CEO’s Blog – Less of the ‘new normal’, more of the ‘new old’

Posted on 7 May 202017 June 2022 by Martin Port

Human beings are social animals. We need contact with one another. Too much time in isolation – even for the most introverted amongst us – creates feelings of anxiety and loneliness.

According to the rules of the ‘new normal’, video calls and social media can bridge the gulf and help us feel connected to one another.

This is why I have been busily launching virtual meet-ups and online initiatives – to help my BigChange colleagues feel like part of one big team and maintain our sense of camaraderie.

But here’s the thing: it doesn’t work.

Zoom. Teams. Hangouts. House Party. RingCentral. Whatever platform you choose, it is still no substitute for face-to-face conversation and real-world connection.

In fact, too many of these virtual events can add to the general stress and feeling of isolation. People either feel obliged to take part or guilty for choosing not to attend.

I have come to this realisation after receiving some feedback from the BigChange team. Some people feel that I have created far too many online events, and that these meet-ups are eating into their valuable free time.

…In hindsight, maybe introducing yet another virtual quiz was a bad idea? Especially when the whole world is regularly “pub quizzing” with family and friends already.

I’m learning all the time and, like many other leaders, trying my best to work out how to keep motivating and engaging my colleagues, both those currently working and those who have been temporarily furloughed. This is all new to me too. In these uncertain times, there are no straightforward answers. I get it wrong sometimes.

I want to apologise to anyone in my team at BigChange who feels bombarded by these new online initiatives. I know that some of you feel overwhelmed or just exhausted by the expectation to attend. I had the best intentions but I have made mistakes. I promise to do better in future.

We have established a steering committee, which is made up of representatives from every team in the business. From now on, before I launch a new online scheme to boost engagement, I will run all ideas past this sounding board and make sure that it is genuinely useful and that there will be demand for it.

I am also rethinking my plan for a totally virtual future. This pandemic has proven to me that BigChange doesn’t need a real-world office; we are just as effective working remotely. We have reduced our carbon dioxide emissions as a result of lockdown, becoming a greener and more sustainable business as a result.

But I’ve come to understand that while people don’t need to work side-by-side, they really like to.

When this crisis has passed, we will not be going back to an entirely office-based operation. But I will rotate teams in and out of the office so that a percentage of my colleagues are in the building at any one time. Teams need to come together to collaborate, bond – and just have a bit of fun too. That spirit ultimately drives organisations forward.

Forget the ‘new norm’ of virtual businesses and remote working. I’m embracing a blend of the best elements from the modern world of work and the traditional approach. From now on, it’s all about the ‘new old’.

CEO’s Blog – Supporting mental health and wellbeing through virtual events

Posted on 1 May 202017 June 2022 by Martin Port

For many of us, the coronavirus lockdown has been a profoundly lonely experience.

Those who live alone have been completely cut off from friends and relatives. Even those of us with families are missing the office camaraderie. Isolation is more than a physical reality; it’s a mental state.

This is why I am so passionate about creating virtual events to help drive connections and support mental health. It may not be as comforting as real-life human contact and conversation but video calls and virtual meet-ups are a crucial lifeline to the outside world.

I’m usually a very upbeat character but even I am struggling to stay positive through this lockdown. On Mondays, I used to love coming in to the office and saying hello to everyone. It was incredibly motivating to be surrounded by my brilliant team – I miss them all.

I’m embracing virtual events as a way to recreate the amazing atmosphere that we have in our office. On Tuesday morning, we had a social event that furloughed employees could attend too. It was a chance to sing happy birthday to a colleague, and meet some of my team’s extended family. I love it when a little face peeps in to see what mum or dad are doing.

Next week, we are taking our Motivational Monday series online for the first time. I’m delighted that Nigel Owens MBE, one of rugby’s top referees, is joining us to talk about his incredible life. Growing up in a small, traditional community in west Wales, Nigel struggled with the realisation that he was gay. Rather than admit it to his parents and community, he attempted suicide.

Nigel has battled depression and bulimia but ultimately triumphed over adversity and went on to become a sporting legend. No one is better placed to talk to the team about beating loneliness and finding the strength to go on, even when the challenges seem overwhelming.

On May 13, we are launching the first in our new series of webinars, talking about topical issues facing British industry. We’ll be kicking off with a virtual roundtable about “How to support mental health and wellbeing during the covid-19 outbreak”

I’m so proud that two BigChange ambassadors, Nicolas Hamilton and Michelle Dewberry, will be joining us for that session, hosted by the former Telegraph enterprise editor Rebecca Burn-Callander.

You may remember Michelle Dewberry the 2006 series winner of The Apprentice. She has spoken candidly about her mental health struggles in the past and will share some of her experiences with the audience.

Nic Hamilton is a talented racing driver and brother of six-times Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton. He will share the secrets to developing mental resilience.

Sonal Sidpara, head of HR, Alex Abrahams Head of Training and Alex Epstein our CMO at BigChange, will also be giving advice on motivating the team through a crisis, and will outline all our BigChange learnings from the pandemic so far.

BigChange customers Steve Broughton and Kevin Sherwood will also join us as well as a representative from the charity Mind.

Put 11am in your calendars. Please do join us, and let me know any questions that you would like to put to the panel.

Till then, stay home, stay safe, and stay connected.

CEO’s Blog – Careful who you trust, Chancellor. There are wolves out there

Posted on 24 April 202017 June 2022 by Martin Port

Difficult times can bring out the best in people.

During this pandemic, we have seen kind people helping their neighbours, brave workers risking their lives to serve the nation, selflessness, and discipline. But trouble can bring out the worst in people too.

During World War Two, there were many examples of resilience, fortitude and the famed “Blitz spirit”. However, crime also surged. Looting and racketeering were rife. Between 1939 and 1945, crime rose from 303,771 offences to 478,000, according to official figures. Where some see an opportunity to give, others see the chance to take.

It saddens me that many individuals and businesses are going to abuse the COVID-19 financial support during this pandemic. The government is making billions of pounds available to help the people and companies who are truly in need but some may see this as a free-for-all.

It was reported that Victoria Beckham, who has an estimated fortune of £335m, has decided to furlough 25 of her staff and take advantage of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. You have to wonder whether she really needs to use government money to pay those wages?

Other so-called “British” companies that off-shored years ago – and pay no tax here in the UK – are asking for government bailouts. It beggars belief.

The emergency funding has been set aside to safeguard the future of this economy. It’s not lottery money. We, the taxpayer, will ultimately foot the bill.

BigChange is a young, growing company yet we have decided to shoulder the majority of the financial burden of coronavirus. We are using our own cash – carefully saved in the business – to survive, rather than accessing emergency loans from the bank. Many businesses are choosing to take out loans, even if they do not need to, or have no plans to pay the money back.

This is why I am calling on the Chancellor to think carefully about his next steps. Right now, it seems that Rishi Sunak is pressurising the banks to approve every single loan application that comes in.

There needs to be accountability. Business owners should only take money if they need it to keep paying suppliers and staff through the next few months – and only if they truly believe they stand a chance of surviving and paying it back.

The government has also turned into a venture capitalist, pledging £500m in a co-investment fund to support start-ups. A further £750m pot has been created to aid research and development activities. We should absolutely help our start-up community but is this the right way to do it?

Why not bring back the Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme (SFLG)? This was a hugely successful initiative that allowed small businesses to access bank debt without having to provide security because the loan was backed by government. The scheme both supported entrepreneurial businesses and still made companies accountable; the government only provided 75% of the security on the loan. The government also didn’t have to become some kind of quasi-VC.

There are other straightforward ways to support businesses through this crisis. There has already been a duty and VAT deferment, subject to a financial hardship test, which is helpful. Why hasn’t the government considered a PAYE holiday? This would help many employers get through the short-term crisis, without having to apply for loans.

The scheme could be totally transparent: a three-month holiday and then the shortfall tagged on to subsequent payments. It’s madness that business owners must saddle themselves with five-year loans when the support could be easily delivered through PAYE. A scheme like this would serve everyone, while creating minimum fuss for HMRC. As it stands, everyone will be doing their own deal with the Revenue, causing huge amounts of complexity.

It is great that the government is willing to support businesses. I applaud the Chancellor’s response to this crisis. But I think there are better ways of offering support. There are wolves out there, and we need to stop them from savaging our economic future.

Contego: What BigChange means to me

Posted on 21 April 2020 by Martin Port

Michael Taylor – CEO – Contego Environmental Services: What BigChange Means to me

Firstly, I’d like to congratulate BigChange for receiving its Queens Award for Enterprise. It’s a phenomenal achievement and well deserved. BigChange makes a massive contribution to our business.

Contego started life in 2004 as a one-man-band specialising in bird control and has grown to become one of the largest national pest control businesses in the UK. BigChange has ensured our operations could keep up with that level of growth.

We’ve used BigChange for several years now, and it has transformed our business. It gives us complete visibility of our operations and allows us to manage our national workforce centrally from our base in County Durham.

I’ve always been an early adopter of digital technology and explored three or four other options before settling on BigChange. JobWatch pulls everything together. It allows us to run our business processes on a single piece of software.

The beauty of Jobwatch is that it’s customizable. We’ve created a series of dynamic processes to cover every stage of the employee journey, from induction to job worksheets and inspection documents. BigChange provides lots of support when we need it, and ensures the software does what we need it to.

BigChange has also enabled us to offer greater visibility to our customers. Using data from our worksheets, we can automatically make our customers aware of the threats and risks at their different sites.

BigChange is also central to our safety and compliance activities. Each of our people uses BigChange to complete their daily vehicle checks, which alerts our fleet manager to any problems and allows remedial work to be booked immediately.

Our risk assessments and workflows are also available on BigChange, guiding our technicians in the field and helping them complete work safely. We can see when things are done, and we’ve got access to a full audit trail.

I couldn’t recommend BigChange more highly. The technology is excellent and easy-to-use, and it has ensured that we’ve remained in control as our business has grown. It would have been much more challenging to grow at the speed we have been without BigChange.

BigChange honoured with Queen’s Award for Enterprise

Posted on 21 April 2020 by Martin Port

BigChange, the mobile workforce management technology company, is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, one of the highest official honours for companies in the UK.

BigChange was recognised in the 2020 Innovation category for developing JobWatch, a mobile workforce management system that connects back office staff, mobile workers and customers, enabling users to automate manual processes, reduce paper usage and facilitate collaboration on the go.

When it launched in 2013, JobWatch was delivered as a cloud-based service and sold on a per-user basis. This reduced the cost and complexity of introducing the technology and made high-end mobile workforce tools accessible to organisations of all sizes for the first time. It is now used by 45,000 mobile workers and back-office personnel at 1,300 organisations globally.

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise celebrates businesses who excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development. BigChange, which employs 167 people, will receive its award at a Buckingham Palace reception later this year.

Martin Port, founder and CEO of BigChange, commented:

“We are delighted to win such a prestigious award. This recognises the efforts of our people who have worked so hard to develop and deliver JobWatch, as well as the customers that inspire and use it everyday to grow and transform their own industries. We have global ambitions for BigChange and this honour will open doors for us around the world.”

BigChange users on the benefits of JobWatch innovation

Daniel Long, Managing Director of Clearabee, commented:

“We’ve worked with BigChange since the early days of Clearabee, and it remains a critical pillar in our technology strategy. BigChange is integrated into all parts of our business and saves us a tremendous amount of time. What we like most about the JobWatch platform is its versatility. BigChange continues to add new features and new functionality. It is continuously innovating and adding to the system.”

Michael Taylor, CEO of Contego Environmental Services, comments:

“Contego started life in 2004 as a one-man-band specialising in bird control and has grown to become one of the largest national pest control businesses in the UK. BigChange has ensured our operations could keep up with that level of growth. We’ve used BigChange for several years now, and it has transformed our business. It gives us complete visibility of our operations and allows us to manage our national workforce centrally from our base in County Durham.”

Clearabee: What BigChange means to me

Posted on 21 April 2020 by Martin Port

Daniel Long – MD – Clearabee: What BigChange Means to me

Clearabee is the fastest growing waste management business in Europe and the UK’s largest clearance company. We employ 300 people across the UK and complete between 600 and 1,000 waste clearance jobs a day.

We’ve worked with BigChange since the early days of Clearabee, and it remains a critical pillar in our technology strategy. BigChange is integrated into all parts of our business and saves us a tremendous amount of time.

It provided us with a cutting edge in the early days of our business and has grown with us as we expanded.

Today, we run our business now using a combination of BigChange and our bespoke software. We make extensive use of BigChange’s API, and our developers can focus on creating other things to sit on top of the BigChange platform.

BigChange provides a solid foundation for that work. We don’t have to think about things like device management, data contracts, hosting large amounts of sensitive data, or uptime.

What we like most about the JobWatch platform is its versatility. The platform works for small and large companies alike. BigChange continues to add new features and new functionality. It is continuously innovating and adding to the system.

BigChange is a young, dynamic company, and an essential partner for Clearabee. You could say that we’ve grown up together and we are thrilled to see the success it has achieved.

On behalf of everyone here at Clearabee, congratulations to BigChange on winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise. You deserve it.

CEO’s Blog – Time to reinvent your working day

Posted on 3 April 202017 June 2022 by Martin Port

The coronavirus outbreak and subsequent UK lockdown has changed our working lives completely.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this ‘new normal’. It’s easy to focus on the negative: last week, I admit that I felt a bit lost.

I’m used to roving the shop floor, looking for areas where we can make improvements. I’m a ‘face to face’ leader, and I like chatting through ideas with my team and visiting customers. It’s taken some time to adjust to web meetings and working in the virtual world.

But now that I’m in the swing of remote working, I’m starting to see some major benefits. I’m no longer working from the office, which means I’m saving an hour a day in travel time. That’s an extra five hours a week – a major bonus.

Being based at home seems to save time in so many ways, because everything you need is all in one place and there are no distractions. Even if lockdown lifts in two weeks’ time, my family will stay in isolation for 12 weeks. My son has asthma, putting him in the ‘at risk’ category, so we are taking every precaution.

I’ve found myself with more free time than I have in years and I’m determined to make the most of this opportunity. I believe that we need to constantly look for ways to improve – not just our businesses but ourselves. If you stop trying to be better, you lose your edge.

I’ve been focusing my attention on creating special projects that will ensure BigChange is even more efficient and lean when the recovery comes around. I’ve been looking at improving service levels, enhancing the way teams work together, and finding any gaps in the organisation that need filling. I’ve never had the time to look at these areas in fine detail before and it’s been a revelation.

I’ll be honest with you. At BigChange, we are expecting to see some slowdown in sales as prospective customers hunker down and wait for this uncertainty to pass. But this doesn’t mean we are sitting on our hands here. Instead, we’re investing heavily in new data warehouse architecture, moving resource into product development, and creating some new marketing initiatives to keep up a buzz about BigChange. This is a really good time to start new projects. There’s not the same amount of pressure on day-to-day operations. There is room to breathe, review, and plan.

I’ve spent many years building businesses and I’ve learned there is more than one kind of return on investment. Changes we make now could have a significant impact on the success of BigChange in the future, whether it’s brand trust, customer loyalty or employee morale.

This is also the perfect time to invest in your customers, your community and the UK business ecosystem. I have more time to spend helping others, be that through business mentoring, support for customers who want to understand BigChange’s technology better, or advice for organisations who want an entrepreneur’s take on the challenges they face.

If this sounds like you, drop me a line. I’ll do everything I can to help. I aim to support as many people and organisations as I can during this lockdown – and hopefully beyond.

This is the time to review your working day and make permanent changes. It’s a time to ditch the unhelpful habits that are holding you and your business back. This is a challenging time but it’s not all doom and gloom. Seize the opportunity.

BigChange Simplifies COVID-19 Working at Home for CCR Property Services

Posted on 27 March 2020 by Martin Port

CCR Property Services has transformed its business overnight with a switch to paperless mobile and COVID-19 home working using a cloud-based office and mobile workforce system from BigChange.

The Essex-based company provides essential property maintenance services such as emergency drainage and plumbing repairs for sectors that include social housing, hospitals and care homes.

Established in 2011 CCR has achieved preferred supplier status amongst key blue-chip property and facilities management companies and is also an approved contractor to local authorities, housing associations and health authorities. Specialising in drainage network repairs and cleaning, CCR operate a fleet of specialist vehicles and plant on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

CCR has equipped its mobile workforce with rugged tablets running JobWatch, the 5 in 1 mobile app from BigChange. The app synchronises in real time CCR’s office system that is normally accessed at the CCR head office in Basildon, Essex. The BigChange back office software which includes CRM, job scheduling and invoicing is cloud based which means that virtually the entire business is currently being run with staff and management working from home.

Reiss Monksfield, Director, CCR Property Services comments:

“Well before the Coronavirus crisis we had realised the potential of BigChange for flexible home working,”

“After our vitally-important accounts person finished maternity leave and wanted to spend more time at home we were able to accommodate flexible-hour, part-time home working. With the all the required software and data accessible online the accounting work has continued pretty much seamlessly with one less person in the office,”

“Now with the threat from COVID-19 we have sent virtually all the office staff home and it really is business as usual. Those living in the properties we service are often vulnerable so our emergency services are essential and with BigChange we can all be in control and run services remotely. I’ve no idea how we would have managed without a single cloud and mobile solution; BigChange really is paying dividends in this crisis,”

CCR was an early adopter of BigChange having realised that a single system that could perform both office and field service functions seamlessly was the way forward. The company had previously tried to deploy other systems but they failed to provide the scope, flexibility and modern technology considered to be crucial for supporting future business competitiveness and growth.

BigChange first went live in Spring 2018 and provide an all-in-one solution having replaced a number of different systems. As well as the tablets used by operatives, the fleet is fitted with BigChange trackers providing a real time view of the operation, allowing CCR to respond as efficiently and quickly as possible to call outs around the clock.

Monksfield continued:

“In just two years we’ve almost doubled our turnover and BigChange has allowed us to grow without increasing our administrative resources. In fact we have even more time now; no more scanning of paper reports, no more calling operatives to see where they are and no more sifting through piles of paperwork. We are working so much more efficiently and the business has been streamlined,”

Monksfield added:

“We particularly like the way the system is designed. It’s generic but easy to customise. However, the biggest thing about BigChange is what you get for the money. The benefits far outweigh the cost; it is great value and with their RoadCrew support team you also get brilliant 24/7support,”

In providing round the clock service, companies like CCR would traditionally sign up the services of a 24 hours call centre to manage out of hours calls. By deploying BigChange this need was negated as CCR could simply direct calls to their team of out of hours call handlers. This not only saves cost and complication but by cutting out a link in the chain it also enables a quicker response.

Monksfield explained:

“The system is also very good for customer service and clients can be kept informed of where we are and they can get job updates in two to three minutes. We are more efficient and more productive so as a company we can also provide better value which customers like”.

Coronavirus – See how BigChange can help with your response

Posted on 25 March 2020 by Martin Port

Our BigChange Network can help businesses work together.

In these unprecedented times, here at BigChange we are looking at ways that we can support our customers and ultimately their customers, to ensure that the often critical services our customers provide can continue to be delivered.

To really drive back Covid-19, the national effort, as we’ve heard from government many times recently, will need to be determined, committed and flexible with everyone playing their part – there is no doubt at this difficult time we will be Stronger Together!

Our BigChange Network allows businesses to work together, to share and support the completion of critical works anywhere at any time all seamlessly and visible to those managing it in real time. The options to provide specific Risk Assessments and Job Instructions to remote workers completing the works, supports the safety and welfare of those and there is no need for any physical contact, supporting social distancing, with the end customer as all notifications, alerts, job cards and reports for works completed can be issued electronically.

There is no charge to our customers to use this service.

If you would like to use this service to support your business and simply enable working with others so you can continue to deliver key services, please click here. (Note: You will need to login first).

Please see details of our customers below that are able to still provide critical services.

CEO’s Blog – Is your workforce going ‘contactless’? BigChange is here to help

Posted on 24 March 202017 June 2022 by Martin Port

Businesses across the globe are battling against the uncertainty created by COVID-19.

Whether your sales have slowed, supply chains disrupted, or you are overloaded with orders, we are all in uncharted territory.

The reality for most of us is that we have to find ways to keep trading while minimising contact with other people. We also have to monitor the health – both physical and mental – of our employees, customers and partners at this difficult time.

The good news is that BigChange’s platform can help your business to get through this outbreak – and even thrive. Our software was built to offer true resilience and future-proofing to businesses of all sizes.

How BigChange can help you today

BigChange’s software allows all your team members to work remotely, meeting the new self-isolation guidelines, and ensuring that tasks are easily and clearly allocated.

When work is completed, jobs are updated with all the required paperwork, images, and sign off from senior personnel. Our remote activity audits also offer peace of mind.

BigChange allows its customers to ensure employees are working safely through home office risk assessments, which determine whether desk setups are likely to cause RSI or back problems. It can even ensure that WiFi is securely set up to minimise the threat of cyber crime.

It will also communicate up-to-date official COVID-19 guidance as the situation evolves.

For some companies, face-to-face interaction is still vital. BigChange offers a triage risk assessment facility to determine which tasks must still be carried out in-person, and how to allocate resources safely.

Each job that is loaded onto the BigChange platform will have a dedicated risk assessment, ensuring the welfare of your teams and customers is paramount.

These assessments will:

Determine the health status of employees
Check that people that your staff are meeting have no COVID-19 symptoms and have not been exposed to the virus
Ensure a safe working environment
Remind employees of safe travel guidance during this time
Remind employees of the need to maintain a distance of at least two metres from others
Ensure that employees take hand-washing breaks and have access to those facilities without putting themselves at additional risk

I founded BigChange so that I could help business owners like you become more efficient and competitive, while empowering remote working and paperless processes. This is exactly what all companies need right now.

Get in touch if you have any questions about how BigChange can help your business. Stay safe out there.