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Silentnight Go Greener with a 10% MPG Improvement thanks to BigChange

Silent Night Fleet

Silentnight Group, the iconic British bed manufacturer has reported improved fleet safety and a 10% improvement in vehicle Miles Per Gallon following the implementation of BigChange’s JobWatch system that helps Silentnight Plan, Manage, Schedule and Track their transport operations. The company has rolled out the system to its entire fleet of tractors and trailers and is using the technology to coordinate delivery of their products throughout the UK.

Group Logistics Director Neil Birch chose BigChange after carefully evaluating the market: “Having used vehicle telematics for a number of years, we were looking for something more sophisticated and integrated than just a tracking system. We immediately liked the rich functionality of JobWatch, especially the Driver Safety and Productivity mobile app that we are currently rolling out. The BigChange team gave us real confidence and we now see them as being a key part of our business processes moving forward.”

The JobWatch system was implemented as part of Silentnight’s new technology programme that seeks to empower drivers, improve safety and fuel efficiency and ensure the brand delivers a consistently fantastic experience for retail and home delivery customers.

Silentnight’s integrated JobWatch system combines CANbus connected vehicle telematics, a mobile app for drivers and a cloud based back office used by the transport planning team. At the start of each day, drivers now carry out paperless walk-around checks, logging and photographing defects that are securely logged and alerted.

The app also provides a daily driver scorecard, underpinned by data on MPG, speeding, harsh acceleration and braking, idling and cornering. Rewarding safety and fuel efficiency efforts at Silentnight is not just ‘flavour of the month’; driver behaviour is now built into the company’s KPI reporting. Meanwhile, integrated truck-nav with live traffic is ensuring that drivers can be quickly re-routed using roads appropriate for the size and height of their vehicle.

Real-time visibility is critical for Silentnight, with their logistics operation making daily deliveries into the Regional Distribution Centres of the UK’s largest retailers, explains Neil Birch:

“Everything must be perfect and nothing can be left to chance. Retailers have very strict booking slots so it’s critical that we have an up to minute view of progress against the plan 24 hours a day. With JobWatch, our team can anticipate any potential problems before they happen and take proactive steps to ensure that we stay on track.”

“The JobWatch app is also enabling our drivers and back-office team to communicate and solve problems in real-time. For example if there’s a problem with accessing a customer’s property or in the unlikely event of a product fault, the driver can take photos and liaise with customer service in real-time to resolve and ensure a positive customer outcome.”

BigChange founder and telematics pioneer Martin Port has had a working relationship with the Silentnight Group for over 10 years;
“Silentnight has always been a fantastic company to work with and I look forward to working with Neil and the team as they continue to roll out their technology strategy,” said Martin Port.

CEO’s Blog – View our NEW 2016 brochure

2016 JobWatch Brochure

Discover the paperless way to plan, manage, schedule and track your mobile workforce.

View our new 2016 brochure and see how JobWatch makes it easy to manage your entire operation from quote all the way through to invoice.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW BROCHURE

NEW Features Include

  • Call Handling & CRM, Planning, Schedule & Dispatch, Jobs & Workflow, Timesheets & Expenses, Stock & Equipment, Reporting & Performance
  • Invoicing & Finance
  • Health & Safety
  • Fleet & Resource Management, Real-Time Tracking, Alerting, Messaging & Satellite Navigation

Call: +441134571000

Email: [email protected]

W. www.bigchangeapps.com

Martin Port Signature
Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Our small change we hope will help towards making a big change for Transaid

Transaid transport for life

Transaid is an international development charity that identifies, champions, implements and shares local transport solutions which improve access to basic services and economic opportunity for poor people in developing countries.

  • Identify local transport solutions by conducting research, implementing pilot projects, and always ensuring robust monitoring and evaluation
  • Champion local transport solutions though advocacy programmes with donors, government and implementing agencies
  • Implement local transport solutions by building local skills and knowledge, and where necessary provide technical assistance where needed
  • Share local transport solutions by making resources available online in the form of case studies, tools and methodologies.

Transaid’s history goes back over 25 years when a group of dedicated individuals from The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Save the Children and our patron, HRH The Princess Royal, inspired and built the practical, professional development charity that Transaid is today.

Through combining expertise of the UK Transport & Logistics Industry with our longstanding experience of working in the developing world, we partner with organisations in the public and private sector including local community organisations, governments, institutions and donors to build capability and achieve our aims.

This collaborative approach enables Transaid to provide innovative solutions to some of the key challenges facing transport and development today.

Support Transaid today https://www.justgiving.com/transaid/donate/


Martin Port
Founder & CEO

CEO’s Blog – Great News BigChange Apps has been shortlisted for The Tech City Insider Awards 2015

BigChange App shortlisted

The shortlist for the inaugural TechCities Awards, celebrating the best in UK new technology business, has been published.

We’ll be giving out 19 awards on November 26, alongside four extra awards for people in our TechNation200 list for 2015. Julian Blake reports.

After spending the month of October accepting nominations from across the UK, TechCityinsider has drawn up the shortlist of three tech businesses for each of 19 TechCities Awards.

There are 14 awards for UK regional technology clusters, along with four separate awards for London, as the UK’s predominant tech business hub – and the location from where we received most entries by far.

The TechCities Awards for London are for newcomer, innovator, scale-up and tech business of the year. TechCityinsider received almost 200 applications from around the UK for the awards.

The awards are designed to celebrate the UK’s best next-generation digital business. It follows TechCityinsider’s year-long tour of the key technology clusters around the country, where we met and interviewed tech business leaders.

Winners will be announced at the TechCities Awards ceremony on November 26, at Trampery Old Street in the heart of the east London technology community. All shortlisted companies have been invited to attend.

Judges for the awards are TCi’s expert partners, from City University London, Grant Thornton, Knowledge Transfer Network, NatWest, Vitamin T, Tech London Advocates and Williams Powell.

In making their decisions, judges will be looking for companies that are the most innovative and likely to succeed. Entrants needed to be less than five years old and have a viable tech product or service at the centre of their business proposition.

Three businesses, drawn from entrants around the country, have been shortlisted to receive an additional award, the TechCities editor’s award, given to the business that has made an outstanding contribution to the UK technology scene.

In addition to the TechCities Awards, TCi will be giving out four awards to people who feature on our 2015 TechNation200 list.

These awards are for entrepreneur of the year, ambassador of the year, tech for good and tech funder award.

Alongside the national recognition that the awards generate, every winner receives a specially designed trophy created by the London maker community.

TechCitinsider publishes its 2015 TechNation200 Almanac on November 26, at a evening launch party at east London’s Shoreditch House, directly after the Trampery awards event.

Martin Port Signature
Martin Port
Founder & CEO

CEO’s Blog – BigChange Apps achieves 275% growth in Q3 2015

Record Sales Growth

Our proven business model is attracting companies in all sectors to work with BigChange.

  • Product – JobWatch the 3 in 1 system is being used by companies for all their back office and mobile requirements, including features such as Fleet Management including Tracking, CRM, Job Management for the mobile worker and Accounting
  • Market Fit – compelling SaaS proposition appeals simultaneously to large blue-chip corporations and small emerging businesses with a single mobile worker
  • Pricing – Simple, affordable and transparent pay as you go pricing ensures scalability
  • Customer Service – 24/7 RoadCrew customer support for all users of the system including engineers and drivers
  • Customer Retention – Continually generating repeat sales, renewals and upsells
  • Return on Investment – BigChange customers are reaping tangible benefits including performance improvements, safety, financial savings and winning new customers

Martin Port Signature
Martin Port
Founder & CEO

CEO’s Blog – Two in five organisations don’t have a policy on speed

Policy on speed

Businesses are being urged to take more action on training and educating at-work drivers on the dangers of speeding to help make their fleets and local communities safer.

The call comes from Brake, the road safety charity, as it releases a new report showing that two in five (39%) of businesses don’t have a speed policy, either in the employee contract or handbook.

The report also found that 65% of companies with a speed policy don’t have one that applies to external contractors while a third of speed policies don’t apply to senior management.

Only a quarter of companies get involved with promoting speed awareness in their local communities, for example by supporting local training or education on speed.

And few companies are taking advantage of the full range of educational and training opportunities open to them, with only two in five asking questions relating to speed at recruitment or training during induction, and only three in ten providing additional training for drivers caught speeding

With excessive speed – either breaking the speed limit or driving too fast for the conditions – listed by the police in 27% of fatal crashes in the UK in 2013, Brake is urging all employers with staff who drive for work to implement policies and procedures to ensure their drivers are fully aware of the dangers of speeding.

Employers can access Brake’s expert guidance by ordering a copy of the report, which includes advice for companies, and becoming a member of Brake Professional at www.brakepro.org.

Dr Tom Fisher, Brake’s senior research and communication officer, said: “Our research shows that many companies can and should do more. This would help prevent the devastating impact of road death and injury, but also save companies money through reduced insurance premiums and improve their reputation within the community.”

Added by Natalie Middleton
Business Editor, Fleet World
Date: 15 Oct 2015 14:52

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Martin Port
Founder & CEO

CEO’s Blog – Due to continued growth, BigChange is recruiting self-employed Auto Electrical Telematics Engineers nationwide.

BigChange expansion

Due to continued growth, BigChange is recruiting self-employed Auto Electrical Telematics Engineers nationwide.

We require highly skilled individuals with attention to quality and detail that are passionate about delivering excellent customer service in the field.

Candidates must have a minimum of 3 years’ experience installing systems in cars, light / heavy goods vehicles and passenger transport.

Please contact immediately by email or phone Tansy Sheehy Customer Service Director or James Scully Operations Director [email protected] or call 0113 3845777. For more information about BigChange visit www.bigchange.com

Martin Port Signature
Martin Port
Founder & CEO

CEO’s Blog – It was a pleasure to meet Michael Dell and Joe Tucci before Dell agreed deal to buy data storage company EMC for $67bn

Michael Dell, Martin Port & Joe Tucci

US computer giant Dell has agreed a deal to buy data storage company EMC for $67bn (£44bn).

EMC shareholders will receive $33.15 per share, $24.05 of which will be in cash.

If approved by regulators, the deal would be the biggest in history between two technology companies.

Falling demand for PCs means Dell is looking to expand into more lucrative businesses, and it has identified data storage as a key growth area.

“Our new company will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next-generation IT ,” said Dell boss Michael Dell.

EMC boss Joe Tucci said: “The waves of change we now see in our industry are unprecedented and, to navigate this change, we must create a new company for a new era”.

Mr Dell will be chairman and chief executive of the combined group that, Dell said, would be the world’s “largest privately-controlled, integrated technology company”.

‘Stunning coup’

The exact cost of the deal will depend on the value of shares in VMware, the software company controlled by EMC. VMware will remain an independent, listed company.

The price per share agreed represents a 20% premium on Friday’s EMC closing share price of $27.86. EMC shares were up about 4% in pre-market trading on Monday.

The deal is expected to close some time between May and October 2016.

Analysts suggested the deal was a brave move by Dell.

“Dell wants to become the old IBM Corp, a one-stop shop for corporate clients,” said Erik Gordon from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

“That model fell apart a couple of decades ago. Reviving it would be a stunning coup for Dell.”

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Martin Port
Founder & CEO

CEO’s Blog – Visit BigChange at the Build Show NEC see how companies such as Lynx Maintenance a leader in the Building Maintenance sector benefited from JobWatch

Bigchange at the build show

Lynx are a specialist family-owned building, repair and maintenance company based in Uxbridge.

They offer a fast response and first-class customer service to their ever-growing list of prestigious landlord and management clients, and maintain over 3,000 properties across the south of England.Lynx are a specialist family-owned building, repair and maintenance company based in Uxbridge. They offer a fast response and first-class customer service to their ever-growing list of prestigious landlord and management clients, and maintain over 3,000 properties across the south of England.

Founder & Managing Director of Lynx Maintenance, Chris Moseley, relates, “Our entire focus is on making service improvements. We recognised that the technology we used was not going to support the level of growth we are experiencing; we had a back office job-management system that was 10 years old, producing so much paper, and a separate vehicle tracking system that we used reactively.”

Lynx decided that they needed a Big Change. They wanted one system that could manage all aspects of their business, and they wanted a fully-developed, proven product that wouldn’t cost them a fortune.

Chris Moseley went on to say, “We were recommended to contact BigChange, who had developed a system that did everything we wanted straight out of the box. BigChange spent time with us ensuring that the implementation process and training of our Head Office and Engineering teams went smoothly.”

The BigChange JobWatch system has everything – built-in service management, customer relationship management, job scheduling, resource time management, health and safety, equipment and stock management, mobile apps, financial features (from quotation to invoicing, with integration to accounting software such as Sage) and vehicle tracking. JobWatch features intuitive reporting, including reporting on customer service and quality, business productivity, driver behaviour and risk management.

Chris recalls how “Implementing the system completely did away with paper in the office and in the field. We invoice instantly when a job is completed, and have seen our productivity and service levels hit new heights. This is just the beginning, as we believe that this technology will enable our company to grow without the cost and risk that goes with expansion. We look forward to celebrating 20 years in business next year, and the BigChange JobWatch system has given us exactly the tools we need to progress and grow our family business.”

Martin Port, CEO of BigChange commented, “We are delighted to have completed another successful implementation of JobWatch with Lynx Maintenance. JobWatch has revolutionised Lynx practices and processes, eliminated all paperwork and time consuming manual tasks.”

Martin Port Signature
Martin Port
Founder & CEO