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.
We find the following characteristics to be strong indicators that clients will collaborate well with Atlantic BT to create highly successful projects.
You want to be an engaged part of the process. We are experts in web solutions and consulting, but you are the experts in your business. That means we need to work closely with you to leverage your expertise for maximum effect.
You understand and appreciate team efforts. We find the collaboration of many minds across disciplines to be highly effective; this requires teamwork as a part of the process, from workshops in discovery all the way through to deployment.
You appreciate an analytical, data-driven approach to developing strategy. We always want to know what your business reality is, rather than making an assumption. This can be challenging, as it sometimes forces a re-examination of existing practices and policies, therefore, the next point is important:
You embrace being challenged. To be truly innovative, we have to challenge existing assumptions; change can be uncomfortable, but it is better to drive data-driven change than react to market changes later.
You have a continuous process improvement mindset. In today’s web environment and competitive marketplace, the only fixed truths are that change is constant and competition is fierce. A once-and-done approach will lead to a solution that could quickly become dated and ineffective. Instead, our most successful clients are constantly monitoring their key metrics, looking for opportunities, then leveraging new solutions for the opportunities they find. That done, the cycle repeats anew.
When you watch the Atlantic BT team in workshops, whiteboard sessions, and presentations, you can see all of the above in action. We are most excited by digging into understanding customer needs and providing innovative solutions. If you approach your business the same way, we’re eager to get started on our partnership.
How do we engage customers?
We are open to lots of flexible contractual engagements to help you with your digital initiatives. We want to work with companies that understand the value of their digital platforms and can measure the impact on their business.
What size company do we prefer to work with?
There is no specific size of company that we target, we work with individuals and small businesses all the way up to Fortune 500 companies.
How do ABT’s costs compare to others in the industry?
Our costs are fair and we measure success by the value you get from our team. We are transparent with our billing practices and will report on where we are in the process.
We see clients as partners and are flexible to work within your needs – whether we need to pivot focus during a pandemic or feel that we can transition you to a partner who is a better fit.
What technologies does ABT focus on?
All of them! No really, we spend a fair amount of time looking at all the offerings whether it be an IaaS, PaaS, new framework etc. We may not be able to do the work in the technology we discover is the best fit for you, but that’s ok because we play well with others!
Want to learn more?
Think you’d be a good fit? We’re happy to hear from you! Reach out for a free consultation and let’s get started on your digital journey.
Take a look at how COVID-19 has impacted our organization, what to expect in a post-pandemic world, and how we are embracing the future.
A new normal: working fully remote.
I personally am settling into week 9 of isolation and social distancing, it’s been fun to watch other people adjust to becoming remote workers.
In 2019, Atlantic BT decided that we needed to open our minds to people working full-time remote. This would help us recruit top talent across the East Coast and give employees flexibility they needed. This change also aligned well with my move to Ottawa, Canada, as I took the plunge into working fully remote for the first time.
We encouraged the remaining ABT-ers in Raleigh to explore working from home a few days a week to avoid traffic and maximize their flow.
What this means during this time of “Business as Unusual” is that Atlantic BT is already prepared to be fully operational as a remote team. We are still managing web applications, writing quality code, and settling into video conversations. Some of the benefits we are seeing include:
Better written documentation
More chatter that’s searchable and archivable
Finding creative ways to socialize (We are still having our 2 4 7 mini game breaks for some virtual games at home.)
How will reopening impact our digital future?
While we understand that these unusual times are putting a strain on many of you in all facets of life, I think it’s important to focus on the post-pandemic world and look to our digital futures.
At ABT, we are taking this time to streamline our processes to provide more value at a lower cost, develop more useful and value driven baselines for our favorite platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Magento, Shopify, React), and tackle enterprise integration as we never have before.
If there is one thing we can count on, it’s that we as a collective humanity will emerge from this as changed for better and worse. While popular media wants to emphasize the worst, I want to think about the better for a bit.
Industrial Automation
We will emerge a truly digital society where curbside pickup and take out persist outside of the restaurant industry as a way to do business. This will force us to rethink industrial automation as it is related to B2C eCommerce.
Hopefully we can move a bit past the Gig Economy into the Robot Economy (I for one welcome our robot overlords, just wanted to get that out there before the Singularity).
IoT and Healthcare
We will be socially distancing for a bit and need to come up with new ways to take care of each other. In the digital world, we will see an explosion of IoT healthcare monitoring that will change the way we travel and we convalesce.
This explosion will put more pressure on privacy and security frameworks to encrypt and make portable this data that ultimately belongs to the individual. We will be better off for sharing this information globally in a secure way.
eCommerce transactions and shipping
Ecommerce will continue to grow at a covid-19 like pace (too soon?) – but we need to be prepared. Current credit card and shipping solutions won’t cut it.
As merchants see profound impacts to their ability to earn revenue, the credit card industry is going to have to ease costs and provide more security around transactions using biometrics, cryptocurrency, and temporary transaction numbers.
Shippers are going to have to figure out machine learning and how it applies to density and logistics in a new way.
We all see multiple delivery trucks pass our houses/apartments each day. We need to see true improvements in payment technology and logistics/supply chain improvements past what Amazon Prime has already taught us.
Increased work-from-home opportunities
It’s clear that working from home will become more common. We are already in the habit and have become comfortable with these setups. New tools and processes will continue to improve, and companies are beginning to realize to the benefits of remote work. Furthermore, we may use work from home as a solution to prevent the spread of future illness.
Reduced commuting will also allow our earth to heal a bit from the over consumption of fossil fuels and maybe actually put a dent in global warming.
While it’s hard to look to these long-term, more pressing issues, we will be able to make the case for more remote work and better integrated digital platforms to allow for connected remoteness while keeping our communication secure.
Let’s have a conversation.
As ABT prepares to thrive in the future and comes out of this “Business as Unusual” time hardened and ready to tackle these problems with creative agility, let us know if there is anything we can do to support you. We are truly a people-first company and no digital ask is too big or small. If you need help, let me know!
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
Color – it’s one of the most expressive, subjective elements in life. Color surrounds us everywhere we go and shares a powerful connection with our emotions. And yet ironically — most of us are too blind to see just how lucky we are to have the ability to see in color. A lot of people today cannot see as many — or in some cases, any — colors like the rest of us.
It’s no surprise that our world is changing rapidly and becoming more dependent on technology. Digital experiences, such as browsing websites or applications, has become critical to our daily lives. When designing these experiences, it can be easy to overlook color accessibility.
Recently, I was asked about my design process and how I go about inclusivity – in particular with color accessibility. I realized how many people were not aware of accessible design.
So, let’s talk about color accessibility and how to go about tackling these challenges in your own digital experiences.
Why is accessibility so important?
Digital experiences can be expressive to everyone, regardless of color deficiencies. As creative professionals, we have the power to make the lives of those affected better — to have a sense of belonging. It starts with planning and designing for accessibility. It involves crafting experiences for all people, including those of us with visual, speech, auditory, physical, or cognitive disabilities. Let’s create a web we’re all proud of: an inclusive web made for and consumable by all people.
Color accessibility is important because it enables people with visual impairments or color vision deficiencies to interact with digital experiences in the same way as their non-visually-impaired counterparts.
[pull_quote]If you have to squint at any point in a website or web app to read or articulate something, there’s an accessibility problem.[/pull_quote]
While we often think of visual impairments as long-term or permanent, many of us may experience short-term visual impairments. Have you ever had the sun glare into your eyes or your monitor when trying to browse the web or use an app? Ever forget your glasses or contacts? What about trying to read those digital billboards from a distance? Even those with the sharpest vision – corrected or not – will have trouble reading or comprehending your brand at some point.
Still not convinced? In 2017, The World Health Organization estimated that roughly 217 million people live with some form of moderate to severe vision impairment. Ouch. That statistic alone is reason enough to not only consider — but mandate — design for accessibility.
Apart from being an ethical best practice, there are also potential legal implications for not complying with regulatory requirements around accessibility. Did you know: In 2017, plaintiffs filed at least 814 federal lawsuits about allegedly inaccessible websites, including several class actions.
Designing digital experiences with color accessibility in mind can also have a positive economic impact on a brand by increasing its user base and conversion rate. Similar to poor usability, poor accessibility can drive up abandonment rates, which can lead to lost revenue and ultimately lost brand value. Making sure a brand uses colors that are strong in contrast will only help improve on this economic impact.
What makes a color palette accessible?
Digital experiences should follow the guidelines outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to be accessible. Color accessibility is required for Level AA and Level AAA.
Level AA
For digital experiences that must comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the following are the bare minimum requirements for color contrast:
Minimum 4.5:1 for normal text
Minimum 3:1 for large text, graphics, and UI components (e.g. input borders)
Level AAA
For digital experiences that must comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AAA, the following are the bare minimum requirements for color contrast:
Minimum 7:1 for normal text
Minimum 4.5:1 for large text, graphics, and UI components (e.g. input borders)
Note — Large text refers to a minimum of 24px or 19px bold.
Ensuring your designs are color accessible doesn’t have to be difficult.
There are two types of testing for color accessibility: quantitative and qualitative. The best way to ensure your designs are accessible is to test with actual people! If someone cannot use or read your product, then there’s likely a contrast issue. Qualitative testing can be time-consuming and costly.
For inexpensive testing, there are color contrast tools you can use online. These tools measure the contrast ratio between a foreground color and background color. The higher the ratio, the more likely a person can distinguish it.
Here’s a typical scenario I go through all the time when designing digital experiences, such as websites or web applications:
The customer provides me with their branding colors.
I take these colors and run them through a color contrast tool to see what combinations I can use (according to the WCAG). I’ll also check brand colors against commonly-used black and white.
When colors fail to meet the requirements, I start nudging the color’s lightness to the closest value that passes.
Rinse and repeat
Does this sound familiar? The color palette I am given may not be the same palette I recommend. As you can imagine, it’s a difficult conversation to have with a customer that they cannot use their colors the way they want.
I’ll admit that finding elegant color combinations for Level AAA is pretty tough, but for standard body text, I almost always try to get a combination that works for that level of compliance. It’s just a better experience to have a strong contrast ratio for dense content.
ColorShark has a beautiful, intuitive interface for finding accessible colors.
Single color contrast tool to rule them all.
To help creative professionals be better equipped, there are a lot of tools out there, such as Colorable and ColorSafe. While these tools are great at doing a simple comparison between colors, I have to manually tweak combinations that do not pass compliance. To help automate this, I designed and developed a color contrast tool, called ColorShark. I wanted ColorShark to provide people with the ability to not only provide real-time visual indicators of color combinations, their respective contrast ratios, and adjustment sliders to hue, saturation, and lightness, but also automatically detect and suggest the closest compliant colors – if your combination is not accessible.
Going back to that typical scenario, using a tool like ColorShark saves me time and budget in getting an accessible color palette for a customer and their brand. Currently, I haven’t found another tool that can provide that sense of speed and exploration.
Let’s build an accessible web.
Don’t take the ability to see color for granted. As part of inclusive design, creative professionals must promote best practices to make sure people – regardless of color deficiencies – can use websites and web applications.
Tools like ColorShark can drastically improve your exposure to color accessibility and give you the means of expanding your audience. You’ll also feel better that you’re being more inclusive!
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.
