BigChange wins 170 customers in stellar start to 2021

BigChange half year results

UK technology company secures contracts worth £12.5 million for revolutionary mobile workforce management platform in the first half of 2021

BigChange, the revolutionary mobile workforce management platform, today announced that it has attracted 170 new customers and signed more than £12.5 million worth of contracts in the first six months of 2021.

BigChange revealed that 1,600 organisations worldwide are now using its software to manage their field operations in real-time, streamline activities and boost business performance. New customers include T&M Plant Hire, JBC Industrial Services, Countyclean Environmental Services and Environ Property Services.

More than a quarter of the company’s existing customers purchased additional licences to support their own business growth in the past six months.

BigChange has accelerated its expansion plans this year following a £75 million investment from private equity firm Great Hill Partners in February. It has appointed a new Chairman with experience running leading technology companies in Europe, Japan and North America, and hired 40 new employees, including a new Chief Marketing Officer to drive its expansion plans.

The company also embarked on an ambitious innovation programme to enhance its core Software-as-a-Service platform with new data, automation and payments capabilities.

Martin Port, BigChange founder and CEO, comments:

“Businesses grow stronger when they run on BigChange. We succeed by helping our customers succeed, win more work, increase the capacity of their teams and turn their customer experience into a competitive advantage. We’ve enjoyed a stellar start to 2021 and could increase revenues by up to 50 percent this year.”

Building technology today that will stand the test of time

Martin Port - Building Technology

As every tech founder knows, it is almost impossible to create a new piece of software that is capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of users from day one. It’s just not commercially viable. Instead, we have to iterate as we grow, building in more functionality and developing our capabilities.

Back in 2013, when I launched my mobile workforce management platform, BigChange, I could only dream that today we would have 1,600 fantastic customers across the globe and that our technology would be used by 60,000 people. I had ambitions to build a £100m company back then, for sure, but I didn’t know whether I’d reach that milestone – let alone aim even higher.

Right now, we are on a journey that will see BigChange become a leader in every market we operate in across the world. We are currently live across several countries in Europe, and we are expanding New Zealand in Australia and the US. Over the next few years, I hope to reach a valuation of a billion pounds.

This is why right now, at BigChange, we are in the process of a major digital transformation. We want to future-proof our technology platform for this next phase of growth. This is a really exciting time, as we are laying the foundations for the next 10 years and beyond. This is going to involve some really big changes and improvements but we are doubling the size of our development team to help expedite all this work. We have called this endeavour Project Transform.

We are following in the footsteps of tech behemoths like Amazon, Microsoft and Google, who have always maintained a laser focus on innovation and made bold moves to ensure their technology is the best it can be. Over the years, I’ve seen these companies iterate, fail fast, and move on. Some have stumbled but they have always pulled through and emerged more resilient.

As a leader, I embrace change because it means we are constantly striving for more and better. Change can be challenging but those challenges are always constructive, helping to make us leaner and smarter in all we do. I look forward to showing my customers the fruits of our labours in due course, as we put all our plans into motion.

Sometimes, a bold decision today can alter the course of a company’s future. I feel like this is one of those moments for BigChange. Here’s to the next chapter.

The first 100 days

BigChange outstanding to work for 2021

Four months ago, Joe Biden was inaugurated, becoming the 46th President of the United States. At the same time, I was preparing to announce an American triumph of my own. 100 days ago, the US investor Great Hill Partners came on board, pledging both capital and expertise to help BigChange supercharge growth and reach new markets around the world.

It is said that the first 100 days of a presidency sets the tone for the entire term in office. So how has BigChange fared since the formation of its new partnership? 

Here are the highlights: 

Still the best company to work for

Few accolades mean as much to me as the Best Companies 2 star award. It recognises outstanding employee engagement, and has become the absolute industry standard. Achieving this accolade again means the world to all of us on the management team here. We know that BigChange would be nowhere without the extraordinary team who go the extra mile every single day, so I am proud and humbled that they love working here.

We’re on a mission

One of our first tasks after the investment by Great Hill Partners (GHP) was to review our purpose and mission. A lot of time and energy went into this process as it lays the foundation for the next phase of our growth. Some of our values and mission have remained constant since the beginning: to make our customers more successful, to raise the bar every day. But we have also put a renewed focus on sustainability. Our platform helps customers to slash their carbon emissions, reducing paperwork dramatically and helping drivers spend much less time on the road. This is now written large in our purpose, alongside new and important values such as building an inclusive and diverse company. 

Gearing up

A few weeks ago, I posted about how OKRs contributed to Google’s runaway success https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/goal-setting-strategy-took-google-1trillion-martin-port . Objectives and Key Results is a tried-and-tested management methodology for measuring and monitoring your company’s progress when you have big and exciting goals in sight. I’m glad to say that our OKR strategy is now up and running. We are now on a growth journey that I believe will take us from a valuation of £100m to £1bn. OKRs will be a vital part of this strategy, keeping us all engaged and focused on the next milestone. 

Wider share ownership

I’m passionate about employee ownership. I believe it is the best way to create and maintain an engaged, passionate team. GHP believed in my vision to make every colleague here a shareholder or have a loyalty bonus. Right now, every member of the team who joined before February is part of these schemes, and is right here with me on this growth journey, knowing they will share in our successes. It’s an exhilarating time for us all. 

A few new faces

The pandemic may have made hiring a little more complicated but our brilliant HR team and managers have successfully brought on 30 brilliant new starters over the past three months. And we‘re still hiring! We have also made some senior appointments that give us a real edge in this marketplace. People like our new chairman Richard Warley and new chief marketing officer Nick Gregory will help us dramatically accelerate our growth over the coming years. 

Investing in the next phase

So, how has GHP’s investment been deployed? The big focus is on Product Development and we have earmarked £5m to spend on innovation across our whole technology stack. The team here are already working on new features – I hope to be able to share more on that soon. We are also now officially on the acquisition trail and are actively looking for complementary companies in the US and in Europe too.   

Giving back

One of the best things about success is that it gives you the ability to help others. Ever since the launch of BigChange, we have consistently supported great charities and causes – this was true of my last business too. So, we haven’t let the excitement of the last 100 days distract us from giving, and we have helped four charities during that time, including the mental health charity Mind and Friends of Alfie Martin, which supports the neonatal units at St James Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary.  

Writing this has given me a chance to reflect on what we have achieved in a short period of time. I really do hope that the past 100 days define our new partnership with GHP; I can’t wait to see what the future has in store. 

Are you part of the Smart Data Revolution?

Smart Data Revolution

Back in 2016, we entered a new industrial era: the digital revolution. Two years later, the buzz was all around the next technological trend – the big data revolution. Now, it’s all about smart data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things: the seamless communication between systems and the execution of data insight. 

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