Sonar6′s lab is based in Auckland, New Zealand. Which you probably know.  You might not know, tomorrow (22nd Feb) is the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake which killed 185 people and destroyed the center of the beautiful city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Sonar6 has many friends and customers in Christchurch and we would like to remind them that our thoughts are still with them, 1 year on (and over 10,000 more earthquakes later!!) and we will be acknowledging the ongoing grief and pain of the situation in Christchurch, but the remarkable hope and strength of the people affected -  with 2 minutes of silence at 12.51pm NZST, throughout all the Sonar6 offices.

As it happens, our CEO Mike will be hosting a webinar at the time – so we will be doing the very unusual (and perhaps unique) activity of observing a two minute silence during the webinar.

Meet the Peeps
where you get to know us better by asking us strange, but family friendly questions

starring Catherine Bircher, our Quality Manager (and part time Farmer).

This is not Cath, this is Scotch - the Dexter calf.

Have you had stitches. Yes. Where: The back of my right index finger

What are you reading (or playing) right now:
Reading right now? This question. Current book being read at home: “Rusalka” by C.J. Cherryh. Last thing played on home stereo: “Lighthouse” by Hawkwind.

If you had to busk, what 3 songs would you sing: “Losing it” by Rush , “Fearless” by Pink Floyd and “Yno yn hwyr ddydd Ebrill” by Sir Hugh Stevenson Roberton

Perfect meal.  Perfect setting. Perfect company: Eel sushi, my lawn, my partner.

The city you’d most like to visit, that you haven’t already been to: Chichen itza

What jewellery (or body art) are you wearing right now: A pounamu taonga

A family recipe: Boiled eggs.

If you had to sit next to an animal on a long haul flight, what would it be:  A sloth.

Glee – Yes or No: No: Not even if the alternative was putting my head in a box of live cockroaches.

Cats or Dogs: Ducks

Tea or Coffee: Tea

Who would play you in the film of your life: Gregory House: MD

How many languages can you hold a conversation in: 2

And, finally, a Haiku about how you spend your spare time:

Heavy bucket creaks

Mist skeins the faded stalks

Cattle in twilight

The next victim up is the lovely Hendrik Thomas, one of our Senior Support Technicians. If you have any questions you’d like to ask him send them to info@sonar6.com.

Want to do more with less? It’s all in the numbers!

Our latest color paper looks the importance of performance analytics for building your best possible team, with a little nod to baseball… Check it out!

We’ve been talking to SuccessFactors customers who were unhappy with an SAP future, but tied into contracts. And we’ve managed to turn their frowns upside down with our awesome offer.

NOW, we’d like to extend this offer to anyone who’s unhappy with their current Performance Review tool.

Whether you’re kicking yourself about making the wrong choice of tool – or you just don’t think the one you use is good enough, then we’re opening our doors:

If you sign a 12 month contract with Sonar6, we’ll give you Sonar6 FREE for the remainder of your existing contract, before you start paying your contract with us.*

It’s win-win. Your accountant will be happy – and you’ll immediately be able to do Performance Reviews that don’t SUCK.

If you’re interested in this deal, or just want to talk to someone friendly, come on over:

http://www.sonar6.com/come-on-over

*conditions apply

Internal Principal Human Functionality Administrator? Really? Does your company have confusing, pretentious or lame job titles? Want to share? Check out our newest colour paper “You are not your job title”. We’re throwing free t-shirts at the titles that tickle our fancies. The tickliest job title will win something really, really cool – that we haven’t thought about yet, but it will certainly be cool. Tell us your favorite title and win yourself a Sonar6 t-shirt.

NB. We’re getting some Job Titles that are actually really great as well – Venka has a “Chief Belief Officer who is the Chief of HR – in his role he consistently and constantly creates belief in people about their organization”. We like that!!

Some people, at work, when they’re imagineering, sit and stare out the window…. Sonar6 has a lovely view, looking back towards the city with a peek of Auckland’s beautiful harbor. Gorgeous on a sunny day. It made us wonder about the view from other people’s offices. Are we all so lucky?

Welcome to the first in a regular new series of ‘Sonar6 Windows’. Where we ask our customers to send us their view. The first view is of Wellington Harbour, taken from  Assurity’s offices. We challenge anyone to beat this view. We think we might have started with the best.  Thanks to Vikki for the beautiful shots.

Assurity is an award winning specialist testing and quality consultancy, focused on helping their customers build quality into their enterprise software.  They’re based in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand and have over 90 consulting staff.

Enterprise software is the enabling technology of much of the modern world and the success of many organisations depends on how well they can develop and implement the software on which their business processes depend. Assurity have a specialist testing practice delivering functional testing, test management, performance testing and test automation.

In additional our Agile Consultancy assists clients through the delivery of Agile and Lean practices with a focus on quality which naturally fits within Assurity. The breadth and depth of services offered by our Agile team at Assurity makes us the #1 agile consultancy in New Zealand.

We talk to unhappy customers all the time. Not ours. Other company’s. That’s nothing new, but this week we’ve been hearing from a different bunch of people.

This week we’ve been talking to unhappy SuccessFactors customers who are tied into contracts – and are now facing an SAP reality. We’ve decided to help and share the Sonar6 love.

If you’re a SuccessFactors customer and don’t think an SAP future is for you, then we’re opening our doors:

If you sign a 12 month contract with Sonar6, we’ll give you Sonar6 FREE for the remainder of your SuccessFactors contract, before you start your contract with us.*

So you can give that giant the slip AND keep your accountant happy!

If you’re interested in this deal, or just want to talk to someone friendly, come on over to:

http://www.sonar6.com/pricing/quotes/calculate/

*Conditions apply

The results are in from Sonar6’s Movember challenge – and the girls have pulled through by a whisker. Hirsute Belinda Bookley has taken out her less folically able friend Jack Whiskey. Maybe it was her pilates and wheatgrass shot’s versus Jack’s more hedonistic lifestyle?

Some* of Sonar6 were really hoping for the full Sebastien Chabal – as an excuse to make small talk (petite talk?) with the hairy hero – but Belinda didn’t sprout quite enough for that. She’s sporting a more modest ‘Circus Ringleader’. So a big, huge thanks to all the wonderful people who made donations, with the money going to a great cause – Men’s Health.

*Shelly

Leaving aside all the political correctness and the soft pseudoscience, what really, honestly motivates you to perform better at work?

Money?

Praise from your boss?

Being the best at what you do?

We want to know what makes you tick! Check our our latest color paper and let us know…

Sonar6 has joined the Deloitte NZ Fast 50 for the second year in a row.

We picked up our second award at the Auckland ceremony on Wednesday night and we’re pretty stoked to have made the cut. Well done to our fantastic Sonar6 team on another good showing, and congrats to the rest of 2011′s awesome Kiwi companies (especially Powershop with its phenomenal 5280.41% growth!)