Category: Chairman’s Blog

2022: a year of growth, energy, and customer obsession

As another year draws to a close, I’d like to reflect on all we have achieved here at BigChange. This year has surpassed all our forecasts – like many business leaders, we expected a difficult 12 months because of political upheaval and the sudden biting recession and cost of living crisis.

Despite these challenges, our team has out-performed our wildest expectations, our customers have thrived, and our ground-breaking technology has attracted many new businesses – large and small – into the fold. Our customer numbers are up, revenues are soaring, and we are moving ever closer to our ultimate ambition – to be a “unicorn” business, and the global brand leader in our industry.

Here’s an overview of our year to date.

The best in class

Our platform continues to outperform all our rivals and the proof is in our numbers: over the past year, new contract wins are up 40% on 2021, generating £33m in new business for BigChange.

We welcomed nearly 400 new customers this year, taking our total to 2,000. Across the globe, some 80,000 individuals use our technology day in and day out, which is an incredible achievement.

Our technology now supports every function within our customers’ organisations, and we logged 30m transactions in total over the past year, as companies created jobs and invoices, tracked vehicles and tools, logged time sheets and processed expenses. BigChange is truly the architecture underpinning business success: some £2bn-worth of invoices were delivered though our platform.

A diverse and thriving customer base

We built BigChange to be the partner of choice for companies of all sizes, across every industry. We are proud to say that we now boast customers across 60 sectors, from one-man bands to multinational enterprises.

This year alone, we have welcomed an impressive range of new clients, including: EFT Systems, which does everything from sprinklers and fire alarms to cyber security and CCTV; fleet installations specialist RS Connect; ventilations expert EnviroVent; RGE Services, which protects people and property through fire and electrical compliance; Edinmore Contracts, the building insurance and maintenance contractor; property repair specialist Merlin; Shenton Global, which has over 30 years’ experience in the supply, installation and maintenance of critical diesel power systems; Motivair Compressors; and Kaboodle, the  independent installer of white goods.

Helping our customer become more resilient

The beauty of BigChange is that we grow only when we help our customers become more successful: it’s a virtuous circle. This year, we have continued to drive efficiencies and cost savings across the board. DBS, a specialist in the repair and maintenance of petroleum forecourt structures and retail sites, has boosted operational productivity by 20%. J W Hinchliffe (Tanks), a specialist in fuel tank services, has boosted its annual turnover by 35% following the introduction of a BigChange job management system. While new build after-care specialist A&S has used our mobile workforce technology to double its business to a £5m turnover in two years.

We call our dedication to customer service, “Customer Obsession”. This year, RoadCrew has supported over 100,000 calls, emails and self-service requests. Onboarding is a crucial part of the BigChange journey but it doesn’t end there, and our Customer Success team works tirelessly to nurture existing customers and help them get even more out of our technology.

As we continue to improve the lives of our customers, it’s been great to see our Customer learning team launch our Digital BigChange University. There are now 67 online modules; over 21,000 modules have now completed by our customers (that’s 11,000 hours of online training!). The BigChange help centre has had over 130,000 page views allowing our customers to get the support they need instantly!

People power 

We have strengthened and grown our BigChange sales and marketing team by adding an extra 60% headcount to the most knowledgeable team of experts in the industry.

The team here at BigChange is our most valuable asset. We are blessed to have the most innovative, hard-working and dedicated colleagues in the industry. As we have grown the business, we have recruited new BigChangers and given our existing team new responsibilities and opportunities.

To ensure that our unstoppable, entrepreneurial, and customer-centric culture remains at the heart of our business we have worked hard in 2022 to define what it means to be a successful BigChanger. This led to us launching the BigChange Leadership Principles which apply to all of us and are embedded in our customer interactions, our recruitment and the way we judge success.

Spreading the word

Like most companies, BigChange became a remote-first company during the pandemic but I’m delighted that, this year, we have been getting out and about again.

We set ourselves the mission to create an established events calendar, consisting of 14 tradeshows across a variety of industries. We attended those exhibitions, showing attendees how we can help their business become unstoppable. Next year, we are setting our sights even higher and have 30 shows on the calendar.

We have also entertained many customers and prospects at our Leeds United box and are looking forward to the last game of 2022: Leeds v Manchester City.

International ambition

Our team in France has continued to drive the business forward. BigChange France is now fast approaching 100 customers, which is an incredible result.

Meanwhile, our Partnerships team has continued to build upon the successes of our international resellers, establishing new relationships in both Canada and Greece. Our resellers in New Zealand, Australia, and Cyprus, have all seen continued growth in 2022. We now have 130 customers in these countries.

Technological advances

Over the past year BigChange Technology has lived up to its name, and we have increased investment into innovation. This has enabled us to start delivering even more value into the BigChange platform.

We now have a data warehouse with new dashboards (currently in beta) that will be going to general release early in the new year. We have transformed the foundations of our Job Finance function, helping our customers to better understand profitability, work in progress, and forecasting. We have enhanced our group job functionality to allow for greater control over multi-job projects. We have launched a completely new look and feel to our booking site that resizes for any device.

Alongside all this, we have developed a very exciting roadmap for 2023 that will see lots of great new functions for Job Finance, Business Intelligence and Job Management.

Making a positive impact

In 2022 BigChange took a major step on the road to Net Zero by carrying out its first carbon audit and putting in place a carbon reduction plan and commitment to be carbon neutral this year through offsetting.

Our BigChangers have carried out litter picking, lobbied for better recycling and worked with our local business park to encourage car sharing and other joint sustainability initiatives. We know that BigChange helps our customers be more sustainable through its reporting of driver behaviour, scheduling and job visibility and we will be focusing on understanding how we can improve this support in 2023.

We have also continued our proud history of charitable donations in 2022 through a series of employee-led initiatives to help our community. With our wonderful Customer Success Director, the unstoppable Tansy Sheehy, leading the charge, we have organized food bank collections, a day in the community at Living Potential care farm, clothing donations, volunteering at St George’s Crypt to support the homeless, and our Christmas Party with a Purpose where BigChangers overwhelmed us with their generosity buying presents for the homeless and teenagers in care.

Awards for BigChange

Our dedication to the team helped BigChange to achieve a Best Companies 2* Award in 2022, which means we continue to be an outstanding employer. We also completed our re-certification in ISO27001 in October. Other awards include: Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Award, Virgin Atlantic & Delta Air Lines Business Enabler of the Year, a ranking in the GP Bullhound Northern Tech Top 100 Companies, and Mid-Market Corporate of the Year at the Yorkshires Business Awards.

Thank you all for your ongoing support. I – and all of us here at BigChange – wish you a joyful festive season. 

Want to know how to be a more effective entrepreneur and leader? Take some time off.

It may sound counterintuitive but it’s true: ensuring that you have enough downtime each week will make you a better manager of people and allow you to make better decisions.

I know how all-consuming it can be when you are building or starting a business. You feel as though you need to work every single hour of the day if you are to achieve your goals. Even sleeping at night feels wasteful.

There have been times in my life when I have worked non-stop for weeks on end. I remember the impact it had on me, how my mind started spinning and I struggled with basic tasks. I wish I knew then that I could have been 10x more productive if I had just taken breaks to recharge.

These days, I have a rule. I take one day off every week where I switch off my phone, silence my emails, and put work out of my mind. I deactivate to reactivate.

When I wake the following day, and fire up my laptop, I do it with renewed vigour. It feels so easy – and enjoyable – to complete tasks and work on my business interests. It’s as though, throughout the week, I have been slowly depleting my supply of oxygen but after a day’s rest, I get a whole new tank.

Did taking a day off every week when I was first building BigChange slow its growth? It did the opposite. BigChange smashed every goal that we set over the years. I believe that embracing downtime – not just my own, but the whole team’s – helped bring about that success. We were pioneers when we gave 34 days holiday, giving people more time with their families. 

I don’t know if I would have chosen to do this if it weren’t for my faith. I observe the Sabbath because it’s one of Judaism’s most important rituals, but I feel the benefits in all aspects of my life. Whatever your beliefs, it’s important to make that space in your life to rest and recharge.

It’s important to understand what downtime really means. It’s a time where your brain isn’t focusing on anything. Scrolling on your phone or watching TV isn’t downtime. Naps, walks, meditation, and mundane tasks where your mind can wander – that’s real downtime.

Many studies have shown that the human brain desperately needs enough sleep at night and plenty of breaks during the day https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-downtime. In his book, ‘Rest: Why you get more done when you work less’, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang says that allowing the brain to enter a “resting state” is vital. “When we are not directly focused on a task, it’s still active, engaging its default network to plug away at problems, examine and toss out possible answers, and look for new information.”

So, leaders, whatever you do this week, make sure you make time to do nothing. Set a good example for your team by having at least one day off and setting your ‘out of office’. I promise you; you won’t regret it – I never have. 

The coming recession is likely to be deeper and more severe than we originally thought.

Forecasts suggest that the economy will continue to shrink until the summer of 2023 and that the UK will experience a 1.4% contraction across the whole of next year – that’s a major U-turn from the Office for Budget Responsibility’s initial forecast for 1.8% growth, which was only published in March.

What does this mean for entrepreneurs and business leaders?

It means you need to get back into start-up mode.

Remember those heady early days of your business when you rose before dawn and worked well into the night, waking at 2am to send a quick email to suppliers in another time zone? Those days are back.

These are going to be tough times and you need to be absolutely focused on your business. You need to know what’s working and what’s not. That means getting back into the detail. Even those running larger organisations need to get back into the trenches – don’t just rely on your direct reports. Go and speak to people in every department. Ask them what’s really going on – their challenges and pressure points. Ask them what customers love and what developments would really make your product or service stand out in the marketplace.

This complex trading environment also means you need to sweat your assets like never before. Rip up your budget forecasts for 2023; it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Any “nice to have” investments must wait. If you were going to hire more people in advance of growth, it might be better to get through the coming year first. Explain to your teams that you will be expecting them to give 100% as we move into this critical period – reward them, motivate them, and make sure they know how important their efforts are to the continued success of the company.

Costs must be controlled but don’t cut back on the spending that generates more business. You still need to be out there prospecting, meeting customers, and getting your brand name out into the world. These are not “nice to haves”- these are business critical expenses, and you will cut them at your peril.

Data is going to become your best friend (if it isn’t already). It’s only by analysing every single metric of success that you’ll understand what kind of work brings in the most profit, which jobs lose you money, and which assets are underutilised.

When you have absolute clarity on your data, you can even see which loss-leaders are worth keeping because they open the doors to other, more lucrative projects. This is the kind of insight that we at BigChange are bringing our customers. I believe it will ensure they remain unstoppable, despite the challenging times ahead.

In fact, BigChange has launched a new campaign with this mission, mantra, and customer promise: be unstoppable. We want ambitious entrepreneurs and business owners to feel empowered to act and unleash their energy – even when the going gets tough. 

Whatever technology you use to help drive efficiency, lean on it now. Many businesses only use a small percentage of the tech at their disposal. That’s the kind of waste that can easily be utilised – especially by leaders with a start-up mindset, who don’t mind burning the midnight oil to plumb the depths of their business software.

2023 won’t be easy but the businesses that survive will be fitter, leaner, and better prepared for the future than ever before. Recessions test our mettle, as leaders. They hone our business models and cement our place in the hearts of our customers. Think of this time as an opportunity to go from good to great. 

Think like a start-up, and you’ll be fine.

#unstoppable

Human beings are social creatures. We need to spend time with one another to feel, well – human. BigChange may be a technology company, but we pride ourselves on our humanity – there is always a person at the end of the phone if you need us, our people are unfailingly kind and considerate – and all are excellent problem solvers.

To reward this outstanding team, we host a special seasonal get-together every year. After a long hiatus for Covid, we brought it back last year. I’ll never forget the incredible atmosphere in the room as colleagues who had interacted solely online for two years met and danced the night away. 

Last night, we held this year’s BigChange Awards and Thanksgiving party (we are part-owned by an American company, after all) and it was just as wonderful as last year’s bash. A glass of bubbly, and a proper sit down dinner, followed by dancing. A token of our appreciation for our people’s hard work in recent months. 

Most of us are back in the office for at least a day a week now, but the event brought together more than 200 people from across the whole of BigChange’s international operations. Nothing beats meeting IRL [in real life] for raising the spirits.  

The event was held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. It was a privilege to be surrounded by such incredible exhibits – slices of British history. BigChange is about to celebrate its tenth birthday, so the moment was even more meaningful. 

But on to the highlight of the evening: the awards. The ceremony was a little different this year. The categories this year were all aligned with BigChange values.

Here’s a little roundup of who won what.  

The “Big on Ethics” award went to business development manager Eli Sufrin. This is the second time Eli has picked up an award at our winter event. A true team player, he is always fair, authentic, and puts customers’ needs first. 

He was not the only person to win over two consecutive years. Fellow business development manager George Dibb, who picked up the CEO award in 2021, won the “Big on Change” category this year, for his ability to help those in the plumbing, heating and electrical contracting sectors to adapt and thrive. 

Sarah Cox, our Customer Success Director, won the “Mission Award” this year, reflecting her ability to generate brilliant outcomes for customers while upholding our values. Tansy Sheehy, a fellow Customer Success Director and productivity queen, claimed the Purpose Award.

Our scrum master Catriona Faulds is our “Big on Energy” champion this year as a result of her dynamic and vibrant approach to recruitment and promoting women in technology. HR advisor Maisy Hampton won the “Big on Inclusion” award for her refreshing approach to talent acquisition. 

BigChange’s green champion, Installations Co-Ordinator Fatimah Fellah won our “Big on Sustainability” award for her work helping customers to slash emissions and dramatically reduce waste. Lee Wilkinson picked up the “Green Flag Award” for consistently providing an exceptional customers experience through his role as Network Customer Experience Director.

Richard Warley was hard pressed to choose a winner for the CEO Award this year, so he chose two! Lead Software Engineer Joe Woodhead and Senior Product Manager Andy Knight (who also won an award last year) both impressed Richard with their technical skills, vision, and ability to execute complex projects.  

And finally, it was a great privilege to give out my own Chairman’s Award again this year. Huge congratulations to Andy Davenport, our tireless Technical Support Manager, who picked up Employee of the Year in 2021 and remains passionate, committed, and totally irreplaceable. 

Many congratulations to all of you. These awards are very well deserved. Thank you for all you’ve done for this company and your teams. What a treat to spend time with all of you – with no screens in sight! I hope you enjoyed the party.

Elon Musk’s attitude to innovation is brilliantly controversial. Anything he’s already invented; he sees as ancient history. At Tesla, all his patents are available to analyse – he’s a fundamental believer in open source. Rumour has it he now wants to make all of Twitter’s algorithms publicly available too.

In June 2014, Musk issued a statement that announced: ‘All Our Patent Are Belong To You’. He said that “in the spirit of the open-source movement”, Tesla would not “initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology”. He doesn’t care if people borrow or build on his past ideas. In fact, he invites it.  

I love this approach.

It basically shows that you don’t care about competition. You are so sure of your position in the market and confident in your ability to come up with the “next big thing” that you give rivals easy access to all your technology. It’s genius.

He also proves his commitment to industry-wide change and innovation. He wants to change the world by helping to promote sustainable transport and move away from our reliance on fossil fuels and his open-source philosophy supports that mission.

The proof is in Tesla’s growth rate: revenues in 2022 are likely to rise 50% on 2021’s results, and 2021 turnover was up 70% on 2020.

Of course, not all businesses can operate in this way. Elon Musk is a billionaire genius, after all – he can afford to be confident, almost arrogant, in his approach to innovation. But I do think that most leaders could benefit from taking a leaf from his book.

It’s never a good idea to spend too much time watching your competition. Firstly, you won’t mean to, but you will be influenced by their business model and product suite when perhaps you would have been better off coming up with a brand-new approach or creating products that are completely novel.

You will be distracted from your own growth plans because you’ll be so concerned with theirs.  

If today’s leaders put 50% of the effort they expend watching their competition into inventing new products and services, they would probably become the market leader.

Instead of analysing your rivals, just ask your customers what they need. That is a far better route to success. Your competition might get something wrong, misinterpret a need, and then you’ll just reproduce that same mistake. By going to your customers – direct to the source – there will be fewer mistakes, fewer rewrites of your tech, and more growth. Plus your customers will love the fact you’re listening to them, rather than telling them what they need.

In business, you are your own competition. You are only as good as your last invention, your latest review, your most recent hire. That’s the best way to stay on top of your game. Don’t live in the past – or even the present – keep reimagining your business for the future. 

Martin Port, the serial entrepreneur with a long track record of building multi-million pound businesses, today launches Port Growth Partners to support other innovative entrepreneurs. 

Port Growth Partners will provide funding and advice to entrepreneurs, founders and directors looking to grow their business and become a market leader in their sector.

Martin hopes to support a wide range of businesses, but is particularly interested in technology companies that deliver software-as-a-service (Saas).

Port Growth Partners is based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, but will support entrepreneurs across the UK with big ambitions and aims to invest six and seven-figure sums.

“I’ve worked with some amazing people over the years, and the investment and guidance I received was instrumental in me building three successful businesses. Now I want to give back to the next generation of innovators. There are some amazing people out there doing wonderful things to improve our lives and transform society,” says Martin.

“I’m open to entrepreneurs of companies across any sector, as long as they share my values of social purpose and are committed to building a sustainable business that will benefit society for decades to come. I’m a hands-on investor. I enjoy really getting to know a business and working closely with the team to add value.”

Investing in UK businesses

In the past year, Martin has invested in four UK companies. These are:

• Rated People, the UK’s leading tradesperson marketplace
• Panintelligence, a data analytics provider for software-as-a-service (Saas) companies
• StoriBoard, an online platform where people share real-life experiences
• Electron Green, a rooftop solar specialist   

Martin Port is the founder of workforce management platform BigChange, which he launched in 2013. He sold a majority stake in the company to US private equity firm Great Hill Partners for £75m in 2021, which valued BigChange at £100m. Martin remains chairman of BigChange, supporting the company as it grows to a unicorn $1bn valuation.

Before starting BigChange, Martin founded web-based vehicle tracking company Masternaut, which was sold in a multi-million pound deal in 2011. 

Through Port Growth Partners, Martin is looking forward to investing in a wider range of businesses over the years. The company also supports a growing number of charities and good causes, as giving back is what drives Martin’s desire to succeed.

“I hope to help build sustainable and successful businesses through Port Growth Partners. The more successful these companies are, the more I can give back to charities and good causes. It’s what motivates me as an entrepreneur and is why I’m still working round the clock aged 60.”

Ready to grow? Get in touch with Martin here.

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.