TWO tech hubs are to be created in Yorkshire designed to help support businesses and skills in the area. The Treasury said two hubs would be created in Leeds and Sheffield with the project set to roll out from April.
The hubs are two of 11 to be created nationally and will benefit from a share of the £21m earmarked from the expansion of the Tech City project. The announcement came as Philip Hammond announced £500m of investment would be used to increase the development of Artificial Intelligence, as well as 5G and full fibre broadband. The new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation would be created to work with government, regulators and industry to “lay the foundations for AI adoption”. “The world is on the brink of a technological revolution,” Mr Hammond said “A new tech business is founded in Britain every hour. And I want that to be every half-hour. So today we invest over £500m in a range of initiatives from AI to 5G and full fibre broadband.”
Martin Port, founder and chief executive Leeds-based technology start-up BigChange, said:
“We welcome this announcement and support for tech businesses from the Chancellor. “Financial backing and stability is a huge hurdle facing all start-ups, so I am pleased to see the government pledge more than £20bn of new investment.”
“I just hope this funding is easy to access and readily available for those who need it, rather than being hidden among reams of red tape.”
AI has become increasingly prominent in mainstream technology, with many of the popular gadgets such as the Amazon Echo powered by the technology. However Richard Parris, chief executive of digital firm Intercede, warned that a lack of investment in cybersecurity was a crucial issue that still needed addressing.
Elliott, the UK market leader in the portable accommodation hire sector has implemented BigChange’s all-in-one Mobile Workforce Management platform across its Loohire portable toilet division, as part of a full rollout across the business including tankers, service and the delivery and collection fleet.
BigChange technology will save Elliott millions of pieces of paper annually and has significantly improved back-office administration. Technicians receive their work orders instantly on the BigChange app with paper job-cards and proof of delivery worksheets replaced by job-specific electronic workflows that guide technicians at every step including risk assessments. Technicians no longer need to return paperwork to the back-office, saving a huge volume of previously manual back-office processing.
Adam Dimmock, Director of Loohire at Elliott commented:
“Implementation of BigChange Technology is part of our 2020 strategy; to continue to grow our market leading position in terms of scale and transform ourselves to become the market leaders in safety, service and relationship management. The BigChange system is ensuring we can exceed our customers’ expectations with innovative features such as a pre-arrival alert that customers receive ahead of arrival, allowing them to clear the way for our tankers on busy construction sites. The technology is driving us towards a 15% reduction in transport costs and we’re realising significant fuel savings thanks to dynamic routing and improved driver behaviour.”
The hire-specific turnkey solution from BigChange has introduced a paperless revolution, equipping mobile technicians with Samsung and Motorola Android tablets that manage receipt of job instruction, electronic proof of collection and delivery, site servicing, timesheets, electronic start-of-day vehicle walkaround checks and Health and Safety procedures. The system is also a rich vehicle tracking system providing real-time location updates, driver behaviour scoring and tachograph interface.
The system is fully-integrated with the Elliott Rental Management system meaning that planned tanker services, toilet maintenance, deliveries and collections are automatically pushed through to BigChange. On logging on to the app at the start of each day, drivers and technicians are guided to start their timesheet, conduct a walkaround check that meets DVSA requirements (recording, photographing and alerting any vehicle defects) and have instant access to their jobs for the day.
In the back-office, the system is enabling planners to respond faster to customer needs, intelligently allocating work orders based on real-time technician availability, skills and live location. This is significantly increasing productivity and enabling Elliott to maintain its position as the UK’s largest provider of portable toilets and efficiently provide same-day service from its hire branches nationwide to clients across the Construction and Events industry. Its portable loos are used by top-tier construction companies such as Carillion, Keepmoat, Costain and Wilmott Dixon and for flagship events including Glastonbury, Cancer Research UK events and the Olympics.
The workflow also effectively manages damages and chargeable items; photos captured at the point of delivery or collection are automatically relayed to the back office, allowing them to instantly raise an invoice for chargeable work. Photos are time, date and location watermarked, providing robust proof of condition.
The BigChange system is providing a detailed work and maintenance history for all rental assets, giving management visibility of productivity and utilisation across their operation as well as a real-world view of how long jobs are taking. The company are using the insight and data to create dashboards that will be shared with customers, giving them a transparent view of the service levels they are receiving.
Martin Port, founder and CEO at BigChange said: “We are proud to be playing a key part in the Elliott technology strategy. Our scalability, flexibility and ability to successfully integrate with Rental systems mean BigChange is the future of managing the mobile workforce in the Hire industry.”
Business Update BigChange is delighted to report record sales contracts of £2.5m for Q3 of this year. May I say a big thank you to our Customers without whom this simply would not have been possible.
Indeed, the 50+ new companies that we welcomed this quarter has pushed our client base to almost 600. Because of our significant growth we have recruited 10 new team members in RoadCrew Customer Service, Implementation, Professional Services and Software Development. We now have a team of over 60 specialists.
Awards
Deloitte 2017 UK Technology Fast 50 Winner in the North East Region. We were also 25th fastest growing tech company in the UK with 1,095% growth over the last 4 years.
Four months of intense competition came to a head at the Tech North Northern Stars event. BigChange won along with 9 other companies to represent the North in the European Final in Berlin at the beginning of December.
Our success has been recognised by the prestigious Yorkshire Post; we won the Excellence in Business Award 2017 for the Best Company (Up to £10M category). We were proud to receive this recognition and honour.
Motivational Monday
Our teams have been inspired by a series of “Motivational Mondays” that we have held at the beginning of each month as part of our Sales Meetings and Team Building events. We have hosted Falklands Veteran Simon Weston, British Olympian Eddie the Eagle and British Racing Driver Nic Hamilton (Brother of world F1 champion Lewis Hamilton). Each one has inspired us with their own unique story and journey through life. The common theme that unites them is tenacity and perseverance in the face of adversity. It was a real honour to meet them and hear their stories.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
At the heart of BigChange is a real commitment to corporate social responsibility. We are getting involved with as many Transaid events as possible and we were honoured to meet HRH Princess Anne at one of these events. At this year’s Motor Transport Awards, we bid for Des Evans MBE (former CEO of Man Trucks) & Richard Burnett CEO of the Road Haulage Association to join us as interns for a day. Their advice was priceless, and there is a great write-up about the day in the Motor Transport Magazine. We also recently held a Brexit roundtable, hosted by Clipper Logistics to raise further funds for the Transaid charity this will featured in Motor Transport 13th November edition.
We have also teamed up with BRAKE, the charity encouraging safe driving. Nic Hamilton helped us launch this year’s ‘Speed Down Save Lives’ campaign for Road Safety Week that launches on the 22nd of this month. We are a corporate partner of BRAKE and are proud that BigChange technology helps to reduce accidents.
New Features
The BigChange 4-in-1 System continues to excite SMEs and Corporate Customers from all different industry sectors who are attracted to our seamless and fully integrated system. Our end-to-end solution provides CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Job Scheduling, a rich Mobile App and Vehicle Tracking all-in-one. BigChange helps companies go paperless and digitally transforms businesses.
In terms of product development, apart from our weekly software updates (you can find more information on our HELP CENTRE), we have now launched BigChange “Uber for Service and Transport”. This is a customer branded Booking App (iOS/Android) where BigChange clients can rapidly deploy their own on-demand app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
The much anticipated iOS version of the BigChange DriverWatch App has also been launched. This is available free with Journey Watch providing 5 key features: Timesheets, Vehicle Checks, 2-Way Messaging, Driver Behaviour and Expense management.
Based out of Sheffield for over 30 years, the company designs, manufactures, installs and services door systems for clients including BP, Shell, The Co-Op, Waterstones and House of Fraser.
The company switched from a manual T-card system to BigChange’s All-in-one, Paperless Cloud based system that combines back-office CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Job Planning and Scheduling and a Mobile App for engineers and real-time tracking of vehicles. Managing Director Paul Quealey scoured the market for a technology solution that would take the business paperless and provide real-time visibility across the operation.
MD Paul Quealey said:
“As our business grew, planning and scheduling work became increasingly challenging and at times it was difficult to keep track of when things were due. We looked at various systems but couldn’t find anything that was the right fit. Then we discovered BigChange; it was as if I had written the software myself. It ticked all the boxes, and the integrated vehicle tracking was unlike anything we’d seen before”.
Complete Shutter Services are using an Industrial Doors specific version of the BigChange system that allows back-office users to plan, manage, schedule and track work effectively including planned maintenance and urgent reactive work. In the back-office, the system is enabling planners to respond faster to customers and is intelligently allocating work orders based on real-time engineer availability, skills, live location and parts stock. This is significantly increasing productivity; minimising customer wait time and driving first time fix at competitive cost for clients. The integrated CRM is also providing customers with a joined-up experience, thanks to automated job booking confirmations, service reminders, ETA updates on the day of service and instant access to job-cards and reports instantly after work has been completed.
Mr Quealey continued:
“Customers now expect real-time information as standard. Our back-office team were inundated with calls from clients wanting to check the status of an order or service. This led to multiple phone calls to engineers out in the field. BigChange has empowered the team with real-time information. Our use of the system has been key to winning a number of new contracts. Without the system, we’d need more administrators in the back-office, so from a commercial perspective, the technology is adding real-value for us. For me as a Managing Director, I have the confidence that we have a robust system in place to ensure we maintain our reputation for customer excellence.”
Complete’s mobile engineers benefit from an easy to use Android mobile app. They start their day by completing an electronic timesheet and vehicle check, before instantly accessing job information. Integrated sat-nav with live traffic ensures the best route is taken and customers receive proactive updates by text and email. On arrival, the app allows engineers to create instant estimates and guides them step by step through health & safety and job-specific workflows including photo capture. Proof-of-service is instantly relayed to the back office and the system generates fully branded job-cards that are automatically shared via a customer’s booking portal or via email.
Martin Port, Founder and CEO of BigChange said:
“Our technology is helping Complete Shutter Services maintain its excellent reputation and excellent levels of customer service in the marketplace. They are reaping the benefits that our scalable, cloud based system provides. We look forward to working with Paul and the team for the next 30 years and beyond.”
You may remember me from the past I founded a company called Masternaut in 2002 and built the business up from scratch and sold it in April 2011. Masternaut Farewell
Four years ago, I founded BigChange with a vision to harness the benefits of a powerful, feature rich 3-in-1 Mobile Workforce Management platform that would be within the reach of businesses of any size. We have combined back office CRM, Document Management, Job Planning & Scheduling, a Rich Driver / Engineer Android Mobile App available on a Samsung Tablet and Black Box Vehicle Tracking to help organisations go Paperless, making them more Efficient and Safer. JobWatch Video
We have fast approaching 600 companies in the UK using our JobWatch system. As well as the UK, we have customers in Ireland, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, Australia and the USA.
By having one system the benefits are far more achievable as your current tracking system sits standalone outside of the operations of the business. If you run a fleet of transport vehicles, service engineers or manage a sales team BigChange JobWatch is ideal to take care of all your practices and process.
Benefits include extra work completed, reduction in failed jobs, reduced office administration time, raise invoices immediately post job completion, reduction in fuel spend and improved driver behaviour due to reducing distances travelled. All this helps you generate more business!
Companies such as Abird Limited, Acumen Waste Services, Alfred Bagnall and Sons, Arrow Industrial Group, Bobst, Buy It Direct, Capital Cooling Commercial Refrigeration, Cathedral Hygiene, Complete Business Solutions Group, CS Ellis, Elddis Transport, Elliott Group, Eurofins, Farid Hillend Engineering, FSH (Group) Limited, Gap Group, Garic, HSS Hire Service, Jarvie Plant, John Deere Forestry, Nixon Hire, Johnsons Stalbridge Linen Services, JW Crowther, Kingspan, Komatsu Forest, London Borough of Bromley, North Yorkshire Timber, P & O Ferrymasters, Paul Clark Services, Pollock (Scotrans), Lakehouse Group, Rainham Steel, Ringway Jacobs, Serco, Sheffield City Council, Silentnight & Sealy, Sutton and East Surrey Water Services, The Bread Factory, Thetford International Compactor Services, UK Platforms, Utilitec Services, Vantec Europe and Wood Group Industrial Services.
New technology is helping Cheshire based Boilercare 24/7 to smash it’s million pound revenue target by the end of 2017.
The company has rolled out BigChange’s Mobile Workforce and Job Management Platform across its plumbing operation and combines cloud based back-office CRM, job scheduling, a paperless mobile app for engineers and real-time tracking of vehicles.
Boilercare’s founder Alastair Barton was formerly a property developer and used to think that plumbers were his nemesis stating:
“Wherever I went, plumbers were my problem – they didn’t turn up, when it was cold they wouldn’t answer my phone, they disappeared for days on end and would just re-appear as if you hadn’t called them twenty times.” This led to a lightbulb moment in 2010 when Alastair saw an opportunity to deliver a superior service across Sandbach, Cheshire and South Manchester. Starting with a team of three in 2010, the plumbing business now has fourteen employees and aims to double in size over the next two years.
To realise its ambitious expansion plans, Boilercare deployed BigChange’s JobWatch system that allows back-office users to plan, manage, schedule and track work effectively including planned maintenance and urgent reactive work. In the back-office, the system is enabling planners to respond faster to customers and is intelligently allocating work orders based on real-time engineer availability, skills, live location and parts stock. This is significantly increasing productivity; minimising customer wait time and driving first time fix at competitive cost. The integrated CRM is also providing customers with a joined-up experience, thanks to automated job booking confirmations, service reminders, ETA updates on the day of service and electronic quotation and invoicing.
According to Boilercare’s founder Alastair, the new paperless technology is revolutionising the plumbing sector:
“Businesses like ours were previously overrun with paperwork; job-sheets, timesheets, sales invoices, purchase invoices and the rest. We literally had filing cabinets full of documents. Now everything is safely, securely and paperlessly backed up in the cloud and we can look back at anything on demand. The beauty of the BigChange system is that everything is in one place. Before you had to have a separate diary and jobs system, a tracking system, a CRM system and something for invoicing and quotes. You’d be crazy to work between all those separate pieces of kit. With BigChange everything is all in one place and its integrated, so we really have found Utopia.”
Boilercare’s team of Plumbers benefit from an easy to use Android mobile app. They start their day by completing an electronic timesheet and vehicle check, before instantly accessing job information. Integrated sat-nav with live traffic ensures the best route is taken and customers receive proactive updates by text and email. On arrival, the app allows team members to create instant quotes and guides them step by step through job-specific workflows. Users can search for parts and add them instantly to the job. Proof-of-service is instantly relayed to the back office and the system generates invoices, custom reports, Gas Safety certificates, legal documents and fully branded job-cards that are automatically shared via a customer’s booking portal or via email.
Alastair continued:
“The system has freed up my time to focus on growing the business, with the comfort factor that my team have a robust management system in place ensuring we are consistently delivering the kind of service that builds loyalty and customer recommendations. Ultimately I can enjoy a holiday with my family without worrying that the wheels are going to fall off the bus. It’s also enabling us to take on bigger projects – such as big multi-unit installations for some of the national housebuilders. That has put us in a different league,”
Martin Port, founder and CEO of BigChange said:
“It’s great to work with Alastair and the Boilercare team, we love working with such progressive businesses that are customer focused and really harness the benefits of our technology. Like for so many of our customers, the BigChange system is the catalyst for growth as it helps companies maintain quality and improve productivity.”
The Entrepreneur: Joseph Valente, ImpraGas A year on from winning The Apprentice, 27 year-old Valente has proved his business credentials with company turnover set to hit £3.8m. Read his story…
Description in one line: The UK’s specialists in the installation of gas boilers.
Turnover: £2,100,000
12 month target: £3,800,000
Business growth
Describe your business model and what makes your business unique:
ImpraGas is a nationwide network of gas boiler & central heating installation specialists.
We offer an exclusive 10-year warranty and 10-year service plan with installation.
Our interest-free finance plans allow customers to have the installation with zero deposit.
What is your greatest business achievement to date?
Winning The Apprentice and a £250,000 investment from billionaire business partner Lord Sugar by the age of 25. Coupled with achieving a multimillion pound turnover in just 5 years, expanding from one location in 2012 to now covering 11 counties across the South East.
What numbers do you look at every day in your business?
Each day I review the following, without fail:
Cash in the bank
Payments due out
Payments due in
Overall debtors
Current revenue sales for month
Operating margin
Overhead spend so far
To what extent does your business trade internationally and what are your plans?
For ImpraGas we are, and will always be, a UK national business only.
Describe your growth funding path:
Start-up capital for ImpraGas came in the form of a £15,000 personal loan and then we managed to grow organically for the next three years, reinvesting profits until our next round of funding came in the form of £250,000 from Lord Sugar.
What technology has made the biggest difference to your business?
We purchased a CRM system that has revolutionised the way our operations work. It’s called JobWatch by BigChange apps and runs our whole operation logistically, financially and the most beneficial part is it cuts all paper processes from the organisation.
The Samsung tablets that our engineers and surveyors use also means we can have instant quotations and safety forms as soon as the job is complete from anywhere in the country. This means we can replicate the model anywhere in the country which aids in our expansion plans to have ImpraGas installers nationwide within the next five years.
Where would you like your business to be in three years?
In three years, we forecast a turnover in excess of £10m and believe we’ll be well on our way to covering the whole of England.
With the model as it stands, we can ensure that we’re offering the highest level of customer service to clients, nationally.
Growth challenges
What is the hardest thing you have ever done in business?
Without doubt it was getting started in the first place. Taking that initial leap of faith and personally investing everything is a huge test of confidence.
After that, the challenge is expanding and maintaining the same level of customer service, care of our employees and constant sales – these are every day challenges but ones we relish and tackle head on.
What was your biggest business mistake?
Not starting earlier. I always knew I could do it but, without start-up capital, taking out a personal loan was a huge risk. Thankfully it’s one that has paid off.
Piece of Red Tape that hampers growth most:
Paying tax – I’d rather be able to invest a portion of this money into providing more jobs and apprenticeships.
What is the most common serious mistake you see entrepreneurs make?
Not establishing robust systems and processes that are capable of withstanding expansion.
Some entrepreneurs are great at creating things but they don’t focus enough attention on scaling up and securing substainable growth.
How will your market look in three years?
Although they’ve been around for the past 10 years, renewable technologies such as solar panels, biomass and heat pumps have only recently started to be included in domestic housing.
I would expect renewables, as well as SmartHome technology, to be far more mainstream in domestic housing in three years time.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to a less experienced entrepreneur?
“Don’t wait for opportunity, create it.” Nothing is ever going to fall in your lap. You have to be out there looking for it or creating it yourself.
Personal growth
Biggest luxury?
A weekend away once a month; every month.
Executive education or learn it on the job?
On the job!
What would make you a better leader?
A little more patience.
What one thing do you wish you’d known when you started?
That it’s okay to make mistakes in business as long as you learn from them.
One business app and one personal app you can’t do without:
For business it’s LinkedIn and for personal it’s Tinder.
The Yorkshire based company whose brands include Laptops Direct and Appliances Direct delivers thousands of electrical appliances directly to consumers daily and manages end-to-end product fulfilment for national retailers including Debenhams.
BigChange’s three-in-one solution is delivering a paperless revolution for Buy it Direct and combines cloud-based delivery planning and scheduling, an Android mobile app for drivers and real-time tracking of the vehicle fleet. With fast efficient next day delivery being a key part of Buy It Direct’s offering, the company were looking for an integrated system that would deliver a truly seamless customer experience and chose BigChange after evaluating a number of competitive systems in the market.
Prior to adopting the JobWatch solution, Buy It Direct were reliant on a paper based system including paper based manifests and delivery notes that drivers were required to collect in the morning and return for processing and filing at the end of each day. Without real-time visibility of the operation, the contact centre were making multiple phone calls to drivers to check the status of deliveries.
The new solution is fully integrated with Buy it Direct’s routing software and the entire delivery process is automated on rugged Samsung tablets. At the start of each day, drivers start their timesheet and complete an electronic vehicle walkaround check, logging any defects that are automatically alerted to fleet managers. Drivers have instant access to their delivery manifest and the app navigates them efficiently from job to job, with the benefit of live Google traffic information.
Customers automatically receive a courtesy message by text message, giving them an accurate ETA for delivery. On arrival, items are scanned and verified using the JobWatch app and photos taken before, during and after each drop, providing robust proof of delivery and product condition. Custom worksheets guide the delivery team step by step through installation procedures. Additional photos are captured for installation of white goods (e.g. test washes and connection to water and waste pipes). Proof of delivery with signature is captured at the end of the process. This information is instantly relayed to the back office and customers immediately receive delivery confirmations by email.
Mick Eaton, Operations Manager for Buy It Direct said:
“The BigChange system means the delivery team and our customer contact centre are always in perfect sync. Our advisors are empowered to instantly answer any questions and have a real-time view of the operation. The robust proof of service is invaluable in dealing with customer queries and protects our drivers and the business from false damage claims or fraudulent activity.”
Buy It Direct have been able to optimise and streamline their delivery operation. The BigChange system has provided business intelligence into how long it takes to deliver specific types of products. Previously too much time was allocated to each drop, creating wasteful slack in the schedule. This new insight means that productivity has been increased with more drops taking place per vehicle per day. Capacity across the operation has been increased without the cost of additional drivers or vehicles.
The new technology has also assisted with management of the vehicle fleet, with the daily driver checks allowing robust management of defects. The live tracking system monitors and reports on driver behaviour, providing a motivational de-brief at the end of each day.
Mick Eaton added:
“Since we implemented the BigChange system, we’ve seen an improvement in fuel consumption, less vehicle wear and tear and the level of goods damaged in-transit has reduced significantly. Overall the BigChange system has been a revolution for our delivery operation and I would not hesitate to recommend it to other home delivery operators”
Martin Port, founder and CEO of BigChange said:
“We are proud to be adding such value for Buy It Direct and playing a key role in the rapid growth of their world class ecommerce operation. We look forward to being a key technology partner to the business as they continue to scale.”
BigChange powers ahead in the first half of 2017 and remains on track to achieve 100% sales growth with an annual turnover of over £7m. New orders in the period exceeded over £5m pushing our subscribers to over 15,000 across our customer base which is fast approaching 600 organisations.
New customers such as FSH Group, Sheffield City Council, London Borough of Bromley, Garic, High Access Maintenance, P&O Ferrymasters, Arrow Industrial Group, UpNorth Group, Blade Access & Platforms (UK & US), The NWH Group, Joda Freight, Jarvie Plant and many more, all joined the BigChange “Paperless Revolution”.
Our new customers operate in the following sectors: Catering, Hospitality & Event Hire, Construction, Public Sector, Plant Hire, Civil Engineering, Maintenance and Cleaning Services, Transport, Bus & Coach Travel, Electrical, Plumbing & Heating, Fire & Security, Facilities Management, HVAC, IT Networks, Printing, Glazing, Waste Management & Water Hygiene.
Awards & Progress
I’d like to reflect on some of our proud achievements in the first half of 2017:
KPMG Best British Mobile Start Up 2017– Runner Up
Northern Tech 100 League Table 2017 – 12th Fastest growing Tech Business
Real Business Future 50 – Ranked BigChange one of the most disruptive UK organisations in 2017
Institute of Directors Awards – Finalist in the SME Company category
BRAKE – The Road Safety Charity – 2017 Finalist in the Fleet Safety Product Award category
Upgrading your Vehicle Tracking System
Four years ago, I founded www.bigchange.com with a vision to harness the benefits of a powerful, feature rich 3-in-1 Mobile Workforce Management platform that would be within reach of businesses of any size. We have combined back office CRM, Job Planning & Scheduling, a Rich Driver / Engineer Mobile App and Black Box Vehicle Tracking to help organisations go Paperless, making them more Efficient and Safer. As well as the UK, we have customers in Ireland, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, Australia and the USA.
I owe a huge thanks to our customers who have worked with us along the journey. They are the catalyst of our rapid growth and have helped us shape our system. JobWatch has transformed productivity and profitability for our customers and it is revolutionising the service experience for their own customers.
New Product Developments
During the period, we developed more applications and new features including an even richer CRM system with the ability to design templates for email campaigns, surveys, custom reports and financial documents. We have also added the Sales Opportunity Pipeline which has now been included along with CRM activity in our BigChange Analytics module.
Workflow and process automation, collaboration between your company and your sub-contractor community (Job Sharing) and an on-demand Job Booking App that our clients can deploy for their own customers. This will give every customer (no matter their size) the ability to have their own App in the iTunes or Google Play store for their customers to book, track and manage their work in real-time with secure payment options. These developments are part of our vision to allow organisations to become even slicker and more efficient whilst improving the quality of service.
Corporate and Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility, often abbreviated to “CSR,” is a business’ initiatives to assess and take responsibility for the company’s effects on environmental and social wellbeing. We support local charities and good causes that our customers support. We are keen to promote business within schools so we support Founders 4 Schools to inspire students and welcome young individuals to complete their work experience at our offices. We also support many good causes such as Danby Rovers (we are Shirt Sponsors) who play in the West Riding Ability Counts league set up for people with learning difficulties. We sponsor the Social Enterprise Street Lane Bakery, funding a delivery vehicle which is kitted out with BigChange technology helping them track deliveries to members of the local community. We support Transaid a charity that transforms’ lives through safe, available, and sustainable transport in Africa.
We are corporate sponsors of BRAKE, the Road Safety Charity as part of our ongoing commitment to the road safety cause. Additionally, we are a proud supporter of the British Israel Chamber of Commerce promoting business in the wider community as well as Connect Yorkshire, helping local businesses to grow by learning from Yorkshire’s most successful entrepreneurs. We also generate money for charities via referrals from our customers. For each successful recommendation, we donate £10 per unit to the charity of their choice on the customer’s first order.
I look forward to working even closer with you in the future.
Cheshire based Woodhouse Plumbing, Heating & Electrical has rolled out BigChange’s Mobile Workforce and Job Management platform across its commercial and residential divisions.
The all-in-one cloud based system combines back-office CRM, job planning and scheduling and a paperless mobile app for engineers and real-time tracking of vehicles.
Rory Woodhouse founded the business in 2007, aged just 22 and working from a bedroom with just one apprentice and a van. Despite starting his business at the beginning of the deep ‘credit crunch’ recession, the operation has grown organically ever since and now services thousands of home and commercial customers with a 16-strong team. The business recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Woodhouse is using a plumbing and electrical specific version of the BigChange system
that allows back-office users to plan, manage, schedule and track work effectively including planned maintenance and urgent reactive work. In the back-office, the system is enabling planners to respond faster to customers and is intelligently allocating work orders based on real-time engineer availability, skills, live location and parts stock. This is significantly increasing productivity; minimising customer wait time and driving first time fix at competitive cost. The integrated CRM is also providing customers with a joined-up experience, thanks to automated job booking confirmations, service reminders, ETA updates on the day of service and electronic quotation and invoicing.
Founder and Managing Director Rory Woodhouse said:
“My vision was to bring everything together in one single joined-up system, all integrated with our Xero accounting and this is exactly what we’ve achieved with BigChange. Technology like this gives independent operators like ourselves access to the same efficiencies and competitive advantage of the ‘big players’. By managing everything consistently, it means we can grow whilst maintaining our high service commitment.”
Woodhouse’s team of Plumbers and Electricians benefit from an easy to use Android mobile app. They start their day by completing an electronic timesheet and vehicle check, before instantly accessing job information. Integrated sat-nav with live traffic ensures the best route is taken and customers receive proactive updates by text and email. On arrival, the app allows team members to create instant quotes and guides them step by step through job-specific workflows. Users can search for parts and add them instantly to the job. Proof-of-service is instantly relayed to the back office and the system generates invoices, custom reports, certificates, legal documents and fully branded job-cards that are automatically shared via a customer’s booking portal or via email.
BigChange founder and CEO Martin Port commented:
“Woodhouse is an entrepreneurial led business that has achieved great success in a short period of time. Rory identified he needed to match the company’s systems with its growth and has made a big change by harnessing our 3 in 1 JobWatch system. Rory praised our sales, implementation and RoadCrew customer service teams for delivering on their promise of a smooth installation allowing Woodhouse to quickly reap the benefits of change.”
