Category: Chairman’s Blog

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.

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.

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. 

Let’s be optimistic about our new “pro business” Prime Minister

Things have been tough recently for business leaders. So many challenges to contend with: rising energy bills; the cost of living crisis; pandemic loans to be repaid; and worrying rises in inflation. But you know me, I look for the silver lining in every cloud.

We finally have clarity on one thing: we have a new Prime Minister. Liz Truss’ selection puts an end to weeks of prevarication and delay. So much political energy has been wasted on trying to curry favour and now Truss can focus instead on carrying out her campaign promises.

Our incoming Prime Minister has pledged to cancel planned corporation tax and national insurance hikes, cap energy bills for small firms, and possibly reduce VAT and business rates. She has declared her intention to focus on growth and productivity, which is music to my ears. I don’t like to second guess politicians, but she seems to have a pro-business stance, and a willingness to take decisive action, which is what this country needs.

I’m not alone in my optimism. Jonathan Geldart, Director General of the Institute of Directors, writes: “We warmly welcome the appointment of a new Prime Minister and hope that we can now move on from the recent political uncertainty that has had a real impact on business confidence.”  

Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK, the manufacturers’ organisation says: “We congratulate Liz Truss on her appointment and look forward to discussing the critical importance of manufacturing, a sector that delivers millions of well-paid, highly skilled jobs across the whole of the UK.” It feels like the whole business community is willing her appointment to be a beneficial one, hoping against hope that she sees the value we bring to Britain and its economy. 

Entrepreneurs are optimists by their very nature, always sure they can find solutions to problems, that they can create value, help people, create jobs, and provide for their families. When others cut budgets, entrepreneurs invest. When some downsize their marketing departments in response to recession, entrepreneurs double down to increase market share. At BigChange, we have seen our entrepreneurial customers grow during challenging times. They never gave up, kept innovating, and always looked for the silver linings.

I spend as much time as I can with our BigChange customers. Recently, I visited super growth customer Vital Power Limited, which is one of the fastest-growing generator service solutions companies in the UK. Their vision is to become the most trusted critical power provider within the sector and I am delighted that BigChange is proving to be instrumental in realising these ambitious growth plans. Steve Morris from Legionella & Fire Safe has been using BigChange since his first year in business. “It’s been a godsend, driving efficiencies across the company,” he says. “Running a business that’s growing 75% a year is like trying to hold onto a kite on a windy day. BigChange removes all the noise and hassle so we can focus on the growth.” When I went to see Ivan Smyth, who founded outstanding high-growth BigChange customer Quest Waste Management in 2015, he told me he has grown the organisation to 50 people in a few short years, expanding headcount by 30% a year; that’s a lot of job creation. Another great BigChange customer, Steven Lannon from Precision Utility Mapping in Scotland, uses our technology to service clients across the UK and Ireland – it’s another example of how hi-tech firms can support one another’s growth and success in parallel. 

Business leaders have been through such a torrid time, running the commercial equivalent of the Grand National over the past few years. They have jumped fence after fence. Some fell at Becher’s Brook. Let’s hope this is the final furlong and that we can all emerge as winners.

In a fast-growing, international business, communication is vital. You need to talk to your teams, your teams need to check in with each other, and you need to keep communicating with customers. This gets harder and harder as the headcount rises.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with different ways of creating these conversations. There are lots of digital communication platforms out there, and some have their merits. Meetings have their place too but I have posted before about my meeting fatigue when I accidentally found myself trying to sit in on each and every catch-up.

I believe that the most powerful tool that any leader can use when they need to keep prioritising communication is the huddle.

Huddles are typically weekly team meetings, which involve the whole company. Some people call them “all hands”. These meetings have a very important purpose: they are opportunities to share company news, introduce new members of the team, share wins and figure out solutions for problems. 

At BigChange, we all get so much out of these huddles. At 11am every Friday, the whole team comes together to talk sales, marketing and product. It ensures that we are all on the same page and totally up to date with everything going on within the business. I don’t know how we would survive without them.

Here are five reasons you should introduce a huddle (if you don’t love them already)

1.)  Fewer meetings

It might sound like a weekly huddle is adding just one more meeting to your already overstuffed calendar, especially as they can involve quite a bit of work (preparing presentations etc) but the huddle can end up doing away with several meetings in one fell swoop. You are telling everyone vital information at the same time, and giving them the opportunity to ask questions, which potentially eliminates the need for meetings afterward. I know that too many meetings can be draining, so we aim to have fewer meetings with more people, so that we can maximise their effectiveness.

2.)  Motivating the team

Bringing the whole team together in this way to celebrate business wins is incredibly motivating for everyone. They get to see the contributions of teams besides their own and see how their efforts fit into the company as a whole. Huddles help leaders take their whole team on a journey. It’s incredibly powerful.

3.)  Transparency

By being up front and honest about company performance, you’re ensuring a culture of transparency. New starters get to hear sales figures on their first week – there are no secrets here. Open conversations are always useful, especially as a company grows – with huddles, there’s less chance of misunderstandings. We even invite customers along to our huddles so that they can understand the inner workings of BigChange. A study by Label Insight found that 94% of consumers would be more likely to be loyal to a brand that offers transparency, while 73% said they were willing to pay more for a product that offers complete transparency.

4.)  Introduce important topics

Huddles are a great opportunity to talk about our purpose and values that are outside company performance, such as diversity and inclusion. We like to take a few minutes to share our strategies and goals around building an inclusive company and ensuring that we have a truly neurodiverse team.

5.)  Maintain the personal touch

As a company grows, it can be hard for leaders to meet every new colleague – or even to know everyone’s name. This can lead to a massive gulf forming between the leader and the people on the “shop floor”. Huddles ensure that the leader is visible and also give people from all across the company the chance to ask questions and offer their input. I know of organisations where the CEO sends out a weekly email instead of offering face-to-face contact. That’s just not the BigChange way.

Serial entrepreneur and angel investor Martin Port has completed a six-figure investment into analytics solution Panintelligence.

Leeds-based embedded analytics provider Panintelligence helps companies capture and analyse data in real-time to help them make informed business decisions. 

Martin Port joins Panintelligence as a board observer and strategic adviser as the business prepares for the next phase of growth. 

Panintelligence’s platform, pi, delivers a seamlessly embedded analytics solution for SaaS companies combining interactive reporting, predictive analytics capabilities, and self-service dashboards. 

The company has customers across three continents and its pi platform boasts more than half a million users worldwide.

Martin’s investment will be used to help Panintelligence grow market share and increase its sales and marketing activities.

Going from strength to strength

Leeds-based Panintelligence was founded by Ken Miller and CEO Zandra Moore in 2014. The company is backed by investor YFM Equity Partners, which specialises in helping fast-growth small businesses to scale. 

Panintelligence raised £3.5m in a Series A round from YFM Equity Partners in 2019. This latest funding from Martin, who joins the business as a minority investor, will help Ken and Zandra to build on the success of the past three years. 

“I met Zandra 10 years ago and was immediately impressed by her dynamism and drive,” said Martin. “We kept in touch over the years, and I have seen the business go from strength to strength. I’m looking forward to sharing all my experience building fast-growth technology businesses as part of my new role.”

“Panintelligence is on a journey to pioneer the rapidly growing self-serve embedded analytics space,” said Zandra. “Martin shares the same values and the same commitment to innovation and customer service, so I know his expertise will help us reach our business goals.”

Martin is the founder of telematics pioneer Masternaut and mobile workforce management platform BigChange.

He holds his Panintelligence adviser position alongside his chairman role at BigChange. 

He is also an adviser and shareholder in online tradesperson marketplace Rated People.

“I am a huge believer in the power of data to revolutionise business, so I am passionate about everything that Panintelligence can achieve over the coming years,” he said.