Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Author: Rachel McKay

Celebrating Atlantic BT’s Culture

2024 Company Weekend Celebration

At Atlantic BT, there has always been a well-loved tradition of shared experiences. From competing against each other to create the best Spaghetti Bridge, to chunking pumpkins with a giant trebuchet, we have always loved spending time together and getting to know our coworkers on a deeper level “outside the office”. It often sounds cliché or like a cheap marketing term when a company says that they are “one big family”, but with ABT it truly does feel that way.

During the 2020 global pandemic, ABT made the shift to go fully remote, a shift that has been for the betterment of the company. The only tricky part was, how do we sustain the rich culture that has been a cornerstone of our company for so many years? The answer is, in true ABT fashion, we adapt. From in person events, we go to virtual, hosting trivia, online escape rooms, and jackbox game competitions. When it was once safe again, we reintroduced company lunches and in-person events. One of the biggest things we introduced was our yearly “Company Get-Together”.

For this year’s Company Get-Together, we decided on three separate events to appeal to three different parts of our culture. Friday night was a casual hangout where we spent time with both new and old ABT’ers. This event turned out to be for many people the most special one of the weekend, talking with people who have been a part of ABT’s crew from the start, getting to swap old stories, and introduce newer employees to people they’ve only known from code logs. Saturday, we tapped into the competitive spirit of ABT with a downtown Raleigh scavenger hunt, hosted by Search in the City. After some questionable shenanigans, Team Videogames managed to grab first, securing their second scavenger hunt win! The weekend concluded with a dinner at Sitti, where we met as a company to celebrate the year and all of our accomplishments. It was truly the perfect weekend!

At Atlantic BT, strong company culture is one of the reasons we thrive as a company. When you build strong relationships with those you work with, communication is seamless, employees want to show up to work and do their best, and client work becomes a breeze when you have teammates you can trust and rely on. While things like trash talking a coworker over their Mario Kart game can seem silly, really you’re creating positive memories that will form lifelong friendships.

Want to join ABT’s team? Check out our openings here: ABT Careers

November 1, 2024
Happy Holidays from Atlantic BT

As we close out this year we would like to take the opportunity to thank all who have made our year bright in this otherwise difficult time!

We sincerely appreciate all of our clients, partners, friends, family, and employees, and would not have been able to make it through another year without you.

Throughout 2020, we’ve encountered many changes, welcomed new clients, relocated to a co-working space and learned how to work remotely, increased our employee footprint across the country, and made life work amidst a pandemic. While we look a little different, ABT is still here to help you with whatever your needs may be.

Our team wishes you a holiday season filled with peace, joy, and prosperity continuing throughout the new year. We look forward to another great year together and thank you for your continued support and partnership.

December 17, 2020
Bringing Employees Together One Mini Game at a Time

Doo dooo doo doo doo, MAHNA MAHNA. Do you know the theme of the Muppets? The employees at Atlantic BT sure do.

Each day at 2:47pm, employees are summoned by the muppets song to participate in a voluntary mini game and take a break from their everyday work. These mini games serve as a time for employees to hang out with coworkers they don’t always get to see in a fun, competitive setting.

[pull_quote]2 4 7 wouldn’t be nearly as fun if it weren’t for the competitiveness of my coworkers… their strive to victory makes it so much sweeter when I come out on top.[/pull_quote]- Andrew Aldaya, current Water Pong, Mario Kart, and Two-Time 2 4 7 Champion

Mini games last only about 10-15 minutes and change almost every day to keep things fresh. Some examples of our favorite games are Telestrations, water pong challenges, 99, high/ low, nerf gun target practice, and the ever popular flip cup (which we consistently plan on Monday).

Employees get points at the end of each game. On Friday, we tally up the 2 4 7 scores and give winners a prize.

[pull_quote]Having new games every day keeps it interesting. Doing this helps keep 2:47 spicy and prevents an otherwise fun perk becoming dull.[/pull_quote] – Jon Karnofsky, former Culture Club President

Although 2 4 7 is all fun and games, there is a bigger purpose. The core is to bring people together, have fun and meaningful interactions, and to grow the culture of Atlantic BT.

In one of our 2 4 7 games, we drew contour pictures of each other and tried to guess who each drawing was.

2 4 7 is to provide a safe space for people to do silly, new things all while getting to know coworkers better. If your employees have this space to grow their relationships and relax for a bit, they can work better as a team, thus working better as a whole.

[pull_quote]The reason why I chose the time of 2:47 was two-fold. First of all, it was a nice time in the afternoon where everyone could probably use a leg stretch and work break. Second and most importantly, 2 4 7 really stands for having culture 24/7 all day, every day.”[/pull_quote] – Jon Jordan, CEO

January 21, 2020
Holy Blisters, Batman! Kicking off Halloween Season at ABT

Atlantic BT is kicking off spooky season with an unusual lunch and learn! On Wednesday, October 16th, employees got the chance to gross themselves out by learning special effects makeup techniques. The special effects makeup ranges from burns and boils to deep cuts.

Atlantic BT puts together this highly-requested lunch and learn every year. Employees agree that having some theater experts on staff has its perks!

“My favorite blood and guts so far is the one where we did bloody knuckles on our hands. It was just so realistic and disgusting looking! When I sent a snap of it to my friends, my girlfriend called me believing I was in an actual medical emergency situation.”
– Jorma Pelto, Web Hosting Engineer

“I liked the ‘peeled-back hand’ one the best. I remember thinking how doing something so simple as putting a piece of yarn on your hand can turn into something so realistic and gross. I also liked this year’s, because it was by far the grossest. It’s oddly fun trying to gross yourself out with makeup.”
– Dan Sweet, Senior .NET Developer

This year’s gory lesson was making blisters and boils. Employees used a mixture of hot glue, liquid latex, and makeup to make a nasty, stomach-curtling concoction.

“My goal of the lunch and learn today was to create something that looked real enough to upset my coworkers who were too squeamish to attend.”
– Chris Duffy, Application Architect

While the lunch and learn is pretty gruesome, it is always looked forward to by our employees, as is the rest of the Halloween season. Coming up during the rest of October is a pumpkin spice cooking competition, Halloween Trivia, pumpkin carving, and a costume contest.

October 17, 2019
We Moved! Meet the New Home of ABT

Atlantic BT has a new home. It’s true. We’ve moved. As our ranks continued to grow and business thrived, it was clearly time for an office upgrade. We needed a space that gave us plenty of room for big ideas, great opportunities, and very intense Foosball. As the ABT Office Manager, it’s my pleasure to invite you to our new location and show you what we’ve been up to and where we plan to go from here.

Welcome to the new ABT! I’ll be right behind this desk.

When I heard that ABT would be moving, I stalked the new location like you would an ex-boyfriend on Facebook (but with far more optimism). The building we were in at the time had served us well, but our new building had everything we needed and then some. Space! Light! Food trucks! Top secret buttons! It was going to be great. On top of that, the building was also LEED-certified. Working in a cool new space while also helping to save the planet? Yes, please.

Our new conference room inspired us to practice our serious meeting faces.

With everyone ready and on board, we were prepared for our adventure. The great thing about my coworkers at ABT is no one hesitated to offer a helping hand or allow the move to distract them from the projects they were working on. As the move took place, it was business as usual. Everything was completely normal. To be fair, there were some hiccups along the way. One chair was temporarily lost. There was some anxiety around the coffee machine. Too many questions asked about secret buttons. Standoffs within departments to claim desks thankfully never claimed any lives and no employees were harmed in the making of the new ABT office.

Moving isn’t easy on the emotions, but we talked it out—and Allan found his chair.

We’re all happy to be settled in and enjoying the space. I especially love my new, central location at our office’s entrance. It’s great to be able to see everyone as they come in. Have I mentioned that I also have a new button behind my desk? It makes me feel drunk with power. The button’s capabilities have piqued a great deal of curiosity but you will not see a picture of it (It is, after all, a secret button.).

Our flexible meeting spaces give us a lot of options for important ABT discussions—and nerf negotiations.

As for our current and future clients, they have a lot to look forward to. Here are just a few things that you can count on:

Excessive Quality Service

Groundbreaking Creativity

Awesome People

Superior Nerf Battles

Space to Do Great Things

We’re proud of the steps we’ve taken to move our company forward and we’re happy to have you along for the journey. Our doors are open. Contact us today if you’d like to arrange a visit!

February 19, 2018