software has made a big impact – compared to the same period last year, we’ve seen the percentage of usable Gift Aid declarations increase from 8% to 75% – to put it another way, the two tills (hardware & software) will have paid for themselves in just 4 months!”
Lucy Byrne, Visitor Services Coordinator, Chirk Castle

“Regarding the till software, we have all been pleasantly surprised how easy it has been to use, we do not have the easiest of set ups but everything has worked well and your support has helped with the transition (from a manual entry system to Electronic Point Of Sale).”
Martin Jeffries, Property Manager, Penrhyn Castle