Author: Martin Port

Take a break from the Tory party tax tussles and let me tell you what’s really happening out there in the economy.

I’m talking about the story on the ground, a world away from the headlines. Despite all the doom and gloom out there, hard-working business owners and their teams are continuing to thrive and grow their ventures.

Business confidence is rising after a three-month decline. According to the Lloyds business barometer, UK businesses are finally optimistic about their trading prospects.

BigChange is an example of one of these success stories. Let me share some of the highlights from the last nine months of the year.

Extraordinary growth

We have had an amazing year so far, with new business wins up 40% compared to the same period last year. That equates to a new order book worth £24.5m. The new business is a healthy mixture of new clients and repeat business from existing clients. We have seen many of our customers buying more licences from us this year as they take on more people. They are growing and doing well, and we are benefiting from that.

A diverse client base

In the last quarter, we have signed up 100 new organisations – some very large organisations as well as smaller firms. It’s no surprise that our existing customers are recommending us to their peers: our Customer Service satisfaction score for RoadCrew customer support was 4.6 out of 5 in Q3. Among the new customers that have joined the fold are: EFT Systems, an integrated security manufacturer, designer, installer and maintainer across the Northwest; RS Fleet Installations, Europe’s largest auto-electrical installation expert; and Kaboodle, the largest independent installer of white goods in the UK. Our technology continues to be the best-in-class solution across all industries and business sizes.

A bright future

Our growth trajectory this year brings us one step closer to our goal: to become a unicorn (a business worth $1bn) within three years. By 2025, we should comfortably get to £60m in annual recurring revenues. This has all been made possible because of the outstanding team we have here at BigChange, and I’d like to congratulate the new business development team and the individuals in our customer success department, who work tirelessly to support customers.

Investing in people

We have recruited 30 new people over the past six months across multiple teams. As we grow, it’s really important that our colleagues are supported, and we have now launched and embedded our new career development programmes, BigChange Academy and Developing Careers. In order to better support our customers, everyone in the business has enrolled in our BigChange University, ensuring comprehensive product knowledge across the company. We are also committed to developing lean practitioners across the business and many colleagues have now completed their Lean Practitioner accreditation, which has eliminated 2,000 wasted hours and delivered many improvements to the business.

Targeted innovation

We are committed to an ambitious investment programme, and we have grown the development team and created many ambitious new innovations over the year to date. Our new releases typically fall in the “self-serve” category – helping our customers to do even more with our technology and make changes independently. As well as expanding the range of functionality even further, we have improved our analytics, giving customers even more actionable insight. Customers are keen to utilise all the features we create: this year, we have helped 45 customers achieve BigChange Expert qualifications in BigChange University, supercharging their potential in the process.

Awards

I am very proud that BigChange has been shortlisted for a number of awards that recognise our continued excellence. Among these are: SaaS Company of the Year at the UK Business Tech Awards; Best Technology Partner at the Building Innovation Awards; the Business Enabler of the Year at the Lloyds Bank British Awards; and finally Solution Innovation of the year at the Security & Fire Excellence Awards 2022. I’m a great believer in the power of awards to boost morale and raise a company’s profile.

Inclusivity

I believe that every business leader should do their bit to create jobs and opportunities for people from all walks of life, with different skills and abilities. We’re continuing to support diversity within BigChange, in line with our commitment to being a Disability Confident Employer. We have partnered with Lighthouse Trust, which works to raise awareness of neurodiversity, to support internal BigChangers and are planning to start project work with their young people later this year.

BigChange in the community

Looking outwards, we are always trying to support local charities and our community here in Yorkshire. We have been working with local food banks to help provide meals to those in need, we recently completed a clothing drive, and we have supported BigChangers who want to volunteer or raise money for charity. From skydiving for Cancer Research to working on a farm with Living Potential, which helps those with disabilities to get out in nature, I’m very proud of our team here.

Getting out and about

I recently posted about the importance of getting out there and meeting people in the real world. My BigChange colleagues are doing just that. We are attending four events over the next few weeks. If you are planning to be at PHEX in Manchester, the Field Service Expo in Birmingham, Elex 2022 in Surrey or the Floodex & National Drainage Show in London, come say hello. We are also making sure that we spend time with our valued customers – it’s the best way to learn the challenges they face. Our customer success team has visited 200 customer sites so far this year. 

Thank you to all our customers for your ongoing support of BigChange. It’s been an outstanding nine months and I have high hopes for the coming quarter, and 2023. 

A lot can change in just three short years. Here we are in the autumn of 2022, and our country is a very different place to 2019. A new Prime Minister. A new monarch. A financial crisis. A sinking economy. A nation bearing the scars of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the face of all this change and uncertainty, it’s all too easy to feel lost, retrench, and isolate ourselves. Instead, we should be doing the opposite.

We need human connection more than ever.

We need to get out there, speak to people, form opinions first-hand and share them with others.

I feel it’s important to say this now because remote working has become the norm in a post-Covid world. People can absolutely do their jobs from home, but I believe it’s better for individuals and organisations for colleagues to meet and share ideas.

Not every day should be a home day. You cannot build a workplace culture from behind a screen – you just can’t.

No substitute for a shop floor day

Businesses too will suffer if their people aren’t getting out there and meeting customers in real-life. There is no substitute for a shop floor day, where you go and experience the hustle and bustle in a client’s office or factory, speaking to people across all departments. A 20-minute Zoom call just can’t cut it.

As entrepreneurs, we all need to be creating those in-person connections because that is what helps us build better businesses.

I have been to see many BigChange customers in the last couple of weeks and all visits have been invaluable. I have known one of these customers – Hewer Facilities Management – for 20 years but there is always more to learn.

This time, we talked about ways they could eradicate paper from their processes, so I spoke to people at all levels in the business and found out their unique challenges.

It was fascinating, and helped me to a deeper understanding of this fast-growth successful business.

I also recently visited an amazing charity called FoodCycle, which provides meals for communities all over the UK. When I first heard about FoodCycle, I thought it was a food bank, helping those who can’t afford to feed themselves.

It was only by spending time at one of the groups in Leeds that I saw that FoodCycle not only provides nutritious meals, but it also alleviates loneliness, creates community, and battles food waste.

I felt the community spirit of the place. I met the people who were sitting round the table, who come from all walks of life. It was a humbling experience. 

In my role as Board Observer and Strategic Advisor of MoreLife, I spent time with the whole team in Suffolk recently and listened to them talk about the work they do in the community. One of the people they support allowed me to sit in on her session, and I was incredibly moved.

On the surface, MoreLife helps people quit smoking and tackles obesity, but in reality, they go much further, supporting people with challenging mental health issues, and people in crisis. More than that, they do it with such compassion – I only know that because I took the time to see it happen first-hand.

In every part of my life, I try to find time for those human connections. I am an entrepreneur, a chairman, an adviser, an investor, and a philanthropist.

My impact across all these areas increases immeasurably when I actually get out there and meet the people I want to help. You should too. 

The coming of the Jewish New Year is a time for reflection.

Sunday marks Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year. This is an important time for me, as it’s a time when I pause to think about the year ahead, to consider the year behind me, and – more broadly – to reflect on the challenges and the issues we all face in the world today.

This year, something weighs heavily on my mind. It is a sad truth that antisemitism is a real and present threat to my culture and faith. I have noticed many worrying trends, from the rise of far-right parties in France, Switzerland and Germany to an increase in Holocaust denial.

This is why it was a pleasure and privilege to meet Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), at a recent dinner. Her organisation works tirelessly to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, so that our society never forgets these crimes against humanity.

She explains: “Our organisation was set up in the late eighties, around the time of the War Crimes Bill, which sought to prosecute Nazi war criminals, who were living freely in the UK at that time. These people were guilty of horrendous crimes and the issue was discussed widely by both Parliament and the media. At the same time, many Holocaust survivors started to feel people were interested in their stories – they were previously advised not to talk about their and expected to move on. And some wanted to leave the horrors behind.

“The Trust was set up to support survivors and to help provide resources for those who wanted to learn about the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a defining moment in history and I believe no child should leave school without knowing what happened. The HET honours the memory of those 6million Jews who were murdered, and helps young people to understand where antisemitism can lead.”

The HET takes young people to Holocaust sites to learn about what happened in places like Auschwitz, and creates resources for teachers who want to present a factual account of what happened to people during that time.

Preserving memories

In 2022, few Holocaust survivors remain. As we lose first-hand witnesses, it becomes ever more important to preserve their memories. In this age of “fake news” where high-profile politicians publicly deny the Holocaust, we risk the further spread of antisemitism. 

“It is frightening to see the rise of Holocaust denial,” says Karen. “The Nazis kept thorough documentation of everything they did during the war, noting down the names, age, height and the towns and villages where victims were from. These meticulous records should make it impossible to deny what happened but maybe they are less tangible than the memories of someone who can describe being there.”

I was lucky to be granted a sneak preview of an upcoming HET project, which has captured interviews with a small number of Holocaust survivors, preserving their recollections for future generations. “We recorded them answering 900 questions using volumetric cameras,” Karen says. “We are creating the technology to allow people to interact with these videos, to stop the spread of misinformation and keep their memory alive.”

Karen and her organisation are doing an amazing job, helping to spread awareness and fight antisemitism. This issue affects all of us, whether we are Jewish or not. Lest we forget.

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemöller

Can your business handle whatever life throws at it?

Be honest. When you hear the phrase “business continuity”, do you zone out? Yes, it’s a dry, well-worn topic, but it’s imperative to business survival. 

Behind the jargon is a very real and vital concept. Business continuity simply means: can your business trade on despite disruption and economic strife? The pandemic was the ultimate test of business continuity but plenty of other, smaller events can also affect the wellbeing of your company.

Over the years, I have created my own business continuity playbook. These are areas to build on and prioritise during the good times to ensure peak performance during challenging situations.

Here are my six secrets of business continuity.

1.)  Empower your team

This can be one of the hardest lessons for any entrepreneur to master. As your business grows, you must empower your team to make decisions on your behalf. The only way this is possible is through a strong and consistent company culture. If you were hit by a bus tomorrow, would everyone in your organisation know how to keep going? Can they anticipate your next move? Start fostering team autonomy now, before you need it.

2.)  Enhance your reporting

Your people can only make the right decisions if they can access the right information. You need to track all the metrics that matter to your business and ensure that your reporting tools are easy to access and understand. BigChange has spent years honing its reporting tools so that the vital information is there at a glance, in real-time.

3.)  Automation

Automated reporting is one thing but it’s important to build automation into every process you can. Find out what wastes the most time for your team – are they fiddling with spreadsheets? Are invoices taking ages? Lengthy paper-based processes can really hamper a business during tough times, sucking up resource and dampening agility. Take back control through smart software. BigChange promises to dramatically increase productivity, letting your people do their jobs instead of getting bogged down with admin.

4.)  Constant communication

Over-communication is infinitely preferable to silence. You need to be speaking to your teams honestly, constructively, and often. A steady flow of communication between teams and across different departments means that problems or blockers are discovered and dealt with more quickly. Make sure you, as a leader, are constantly speaking to people at all levels in your business. Ask them what’s going well, and what’s going not so well. Create opportunities for people in different teams to chat and compare notes. Silos only breed rivalries and inefficiency.

5.)  Get the right partners on board

A business with the right funding and right support will weather any storm. When I chose Great Hill Partners as a key investor in the business, I knew that their involvement would ensure business continuity through financial stability and a unity of purpose and focus. The investment also helped us make a huge investment in people, hiring across all key areas of the business – in our development team alone, we now have 100 people working on our software. In customer success, we have 70 people working tirelessly to drive customer growth and help them get the most out of our technology.

6.)  The right tools

You have the right people, the right partners and communication is consistent and strong – now, all you need to do is to give everyone the tools they need to excel. Usually, this means having the right technologies in place to drive growth and efficiency. At BigChange, we use our own software to manage jobs, partner up with other firms, and help our own mobile workforce to be more efficient, driving less and working more productively. We created our suite of tools to be a one-stop shop for customers, so they don’t have to go out and pay for multiple technologies.