How We Do It

Copernicus is a Values-led business. Our shared Values govern what we do and how we do it and are central to our mission to always do the right thing; they mark out what makes us special and distinctive for all our stakeholders and are core to the way every Copernicus team member undertakes their role.

• INTEGRITY - Being fair, open and honest in our dealings with people and sensitive and discreet with the information entrusted to us. Working to minimise the environmental impact of our work in the communities in which we work.

• IMAGINATION - Constantly seeking new methodologies, products, processes and services to improve our productivity and customer experiences, identifying opportunities to enhance the environments in which we work.

• QUALITY - Being the very best we can – delivering our services with speed, accuracy and a real empathy for our customers.

• DIVERSITY - Valuing and respecting our colleagues, clients and customers, understanding their different goals and objectives and how they contribute to the overall success of our company. Embracing diversity in all areas and creating an environment where all talents, skills and abilities are recognised and nurtured to their full.

• ETHICS - Maintaining the highest standard of business principles, ensuring our personal conduct and service are professional and ethical operating to the very highest levels at all times.

• TEAMWORK - Empowering the individual, encouraging open communication and co-ordination to achieve a happy, efficient team focused on our corporate objectives.

These Values are far more than simply words; where our strategy will develop, these Values are a fixed point that outline ‘How’ we operate and are the starting point for everything we do.

Central to our approach is our commitment to ‘walk in the shoes of our customers continuously. This customer-led ethos ensures that we work to understand the challenges and opportunities facing our customers and contribute proactively to the development of the most appropriate solutions.

It is a spirit that goes beyond collaboration; we see ourselves as an extension of our customers team. We work to enjoy what we do, stretch ourselves and to develop both our own team and the people we interact with at our clients.

We combine leading edge technology and development processes; both of which are adaptable to the needs of our customers. So, whether the preferred development methodology is Agile, Crystal, Dynamic, Lean, Joint Application or Six Sigma, we can work that way. And while our expertise is in the development of code, we are very happy to take away all the mystique of software development and talk in Plain English to ensure a fully inclusive approach that delivers the project goals on time.

'Team Copernicus' continues to grow, adding new talent to our roster of expertise. Like many software developers, our founders started the business based upon their own enthusiasm to solve business challenges. We have lost none of that energy as we have grown and indeed our founders can often be found on-site leading from the front.

We are always on the look-out for new talent to join our team and welcome CVs from people; these can be sent to HR@copernicus.co.uk.

Thirty-six years of experience in developing asset finance and leasing software that today supports a growing global customer base is quite a claim. As well as a proud heritage, it also means that software developer Copernicus has a depth of knowledge and insight into the leasing sector that means it can talk with clients at all levels to tailor its technology.

“Arguably as a software provider, our understanding of the leasing sector is unrivalled. It would be impossible to distil the collective insights that we have gained across our business in addressing the nuances of leasing across the world’s stage for almost four decades. This knowledge is baked-into our technology and the flexibility with which it can be adapted rapidly to local currencies and regulation,” reflects founder and still Managing Director Allen Jones who remains very much at the helm of the business.

When Copernicus opened its doors for business in 1982 to develop software for the newly arrived IBM PC, it would have been impossible for the business to anticipate the intellectual property it would build in understanding the leasing sector. From one chance meeting, in 1982, Copernicus has grown to become well recognised for its distinctive leasing software and every bit as importantly, for its hands-on approach. Something which many clients find reassuring.

Amongst the fledgling business’ earliest work was the creation of a lease evaluation system for an oil company. The result was ‘LES’ or ‘Lease Evaluation System.’ Perhaps not the most imaginative name, it nevertheless sold well and its successor, LES3 became a name that many industry stalwarts still remember.

In 1987, in response to a client suggestion, Copernicus set itself to develop SSAP 21 calculations into LES3. This saw the business develop its first lease administration and accounting system ‘SAL’ - System for the Administration of Leases. Again, this was well received by a range of financial service providers who now had a complete integrated end-to-end system. SAL developed into SAL2 which ran on UNIX.

Networks began to take on UNIX, which led to the business developing Solar for client servers. It was an evolutionary path that saw a continuing alignment of Copernicus’ deep understanding of the evolving leasing sector, the parallel progression of technology and the business’ agility to leverage change in a positive manner. Solar 2 saw the business as an early adopter of the growing power of the internet when in 2001, the business’ technology was developed run on the newly arrived Microsoft ASP.NET platform. The impact was rapid and Solar 2 usage extended into China, USA and Africa.

Solar3 was born in 2010 and saw a total rewrite and optimisation of the calculation engine to generate all numbers “on the fly” to ensure massive scalability. The full-scale update included a total overhaul of the accounting engine and major improvements to the system security.

Solar3 continues to is go from strength to strength globally and today sits alongside Copernicus’s other technologies that continue to support the leasing sector. As Jones concludes; When people talk about leveraging best practices around the world, I’m very happy to reflect that our technical prowess is part of those best practices, borne of our understanding of leasing and our capacity to talk our clients’ language.

“Across the leasing sector and that we are continuing to learn and adapt as the market does and we believe there is no challenge in the asset finance system that Solar is a match for, in terms of flexibility, ease of use and scalability. It all starts with our deep understanding of the sector.”

Working around the world with both household brands and smaller more local operators, we understand the importance of robust systems, processes and controls. Copernicus operates with an extensive control programme that encompasses policies and statements that address:

• Cyber and Physical Security Policies

• Anti-Financial Crime, Bribery & Corruption Policy

• Data Protection Policy

• An Environmental Statement

• Anti-Slavery Statement

• Equal Opportunities & Diversity Policy

Copies of these and our other control processes are available upon request.