Martin Port, Author at Port Growth Partners

BigChange Appoints David Todd to Spearhead Social Housing IT Transformation

Posted on 17 February 2020 by Martin Port

BigChange has appointed social housing expert David Todd to spearhead business expansion within the UK local government and social housing sectors.

Formed in 2013, Leeds-based BigChange now has over 40,000 mobile workers and back-office personnel using its pioneering all-in-one mobile workforce and job management solution which is ideal for housing repair and maintenance service operations.

Todd brings 40 years of public sector IT experience in a role as business adviser and strategist. He spent 16 years as Director of Xmbrace, later part of the Kirona Group, the provider of social housing mobile scheduling solutions acquired by Advanced last year. He is also on the board of Sovereign Property Services and Managing Director of the UK subsidiary of Cloud software specialist Luminis.

Martin Port, founder and CEO of BigChange commented:

“David has extensive experience in social housing but crucially he brings unrivalled knowledge in IT solutions for managing field services in this sector. That is of course right up our street and the advice and assistance he is providing will be central to our drive into this important sector.”

BigChange already has a strong presence amongst suppliers of maintenance and repair contract services to local authorities and social housing providers. However, with an increasing trend toward direct services, Todd believes the market is ready for the transformational solutions that BigChange offer.

Todd commented:

“Up until now, BigChange has very much been a hidden secret in the social housing sector. However, with an all-in-one cloud system combining CRM, job scheduling, vehicle tracking and a mobile workforce app, it’s a solution that I’m sure will be welcomed by many.”

He continued:

“In particular BigChange offers a completely paperless way of working with total 24/7 visibility of all mobile repair and maintenance work and that will completely revolutionise social housing services”.

The BigChange mobile app, called JobWatch, has the added benefit that it can be used for in-house and sub-contracted operations simultaneously. It also offers a booking app so housing officers and residents can request and book services from the convenience on their mobile phones.

Airbnb landlords face legislative nightmare

Posted on 17 February 2020 by Martin Port

The popularity of short-term letting sites such as Airbnb has led to an explosion in new landlords, renting out their homes to generate a bit of extra income.

Yet these amateur landlords often do not comply with the rules and regulations that govern the wider lettings market.

This may all be about to change. In a landmark move, the Scottish government recently announced that local councils will have the power to enforce a licensing scheme governing short-term lets from 2021. Many of the rules have been in place since the Civic Government (Scotland) Act was published in 1982 but they have never been enforced previously.

Scotland may be the first country to take a firm stance on short-term lets but it’s likely that the rest of the UK will soon follow.

The issue is particularly pressing in cities such as Edinburgh, home to the Edinburgh Fringe festival, which seen 4.5m tourists flock to the city last year; 9 times the city’s population. In Edinburgh alone, there are 12,000 Airbnb listings, which equates to one listing for every 42 residents in the city. This number has doubled over the past three years.

One outcome of this new legislation is that Airbnb hosts, among others, will be forced to comply with safety standards in order to operate. The aim is to protect guests, ensure that properties are fit for purpose, and to professionalise this burgeoning industry.

However, this presents an administrative nightmare for many hosts. In order to keep letting rooms or properties, they must now ensure their gas and heating is maintained, checked and serviced regularly to be legally compliant.

To reduce the burden, landlords can now use the BigChange platform to connect with experienced tradespeople, such as Registered Gas Safe engineers to service their boiler. All work will be logged on the system, providing a transparent “paper trail” to prove the landlord is fully compliant.

Michael Cairns, BigChange customer and company director at celsiusplumbers.com and founder of safehostbnb.co.uk, believes this could be a great time-saver for hosts.

He comments:

“The software will automatically book in an appointment and follow-up appointments, which takes the pressure off the landlord/hosts so they can focus on other tasks.”

Michael continued:

“They can do this safe in the knowledge they are legally complying with new licensing laws, which will demand that all certification safety checks are up to date and above board.”

It takes a lot of time to manage an Airbnb property or other short-term let and many businesses have been created to help ease the administrative burden. From property maintenance to restocking to cleaning to dealing with booking queries and responses to visitor questions, outsourcing agencies have helped lighten the load.

Michael added:

“BigChange’s platform is another helping hand for these hosts.”

He continued:

“Given the number of short-term lets in the South of England, it is likely the licensing scheme will be rolled out in the UK in the not-so-distant future,”

Michael concluded:

“This creates a big opportunity for businesses to jump on board and make life easier for landlords/hosts to be safety compliant.”

CEO’s Blog – A blog about the bog

Posted on 16 February 2020 by Martin Port

As an entrepreneur, you work tirelessly to create a business that wows your customers, boosts your colleagues and supports your partners.

I’m a perfectionist, and I’m always dreaming up new ways to improve our offering, and make life even better for the team.

But sometimes, there are things outside your control that interfere with your ability to be at your best.

Here at BigChange, I’ve done all I can to create a wonderful place to work. We have state-of-the-art coffee machines, an illustrator has created the artwork for our walls, we sit on Herman Miller chairs, and we have a chill-out space that everyone loves. We have introduced a 4.5-day work week for the whole team. We run motivational Mondays every month, bringing in top inspirational speakers, and put on loads of events each year to keep morale high.

But there is one thing that undermines all my efforts to have the perfect workplace: the loos.

We rent our offices and, under the terms of our contract, the landlord is responsible for maintaining certain common areas used by multiple tenants. The toilets fall under the landlord’s jurisdiction.

They are a disgrace.

These toilets haven’t been updated in 20 years. The tiling is old and worn. The sink leaks all over the floor, creating a major hazard. The cubicles are flimsy. The toilets themselves are cheap and nasty. The loo seats are always breaking, leaving a loo out of order – not a good thing when there are only two, plus a disabled toilet, and hundreds of people need to share the facility.

We have been in our new premises for a year and a half. I’ve lost count of the complaints lodged and tickets raised. All our pleas have gone unheard. This is despite the fact we pay a hefty service charge, which is supposed to go towards maintenance.

I believe that your toilets are as important – if not more important – than your office. They contribute to the overall impression of your company. Do you have a bright clean office? Great. Do you have clean and inviting loos? Even better. There is nothing worse than being subjected to a miserable WC.

I feel ashamed when visitors come and ask to use the facilities. They leave our clean and inviting office and have to step into a wet, dank nightmare.

The irony is that our landlord is a company called The Canal & River Trust. You would think that water and sewage would be a priority. This is the same company that owns the Toddbrook Reservoir in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire. The dam nearly collapsed last year and nearby residents were all evacuated. I guess we should count ourselves lucky we only have a leaky sink to contend with.

This week I was at a roundtable event where I met a man who is as passionate about toilets as I am. Chris Brown is the managing director of Aaztec Cubicles, which creates the most beautiful bathrooms on behalf of organisations across the UK – from swimming baths to government buildings. He kindly listened while I vented my frustrations about our toilet problem.

The worst thing about all this is: I shouldn’t be obsessing about the state of the office loos. I should be spending my time on more worthwhile issues. Fighting with my landlord is a waste of my time, and distracts me from my real job: growing and improving my business. So I’m going to try and put it out of my mind, for now. Or perhaps I’ll grab a sledgehammer and smash the toilette up.

Just kidding…

CEO’s Blog – Would you go to the ends of the earth for your customer?

Posted on 10 February 2020 by Martin Port

One topic that I return to again and again in this blog is the importance of going above and beyond for customers.

It’s the one thing that every company can do, that gives them an edge.

I am obsessed with customer service. Not just because it’s good for business but because I genuinely love my customers. I’ve never regretted a single second that I have spent making life a little easier for our users or talking about ways to improve.

I’d like to tell you a story about something that happened to me last week. It might sound like a shaggy dog tale but bear with me.

At BigChange, we use our Net Promoter Score (NPS) to understand whether we are truly bringing value to customers. It indicates a customer’s willingness to recommend your brand. Recently, we noticed one customer – who has been with BigChange for many years – had given us a neutral NPS score.

When I dug a little deeper, it turned out that they were still only using part of the system that they had signed up for over two years ago. They weren’t using all our new features and hadn’t been looking closely at the updates. This company had also taken on a new starter, who was now the main BigChange contact there. This new hire had given us the NPS score.

There was only one thing to do. I decided to go and meet him and find out how we could improve his experience of our system. The only hitch was that the company was based in Milford Haven in South West Wales.

I shan’t go into a long rant about the poor state of transport links in this part of the world – that is for another blog, about how improving the rail lines and roads would supercharge business growth in Wales. I set off at 5pm on Tuesday, naively thinking I would have a smooth journey.

I decided to get the train from Wakefield. I love to travel by train, as it gives me a chance to work. The closest I could get to my destination from here was Cardiff that evening. I have a railcard because of my hearing disability, so I got a good rate for a seat in first class. Nevertheless, the train was filthy on the Birmingham to Cardiff leg. The journey was so bumpy that it was hard to work. One particularly violent jolt sent my dinner – sushi and an entire pot of soy sauce – all over my suit. I was completely splattered.

I stayed overnight in Cardiff, as my meeting was the following morning in Milford Haven. The train from Cardiff to Swansea took an hour. From there, it was a two-hour train or a 1.5-hour taxi to Milford Haven. I was pushed for time so I flagged a cab. She told me it would cost me £150 to go 60 miles!

I negotiated her down to £100 and when we set off, she began driving at breakneck speed. When I told her to slow down, she said: “What do you expect for £100?”

She needed to stop to use a loo, so we pulled in at a truck stop. I bought us both a hot drink. She hit the gas so hard when we left that my tea ended up down my shirt.

I can’t imagine what the customer must have thought when I arrived, stained, shaken, and barely on time. He was so gracious and I found him to be extremely intelligent and knowledgeable; a real technology whizz. I spent five hours there and the session was extremely useful for me as well as him. I explained all the functionality that they hadn’t used yet, and he recommended some ways we could improve.

The Managing Director kindly dropped me at Carmarthen to get the train home. The only train I could get took three hours to get to Cardiff and then a two-hour train to Birmingham. By the time I got there, I had missed the last train home and had to stay over. I headed back the following morning, still in that dreadful suit.

You can read this story and think, ‘What a nightmare’. It’s true, that I feel like I have gone to the ends of the earth for this customer. But I mean it when I say it was an absolute pleasure. And that I would do it again, in a heartbeat. I’m really happy that I got to spend quality time with a valued user, and learn more about what we could do to help him get the most out of BigChange.

I don’t know what the trip cost me in fares and hotels (not to mention my dry-cleaning bill) but it’s worth every penny. The return on investment is enormous, if that customer feels valued.

I may be the founder and chief executive of this company but visiting customers is still the most important thing I do. If you run a company with customers all over the UK – or the world – you must be prepared to travel and meet them. Trust me, you’ll be so charged up by these sessions that you won’t care about the miles travelled or the challenges on the way.

CEO’s Blog – Getting to know me

Posted on 3 February 2020 by Martin Port

Did you know that it takes just one tenth of a second for someone to decide whether they trust you?

They have reached that verdict before you’ve said a word, just based on a snap judgement about your face, clothing and body language.

I was thinking about this recently, and wondering about what kind of impression I make on people when we first meet.

I should say: this didn’t come out of nowhere. A colleague I know and like recently described me as ‘mercurial’. This isn’t a word you come across every day, so it stuck with me.

There are two interpretations of ‘mercurial’, according to the dictionary. One is “often changing or reacting in a way that is unexpected” and the other is “lively and quick”. I have a feeling this person meant the former…

I don’t want to come across as inconsistent or make people feel they don’t know where they are with me, so I began talking to people around me to gauge their impressions about me.

This isn’t just me being self-indulgent. I genuinely want to know how I come across. I also believe that by sharing these observations in this blog, people will know what to expect when they meet me. And perhaps this will make it easier for us to get along.

I first spoke to Jane, who is an incredible event organiser, and works for BigChange. She laughed at the question but said that I wasn’t changeable or inconsistent – thanks, Jane – but that she can understand why someone would say that. Oh. Great.

“You carry a lot of information in your head,”

she explained.

“You’re dyslexic, so you don’t write anything down. Instead, you’re constantly making mental lists.”

“It’s a lot to process, and you jump from topic to topic quite quickly. It can be hard to follow but I’m dyslexic too, so I totally get it.”

“It means that you are unpredictable in that you never know what you will say next but, as a person, you are far from unpredictable. You are consistent in everything you do.”

Andrew, our commercial whizz, pulled no punches.

“You can shout and scream one minute and be completely calm the next. You’re the kind of person that will immediately verbalise any anger or disappointment but will not hold grudges. Once that moment has passed, you will be absolutely fine. Some people find this hard to handle.”

I think in entrepreneur circles, we call this “passion”. Joking aside, I can see that this might be hard to process if you don’t know me well.

It wasn’t all bad. Andrew also said:

“You are a very good person to work with. You are extremely commercially savvy and understand people very well. Although you can be tough to work for and do expect perfection and zero mistakes, you are also an incredibly kind boss. There are countless times I’ve seen you go over and above what any other employer would do for your team. If somebody is unwell or having a personal problem, you will do everything in your power to resolve it for them – even if it’s at your own expense.”

Charlie, who works in sales, thought I was having him on when I asked him to:

“be honest. Tell me what you really think.”

He was diplomatic, as you would expect from someone who is customer facing and negotiates every day. He called me “unique”, which I think means I’m not your typical boss (which could be good, or bad).

“You are hard working, an entrepreneur, a tough taskmaster, full of confidence and very positive,”

he said. All true.

But when I asked how his impression of me has changed over time, he surprised me.

“I think the main thing I’ve learned that I didn’t know from the off was that you are a generous family man and loyal to your colleagues.”

So there you have it. If we haven’t met yet but are likely to in future, be prepared. I may have a different approach, my thought processes may be a little chaotic, I am an emotional man, but take the time to get to know me and – hopefully – you’ll see that it was worth spending more than one-tenth of a second to make up your mind. Or maybe I’m just mercurial after all.

CEO’s Blog – Never forget where you came from

Posted on 27 January 2020 by Martin Port

There is a famous Monty Python sketch called The Four Yorkshiremen – if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you have a look.

It’s as funny today as it was when the sketch first aired in 1967. It is performed by the late Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones, who sadly passed away recently. They are sitting around in white tuxedos, sipping “Chateau de Chassilier”, and talking about the old days, when they were impoverished and couldn’t even afford a cup of tea.

These Yorkshiremen then start trying to one-up each other with stories of hardship. The sketch soon becomes totally bonkers – “We lived in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank”.

Whenever I watch that clip, I laugh, but the sketch also serves as a sober reminder of how important it is to remember your roots, and appreciate how far you’ve come in life – and in business.

I never had to work down a mine or live in a shoebox, but times were much tougher in my younger years. Even in the early days of BigChange, when we had no money and were trying to forge a new path in a competitive industry, every day was a battle.

I didn’t draw a salary for two years. We had no money to pay top salespeople but one amazing individual was so excited by the business that he offered to work for free until we were generating revenue. He’s still with us today, and has been rewarded with share options and a six-figure salary.

I will never forget the people – customers and colleagues – who took a chance on me back then. They had faith in the vision, and me as an entrepreneur, and helped me to realise my dream. I owe those people a real debt of gratitude.

As your business grows and becomes more successful, it is easy for an entrepreneur to appear arrogant or seem less accessible. When you’re a small start-up, customers feel like they can phone you for a quick chat, and colleagues wander into your office whenever they have a question. I loved that open dialogue, as it kept my feet on the ground and helped me to stay attuned to what the people who really matter to this business thought and felt.

The other day, I bumped into a customer – someone who started with us seven years ago. They bought just two systems from us in the beginning, which wasn’t a huge revenue generator but we needed that business to help establish the company. This customer said to me: “You’re growing so fast now. I bet you’re too big to talk to us now.” I was devastated by that comment. I would never want any customer to feel they were too small to be important to me.

I reassured the customer that my door was always open, and when I got back to the office, I decided to take a hard look at my role, and how it has changed over the years, to make sure I’m not losing contact with important stakeholders like that individual.

That review has prompted me to make some changes. I have brought back my weekly catch-up calls with key people in the business to talk through issues great and small. I am committed to the BigChange Network, a networking event that travels around the country, bringing customer together to talk shop and thrash out solutions to their business challenges. These things really matter to me.

If you are a customer or a colleague, I want you to know you can talk to me any time. I put my mobile number on the internet so I’m easy to find. I’ll never be the big-shot CEO who hides behind layers of management. Just like those four Yorkshiremen, I remember where I came from, and I know who to thank for how far I’ve come.

Loyalty means everything to me, and it doesn’t matter how big we get, I won’t forget you.

CEO’s Blog – Be a positive force in your business community

Posted on 21 January 2020 by Martin Port

Two years ago, Larry Fink, the chief executive of investment giant BlackRock, shocked the business world when he published an open letter to his fellow business leaders, calling on all of us to make social purpose our top priority.

“To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society,”

he wrote.

“Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate.”

His words resonated with me: I have always been passionate about creating businesses that generate more than profit, and create lasting positive change in the wider community and through the charities they support.

This is why I am absolutely delighted to announce my new appointment to the board of Business in the Community for Yorkshire and the Humber. It is an honour to be a part of such a brilliant organisation, and I will work tirelessly to support its future success.

I have been a member of the charity since 2008, when I joined as the founder of Masternaut, my previous business. I saw first-hand the power of grassroots organisations like BITC, whether providing emergency aid after floods, or ensuring disadvantaged young people stay in education to get the vital skills they need to prosper.

I stayed an active member, even through the start-up years of BigChange. It is extremely important to me that business works in tandem with local communities to build a better world.

This isn’t blind altruism. There are many benefits for businesses that choose to partner with the BITC. The team here wants to work for an organisation that cares, and BITC’s benchmarking programme helps to showcase our successes in areas such as sustainability, philanthropy and employee welfare. That boosts both staff retention and our ability to hire great people.

I am humbled to join a group of heavyweight industry veterans on the board, from the likes of KPMG, Deloitte, Asda, Aviva and Eversheds. I will be flying the flag for small businesses and helping BITC to connect with more entrepreneurs like me.

This is a proud moment for me, and I look forward to building on BITC’s success. At BigChange, we are committed to driving positive change, both through our JobWatch platform, which eliminates paperwork, manages compliance, health & safety, and cuts carbon emissions, and as a charitable partner, donating all we can to good causes. I look forward to making even more progress on this shared mission over the coming years. If you would like to get involved, please leave a comment or drop me a line. We need you!

CEO’s Blog – The ‘workaround’ is dead. Long live the ‘small change’

Posted on 12 January 2020 by Martin Port

I find it hard to hear customers talk about using workarounds on our platform. The definition of workaround is “a method for overcoming a problem or limitation in a program or system”.

It suggests there is some kind of flaw or glitch within JobWatch that needs managing, and there isn’t.

What people really mean when they talk about using workarounds is that they are used to doing something a certain way, and they don’t want to change. Even when the change is really small.

Or maybe they have been using a different system that takes care of a small part of a process, and they like using that system (even if JobWatch could do it better, faster, with 10 fewer steps).

I understand that – it’s hard to change a habit of a lifetime.

However, we have 40,000 users on our system right now and I would say that 99% of the people using JobWatch are doing so without any so-called workarounds. Businesses tell me that JobWatch is directly responsible for increasing efficiency and profitability. It has been designed to eliminate paperwork and bureaucracy from the life of a mobile worker, and streamline processes, while creating more opportunities for growth – and that’s exactly what it does.

JobWatch has glowing reviews from across the whole spectrum of industries. This is why I am banning the word ‘workaround’ from the BigChange lexicon. I don’t want to hear it any more. There are no limitations, no problems to overcome. The system has been honed and tweaked to be as close to perfection as possible. Instead, I want customers to talk about making a ‘small change’.

By making very minor changes to the way they operate, updating their approach or process very slightly, they can benefit from the wealth of efficiency that we have to offer. The small change doesn’t affect the business at all – the output and results are exactly the same. It’s the just the method – the path to getting to the goal – that alters a tiny bit.

It’s amazing the impact that words have. By moving away from the negative connotations behind ‘workaround’ towards the positive and progressive meaning behind ‘small change’, I feel that we can help customers to embrace the new, and encourage them to evolve with the technology.

All of us could benefit from making small changes. By trying to do things a little differently – or taking someone’s advice over a new approach – we can all evolve and become more successful.

CEO’s Blog – Don’t look at the competition; it’s beneath you

Posted on 6 January 2020 by Martin Port

As an entrepreneur, you are always fielding questions about your plans for the business and growth strategy.

One question that comes up again and again is: who are your competition and what are they doing better than you?

I hate this question. In all my years as an entrepreneur, I have never once tried to copy a rival product, or pretended to be a customer to get access to a sales deck. I have always felt it unethical to obtain this kind of information – especially through underhand means. More than that, it damages your own brand to be too focused on what other companies are doing.

For me, the competition is a distraction that I don’t need. Their plans, their goals, their products, are nothing to do with us. If we start trying to look at all the rival platforms out there, and try and shoehorn things we like into our own system, we risk destroying the beautiful technology we have created.

I don’t wilfully ignore rivals. I talk to our customers about what they want and systems they have used. This means that I’m hearing about competing brands anecdotally, and constantly trying to ensure that our system is the best on the market. But my focus remains zeroed in on BigChange and making small improvements to what we have built.

Obsessing about the competition is the worst thing an entrepreneur can do. While you are trying to copy someone else, they are forging ahead. You never know what the next release will look like – what they’ll add and take away, and why.

Entrepreneurs who try and gain intel on competitors don’t get the full picture. So often, a huge part of what makes a brand exciting and popular is its customer service: how the company supports the product and the way the customer relationship is managed. You can’t accurately assess that from a slide deck or quick demo.

If you knew every detail about all your rivals in the market, maybe you wouldn’t bother to try at all. You can be blinded by information, and overwhelmed by all the spin out there.

As BigChange grows, we will have to be more open with our own systems and expect that the competition will know a lot about us. Companies like Salesforce let you download a trial version of their software for free. It has nothing to hide. We want to be that big someday. If we are afraid of what people will see, then we will be in a pretty bad position.

I’m in the US again – Seattle, this time. As I scan the shelves in Whole Foods, I see hundreds of versions of the same product. If you want eggs, they come in 50 breeds, colours and qualities. The drinks fridges are packed with soft drinks, all just slightly different. Ultimately, the customer benefits from more choice and variety, and all these drinks companies are successful.

As an entrepreneur, you have to believe in your own vision, and back your own offer. That’s not possible if you’re always watching other people, terrified that they are doing things better or faster.

Luckily, I’ve never been afraid of a little healthy competition. I barely remember it’s there. There’s no point looking in your rear-view mirror when you’re miles ahead of everyone.

CEO’s Blog – 2019: the year my baby learned to run

Posted on 16 December 2019 by Martin Port

A start-up is like a baby. When it is first born, you have to do everything to keep it alive. And, when the new company finds its feet and thrives, you really do feel as though the organisation you created and nurtured has a life of its own.

When I founded BigChange seven years ago, I had big ambitions for my new baby. But it was only in 2019 that I realised just how big this kid could get. As the year draws to a close, I’d like to share some of the highlights (and lowlights).

Setting the standard

I’ve posted about my ambitions to enter to corporate market with BigChange. Achieving BSI ISO 9001 and 27001 is a big part of being able to handle huge, multinational clients. The ISO 9001 proves that BigChange is fully committed to building quality products and services, while the 27001 accreditation shows that we are capable of handling data securely and effectively. We have also been awarded platinum partner status by Sage. These were major milestones in the development of this company.

A great place to work

The BigChange Team are a truly amazing group of driven individuals and a pleasure to work with. BigChange was ranked in the Sunday Times ‘Best Companies to Work For’ in 2020, proving that we are an outstanding employer. We are pioneers in creating work / life balance here, moving to a 4.5-day working week in 2019. We have also had some extraordinary speakers for our Motivational Monday initiative during 2019, from Kevin Keegan OBE, the football star and manager to Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell and model turned entrepreneur Caprice. Our commitment to creating a brilliant working environment helped us to recruit 60 new people this year.

Delighting customers

Our BigChange JobWatch system has gone from strength to strength this year, and I’m delighted by the depth of functionality we now offer customers. This is why we now have a record 40,000 users on the platform. We won 300 new customers this year, and an extra 100 came to us through the acquisition of two exceptional companies, Trace and Labyrinth. Our regular “shop floor” days make sure I’m tuned into the needs of BigChange’s customers. The newly created BigChange Network has provided a space where these customers can meet and share best practice and advice. That’s been a huge success. Big thanks to all our customers for being so supportive this year.

Charitable work

Building a profitable business has enabled BigChange to make significant charitable donations. This year, we gave more than £200,000 to incredible charities. Our seasons greeting card supports Transaid life-saving work in Africa, promoting driver training initiatives which improve driving standards, ensure safer vehicles and reduce the number of deaths on the road, which is the third biggest killer in sub-Saharan Africa following HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Standing out from the crowd

Winning awards helps to build buzz and get the brand noticed. BigChange has won a whole lot of awards this year. From the LDC Most Ambitious Leaders to the Sunday Times Tech Track, the Maserati 100 to the Tech Nation Fast 50, I’m delighted and humbled that so many people think we’re doing a great job.

Surviving technical challenges

In February this year, we had to undertake a wholesale redevelopment of our production environment. BigChange had grown so quickly that our architecture was starting to creak. It’s a testament to the wonderful relationship we have with our customers that they were understanding and patiently allowed us to work out the kinks. A big thank you to everyone who helped make the transition a success.

Going global

We founded BigChange France and brought on board a BigChange Cyprus reseller this year, and are slowly building market share in both territories. We continue to make progress in the US too, and I have just returned from a trip to Los Angeles where I spent time with prospective clients to find out what they need and how we can make their lives easier. I hope to continue delighting users all over the world next year.

Sharing knowledge

Given that I am dyslexic, I’m very proud to have written around 40 blogs this year on LinkedIn. A huge thank you to everyone that had liked, shared or commented on my posts. I enjoy hearing from all of you. I wish you all seasons greetings and a happy healthy 2020.