...to see what life is like at Claus Industries."

For the final two blogs of our ‘12 Days…’ series, we took a trip to the North Pole to get a hands-on look at an average day at Claus Industries.

Part I...

Our journey began turbulently, as commercial flights to that part of the world are few and far between. Fortunately (or not, depending on your tolerance for heights), St. Nick sent his herd of reindeer to pick us up.

We were accompanied by Buddy the elf (no, not that one), who was happy to answer our questions about working for Father Christmas. 

“Conditions have definitely improved over the last century,” he said.

“When I first started I was just an elfling, working long hours over the festive period. I loved every minute of it, of course - every elf at Claus Industries does! But it would probably be frowned upon in this day and age.”

And now? 

“Now we have unions run by retired elves. Even the gingerbread men have one. They make sure we get fair rates of pay, work acceptable hours, free elf insurance, etc… The workforce love it. ” 

But what about Santa?

“He’s adapted very well. He’s always been a progressive employer, and even though he comes from an ancient generation, Generation D or E, or something, employee job satisfaction has always taken precedence. He maintains the production levels of the past now simply by hiring more workers.”

This posed more questions than it answered. How old is Father Christmas? Where does he find all of these elves? And were any of these gingerbread men nearby? The flight had lasted a while and we were getting peckish. 

Tinseltown

Before we had the chance to raise any of these queries, our ride began descending rapidly. Then there it was: Santaplex, Claus Industries’ sprawling industrial complex, consisting of:

• 29 workshops
• 9 state-of-the-art stables
• 6 employee quarters
• 5 basketball courts (ironically, the #1 elven pastime)
• 3 administration and I.T. buildings
• 2 leisure centres
• 2 food processing plants
• a creative hub
• an amphitheatre
• a runway
• a park
• a laboratory
• a farm 

It’s big. So big, we're told, that explorers on their way to the North Pole have to readjust their routes to circumnavigate it.

After a smooth landing on the runway, we were transported (via Elfa Romeos, naturally) to the largest of the three admin buildings, which contained the complex’s epicentre, where Santa and his wife oversee the running of the company.

We were immediately struck by how modern everything was. Drones buzzed around carrying boxes of all shapes and sizes; Swegways sped by holding a dozen gingerbread men at a time; the Elfa Romeos were even autonomous.

Inside the main building, we were greeted warmly by Father Christmas, Mrs Claus and Patrick, their accountant. Patrick and Santa were quick to fire up their laptops and show us exactly how they were using IRIS software to make Claus Industries’ world go round.

I Saw IRIS Training Santa Claus

We’d never seen anything quite like it. They knew all the keyboard shortcuts; made use of every section and sub-section; had activated all the relevant add-ons and customised their displays… Santa had become a KashFlow wizard; Patrick, an IRIS Accountancy Suite specialist.

How had they managed to squeeze every last time- and money-saving out of their IRIS products? The answer was straightforward enough.

“Simply put: training,” said Patrick. “I took it, my fellow practitioners took it...in fact, every employee at, and client of, Red Nose & Associates has been trained up on our IRIS products in some capacity.”

IRIS customers on average save 22 hours per user, per month using our suite of integrated products. Train up your practice on IRIS software and you could save even more

Santa had a similar story to tell: “Same goes for Mrs S and I. Some quality time at the KashFlow Akademy has vastly improved our KF efficiency - using KashFlow without learning how to get the most out of the software is like working with one arm tied behind your back.”

Are your clients getting the most out of their online bookkeeping software? Visit the KashFlow Akademy today

We were thoroughly impressed, and after a mince pie or two (we were informed that a recently-established law ruled that gingerbread men can't be eaten within a 10-mile radius of the complex) we were ready to take a tour of the company. 

We’d had to say goodbye to Buddy, who went back to his workshop. Our next guide was to be Pepper, a gingerbread woman.

If the rights of gingerbread men had been scarce in the recent past, gingerbread women had had it even worse. In fact, Pepper informed us, they’d only recently been acknowledged to exist by the Confectionery Council.

As we fought every inch of temptation to bite her delicious-looking head off just to see if gingerbread men and women tasted the same, our transport arrived and we took off into the heart of Santa’s workshops to find out more about this unique place.

Come back tomorrow for Part II of our journey through Claus Industries’ North Pole headquarters…

To learn more about the training options we provide and ensure you're getting the full value out of your IRIS software, click on the links below:

DISCOVER IRIS TRAINING

GO TO KASHFLOW TRAINING

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If you'd like to read more in our ‘The 12 Days of IRIS Christmas’ series, click on the links below:

Day 1: “On the 1st day of Christmas a client gave to me, a shoebox full of receipts…”

Day 2: “On the 2nd day of Christmas I looked back at what I'd seen, at IRIS World 2016…”

Day 3: “On the 3rd day of Christmas a client questioned me, about my A-M-L philosophy…”

Day 4: “On the 4th day of Christmas I fear I must confess, I've not a clue about the new F-R-S…”

Day 5: “On the 5th day of Christmas a client said to me, what on earth is M-T-D?”

Day 6: “On the 6th day of Christmas I saw how efficient my elves are, using brand new IRIS HR...”

Day 7: “On the 7th day of Christmas my clients profits saw a lift, thanks to forecasting from GearShift...”

Day 8: “On the 8th day of Christmas we looked back at all the ways, we'd spent our IRIS 'Giving Back' days...”

Day 9: “On the 9th day of Christmas as we sipped on our eggnog, we took a look at this year's popular blogs...”

Day 10: “On the 10th day of Christmas I slept peacefully at night, after upgrading to an OpenWebsite...”

Day 12: “On the 12th day of Christmas we travelled overseas, to see what life is like at Claus Industries... (Part II)”