2017 - What a year!
2017, what a year it has been! From Donald Trump's inauguration at the start of the year (well actually, just Donald Trump in general!) to more recent events in Catalonia and everything in between! Closer to home, it's been another fantastic year here at iHasco... find out what we've been up to and what's in store for next year!
Some of the biggest events in 2017
Inauguration of Donald Trump (and Donald Trump in general)
When Donald Trump announced his intentions to run for the presidency back in June 2015, it was inconceivable for most to think that he would actually be elected as the 45th president of the United States of America. Fast forward 18 months and he was being inaugurated! Since then he's struggled to stay out of the news - countless run-ins with Kim Jong Un, staring at the sun without eye protection and claiming he created the word 'fake' have been just some of this year's Trump highlights, for want of a better word.
Did anyone spot Donald in our Anti-Money Laundering Training programme!? (2.1.3 - enhanced due diligence 😉 )
Naughty North Korea
North Korea or maybe more specifically, Kim Jong Un, have also struggled to stay out of the spotlight this year. It all started back in February when a ballistic missile was fired over the Sea of Japan. Can't get more serious than that, right? Wrong. After months of developing their nuclear programme, North Korea tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile, prompting Russia and China to step in and urge North Korea to halt its programmes. In and amongst all of this, Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump frequently insulted each other and their respective nations, which resulted in North Korea sentencing Trump to death!
Let's hope for a quieter 2018 on this front and who knows, Donald and Kim could be best buddies this time next year!
Brexit still ongoing
Over a year later and we're still kinda in the dark as to when the UK will finally leave the European Union. Theresa May triggered article 50 (a plan for any country that wishes to leave the EU) back in March and we're scheduled to leave the EU on the 29th of March 2019 but who knows what could happen between now and then.. this is politics after all!
Cyber Attacks
Many of May and June's headlines were dominated by cyber attacks that crippled organisations across the world, including the likes of the NHS, Deloitte and Cloudflare; see a list of the most notable cyber attacks of 2017!
This news only reiterates the fact that every employee within an organisation should now have Cyber Security Training of some sort! Check out our Cyber Security Awareness Training!
Paris & LA Olympics announcement
On September the 13th, the Olympic committee awarded Paris and Los Angeles the rights to host the 2024 and the 2028 Olympics, respectively!
Cassini Huygens plunges into Saturn
After 13 long years of orbiting Saturn, NASA and the ESA witnessed Cassini finally entering Saturns atmosphere and burning up :'(. But it was a pretty awesome mission, right? Considering it is 1.2 billion kilometres away from the Earth...
You can watch live footage of the end mission from NASA here.
Chaos in Catalonia
The Catalonia Crisis started on the 1st of October when parliament held a referendum for independence from Spain when the Madrid government had actually declared it illegal to do so. President Carles Puigdemont then declared Catalonia to be an independent republic, only for the Spanish Prime Minister to take control of the province, and order new elections for December. It is currently unclear what is going to happen next!
New species of Orangutan discovered (included just for you, Dave)
One of our Managing Directors, Dave, recently returned from a trip to Borneo, where he hoped to see an Orangutan in its natural habitat. He did and admitted to shedding a tear, he's a big softy really! 'Pongo tapanuliensis' has been discovered in northern Sumatra but (tissues at the ready, Dave) is already endangered :'(.
End of an era for Zimbabwe and Mugabe
Robert Mugabe served as the Zimbabwean Prime Minister for 7 years before becoming President in 1987 and ruling the country until the 19th of November 2017. The 19th of November has now been declared as a national holiday in Zimbabwe, which says a lot about Mugabe and his ideology...
Love Wins
Australia voted YES! Roughly 12.6 million Australians voted in their historic same-sex marriage survey, and the poll’s return rate smashed other voluntary polls including Brexit and the last US presidential election! All that remains is for the Aussie government to make it official.
iHASCO achievements and events in 2017
2,000,000 training sessions delivered
On the 25th of September, our database notified us that we had passed the 2,000,000 mark for unique training sessions delivered!
11 new staff members
This year we have welcomed 11 new members of staff; all of them have settled in brilliantly and are already having a big effect on our company's success! We'll be growing even more next year, so if you're interested in working with us at iHASCO, keep an eye on our vacancies page!
New partnerships with IOSH & IIRSM
We were delighted to announce a new and improved partnership with IOSH back in September, which saw us renew our licenses for 12 new courses and get a further 9 new courses approved! As always, we'll be looking at getting even more approved next year!
We also had some of our courses approved by a Health & Safety body that was completely new to us. The IIRSM approved 10 of our courses, including the likes of our safeguarding courses, our range of courses for schools and other titles such as Abrasive Wheel Safety and Infection Prevention & Control!
We became Cyber Certified!
After bringing out our very own Cyber Security Awareness Training, we thought it was only right that we practised what we preached. We applied for our Cyber Essentials Certificate right away and within a week were approved!
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Introduction of V2 courses
2017 saw us introduce our range of 'V2' courses, which are vastly improved versions of older courses - you asked us for shorter courses that didn't lose any of the key information and so we created highly flexible learning!
Not to mention drastically improved graphics and our new 'Additional Resources' feature - you now have complete control over how much you choose to learn about a specific topic within a course.
A trip to Switzerland!
18 lucky staff members were able to enjoy a fantastic trip to the beautiful town of Zermatt in September and there's talk of a trip to France next year!
15 new courses
A record 15 new courses went live this year. A big well done to everyone involved in the production of these courses!
A brand new Training Suite!
Possibly the biggest change for us in 2017 was the overhaul of our training suite, which has made your eLearning experience even easier and more interactive!
Changes included:
What's in store for next year?
We've got an EVEN more exciting 2018 planned! Keep your eyes peeled on our blog for announcements which will include (SPOILER ALERT):
- An extensive website update
- More opportunities to work for the best company in Bracknell (based on a survey taken by every iHasco employee 😉) - 2018 will be another year of big growth!
- Dozens more exciting courses, some of which will be driven by legislative change, so they'll be very important!
Head of Marketing