Category: Entrepreneur

A ground-breaking technology deal has seen Leeds-based BigChange confirm a five-year commitment to IoT connectivity provider Wireless Logic Group worth initially in excess of £1.5m with a projected value towards £4m by 2020.

BigChange provides a paperless way to plan, manage, schedule and track any mobile workforce with a seamless solution for managing the entire operation from quote all the way through to invoice. As a 5-in-one Mobile Workforce Management platform, it combines a customer booking app, cloud-based back-office CRM and job scheduling, a rich mobile app for the driver or engineer combined with real-time vehicle tracking – easy and intuitive to use, customise and implement.

A fundamental component to the BigChange platform is its ability to communicate in real-time, sending and receiving mission-critical data securely. This is achieved through Wireless Logic’s private infrastructure overlay across the cellular networks, delivering a tailored 3G/4G solution for BigChange mobile devices UK-wide. The deal signed between both organisations will see a shared commitment to roll out an additional 40,000 subscriptions with an expected turnover in excess of £40m by 2020. Today, clients include HSS Tool Hire, Silentnight Beds, Morrison Utility Services and Sheffield City Council.

Commenting on behalf of BigChange Apps, Martin Port – Founder and CEO said: “As a relatively fledgling player in the mobile workforce solutions market, our growth has been dramatic. Working with partners like Wireless Logic Group give us the confidence to deliver an unrivalled end-to-end connected platform with built-in resilience and value. In demonstrating our commitment to them, we look to the future with confidence as we seek out further UK opportunities and develop more openings overseas, particularly within the lucrative US-based market.”

Speaking on behalf of Wireless Logic Group, Oliver Tucker – Co-founder and Group CEO said: “Our partnership with Martin and his team has followed on from working alongside him at his previous organisation – Masternaut. In just five years, our journey with BigChange has seen the full implementation of the Wireless Logic connectivity platform with double digit growth year on year. BigChange’s approach to the market is to fill a much-needed gap for flexible and rapid deployment mobile workforce management tools. Our experience in tailoring connectivity and infrastructure solutions is helping the BigChange team to develop highly competitive connected eco-systems with innovation and customer focus at the heart. This is significant business for us at Wireless Logic and we are excited about the huge potential as the application is rolled out to further countries. Already we are trialing a number of global cellular solutions which will form part of a one-stop secure connectivity platform for BigChange’s customer base.”

About Wireless Logic Group

Europe’s leading independent M2M (Machine to Machine) and IoT (Internet of Things) platform provider, Wireless Logic Group works with thousands of application providers, systems integrators and enterprises delivering a portfolio of services including tailored management platforms, private network infrastructure and specialist mobile, satellite, fixed line and low power wireless area network (LPWAN) connectivity. All services are supported by a team of multi-disciplined personnel including technology development, consultancy and client management.

Founded in 1999 by CEO Oliver Tucker and CSO Philip Cole, Wireless Logic is backed by CVC Capital Partners (www.cvc.com). The organisation’s European headquarters are located in Hurley, Berkshire UK with country offices in Denmark, France, Germany and Spain.

For more information, visit www.wirelesslogic.com

About BigChange

BigChange by name, BigChange by nature! BigChange is an established force in mobile workforce management, offering a system that transforms the way companies manage their mobile operations. JobWatch from BigChange is the paperless way to plan, manage, schedule and track any mobile workforce. This powerful all-in-one Mobile Workforce Management platform combines back office software, mobile apps, fleet management and real-time vehicle tracking in one simple to use system. Using JobWatch, customers can manage their entire operation, from quote all the way through to invoice.

For more information, visit www.bigchange.com

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Yorkshire’s smEs can deliver a huge productivity boost to Britain’s economy after Brexit if they embrace new technologies, an entrepreneur has predicted.

Speaking at a Connect Yorkshire event in Leeds, Martin Port said many companies turning over up to £25m still rely on accounting software, spreadsheets, emails and paperwork to manage their operations.

He said: “Yorkshire was at the forefront of the first industrial revolution with coal mines, steel works and textiles mills. “Yorkshire can be a world beater again if SMEs, the lifeblood of our economy, embrace new technologies to become more efficient and more agile. SMEs can automate everything behind the scenes and free up their people to focus on the human side. Technologies will cut out waste and failure and allow customers to serve themselves.” Mr Port said smarter mobile workforce management will lead to greater collaboration between companies. He said they can use data insights to share jobs and save travel costs, which in turn will reduce the growing number of commercial van journeys on roads. Mr Port said technology can also help SMEs to become safer and more compliant with health and safety regulation and added the development of driverless vehicles will lead to fewer accidents as cars and lorries stick to the speed limits. An increase in productivity would provide a big shot in the arm for the North of England’s economy, a stated priority for the Government after Britain’s departure from the EU. Productivity is a measure of output by hour per worker and is a key economic indicator.

Mr Port is founder and chief executive of BigChange, a fast-growing technology firm which helps companies plan, manage, schedule and track mobile workforces and transport operations. He said the vast majority of his company’s 600 customers are growing and adding new employees. BigChange and Connect Yorkshire, the not-for-profit membership group for entrepreneurs wishing to grow their businesses, hosted the roundtable event to discuss the impact that technology will have on Yorkshire businesses over the next decade.

It was attended by owner managers from some of the region’s most successful companies, who were either Entrepreneurs in Residence or members of Connect Yorkshire, and chaired by Connect Yorkshire chief executive Nick Butler. Simon Gray, managing director of Boost Drinks, told the gathering: “If companies are investing in technology, they are investing in people and quality of output. “If employees are not sitting on the motorway for two hours and they can get a better work-life balance, it will generally lead to more sales and more profits.” Simon Bodsworth, managing director of Daval Furniture, said technology can be used to inspire customers and get rid of grey areas in expectations. Mark Gibson, managing director of e2m ltd electrical engineers, said technology can create a sense of theatre for customers. Samantha Goodhart, managing director of Bon Couer Fine Wines, said some customers embrace technology but others do not. “For us, it’s about personalising what we do,” she added. “It allows our staff to spend quality time with our customers.” Alistair Maiden, founder of legal engineering business SYKE, said the nature and complexity of technology means that many companies can lose sight of user experience. “If you focus on user experience, you will probably win,” he added. Mark Bowers, chief executive of Redfern Travel, said his company had achieved huge productivity gains through the use of data processing in an industry dominated by legacy IT systems from the 1970s.

Mr Port launched BigChange in 2012 after exiting Masternaut, the telematics business he founded in the UK and led through a series of acquisitions. BigChange is on course for sales of £7m this year and £12m in 2018. Customers include SMEs, corporates and public sector organisations. It has 60 employees. The company has won a number of accolades, including this year’s Yorkshire Post Excellence in Awards, and was named in the Deloitte 2017 UK Technology Fast 50. It is expanding into Europe and the United States, via new offices in Paris and New York. Connect Yorkshire specialises in helping regional businesses to achieve their growth ambitions through its network of experienced Entrepreneurs in Residence who provide time and expertise free of charge to members.

Read more at: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/tech-can-make-sme-sector-more-efficient-1-8895756

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Business Update BigChange is delighted to report record sales contracts of £2.5m for Q3 of this year. May I say a big thank you to our Customers without whom this simply would not have been possible.

Indeed, the 50+ new companies that we welcomed this quarter has pushed our client base to almost 600. Because of our significant growth we have recruited 10 new team members in RoadCrew Customer Service, Implementation, Professional Services and Software Development. We now have a team of over 60 specialists.

Awards

Deloitte 2017 UK Technology Fast 50 Winner in the North East Region. We were also 25th fastest growing tech company in the UK with 1,095% growth over the last 4 years.

Four months of intense competition came to a head at the Tech North Northern Stars event. BigChange won along with 9 other companies to represent the North in the European Final in Berlin at the beginning of December.

Our success has been recognised by the prestigious Yorkshire Post; we won the Excellence in Business Award 2017 for the Best Company (Up to £10M category). We were proud to receive this recognition and honour.

Motivational Monday
Our teams have been inspired by a series of “Motivational Mondays” that we have held at the beginning of each month as part of our Sales Meetings and Team Building events. We have hosted Falklands Veteran Simon Weston, British Olympian Eddie the Eagle and British Racing Driver Nic Hamilton (Brother of world F1 champion Lewis Hamilton). Each one has inspired us with their own unique story and journey through life. The common theme that unites them is tenacity and perseverance in the face of adversity. It was a real honour to meet them and hear their stories.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

At the heart of BigChange is a real commitment to corporate social responsibility. We are getting involved with as many Transaid events as possible and we were honoured to meet HRH Princess Anne at one of these events. At this year’s Motor Transport Awards, we bid for Des Evans MBE (former CEO of Man Trucks) & Richard Burnett CEO of the Road Haulage Association to join us as interns for a day. Their advice was priceless, and there is a great write-up about the day in the Motor Transport Magazine. We also recently held a Brexit roundtable, hosted by Clipper Logistics to raise further funds for the Transaid charity this will featured in Motor Transport 13th November edition.

We have also teamed up with BRAKE, the charity encouraging safe driving. Nic Hamilton helped us launch this year’s ‘Speed Down Save Lives’ campaign for Road Safety Week that launches on the 22nd of this month. We are a corporate partner of BRAKE and are proud that BigChange technology helps to reduce accidents.

New Features

The BigChange 4-in-1 System continues to excite SMEs and Corporate Customers from all different industry sectors who are attracted to our seamless and fully integrated system. Our end-to-end solution provides CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Job Scheduling, a rich Mobile App and Vehicle Tracking all-in-one. BigChange helps companies go paperless and digitally transforms businesses.

In terms of product development, apart from our weekly software updates (you can find more information on our HELP CENTRE), we have now launched BigChange “Uber for Service and Transport”. This is a customer branded Booking App (iOS/Android) where BigChange clients can rapidly deploy their own on-demand app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

The much anticipated iOS version of the BigChange DriverWatch App has also been launched. This is available free with Journey Watch providing 5 key features: Timesheets, Vehicle Checks, 2-Way Messaging, Driver Behaviour and Expense management.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

You may remember me from the past I founded a company called Masternaut in 2002 and built the business up from scratch and sold it in April 2011. Masternaut Farewell

Four years ago, I founded BigChange with a vision to harness the benefits of a powerful, feature rich 3-in-1 Mobile Workforce Management platform that would be within the reach of businesses of any size. We have combined back office CRM, Document Management, Job Planning & Scheduling, a Rich Driver / Engineer Android Mobile App available on a Samsung Tablet and Black Box Vehicle Tracking to help organisations go Paperless, making them more Efficient and Safer. JobWatch Video

We have fast approaching 600 companies in the UK using our JobWatch system. As well as the UK, we have customers in Ireland, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, Australia and the USA.

By having one system the benefits are far more achievable as your current tracking system sits standalone outside of the operations of the business. If you run a fleet of transport vehicles, service engineers or manage a sales team BigChange JobWatch is ideal to take care of all your practices and process.

Benefits include extra work completed, reduction in failed jobs, reduced office administration time, raise invoices immediately post job completion, reduction in fuel spend and improved driver behaviour due to reducing distances travelled. All this helps you generate more business!

Companies such as Abird Limited, Acumen Waste Services, Alfred Bagnall and Sons, Arrow Industrial Group, Bobst, Buy It Direct, Capital Cooling Commercial Refrigeration, Cathedral Hygiene, Complete Business Solutions Group, CS Ellis, Elddis Transport, Elliott Group, Eurofins, Farid Hillend Engineering, FSH (Group) Limited, Gap Group, Garic, HSS Hire Service, Jarvie Plant, John Deere Forestry, Nixon Hire, Johnsons Stalbridge Linen Services, JW Crowther, Kingspan, Komatsu Forest, London Borough of Bromley, North Yorkshire Timber, P & O Ferrymasters, Paul Clark Services, Pollock (Scotrans), Lakehouse Group, Rainham Steel, Ringway Jacobs, Serco, Sheffield City Council, Silentnight & Sealy, Sutton and East Surrey Water Services, The Bread Factory, Thetford International Compactor Services, UK Platforms, Utilitec Services, Vantec Europe and Wood Group Industrial Services.

Join our Paperless Revolution Click here to arrange a presentation or call 0113 4571000.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

The Entrepreneur: Joseph Valente, ImpraGas A year on from winning The Apprentice, 27 year-old Valente has proved his business credentials with company turnover set to hit £3.8m. Read his story…

Founder: Joseph Valente

Company: ImpraGas

Website: https://impragas.co.uk/

Description in one line: The UK’s specialists in the installation of gas boilers.

Turnover: £2,100,000

12 month target: £3,800,000

Business growth

Describe your business model and what makes your business unique:

What is your greatest business achievement to date?

Winning The Apprentice and a £250,000 investment from billionaire business partner Lord Sugar by the age of 25. Coupled with achieving a multimillion pound turnover in just 5 years, expanding from one location in 2012 to now covering 11 counties across the South East.

What numbers do you look at every day in your business?

Each day I review the following, without fail:

To what extent does your business trade internationally and what are your plans?

For ImpraGas we are, and will always be, a UK national business only.

Describe your growth funding path:

Start-up capital for ImpraGas came in the form of a £15,000 personal loan and then we managed to grow organically for the next three years, reinvesting profits until our next round of funding came in the form of £250,000 from Lord Sugar.

What technology has made the biggest difference to your business?

We purchased a CRM system that has revolutionised the way our operations work. It’s called JobWatch by BigChange apps and runs our whole operation logistically, financially and the most beneficial part is it cuts all paper processes from the organisation.

The Samsung tablets that our engineers and surveyors use also means we can have instant quotations and safety forms as soon as the job is complete from anywhere in the country. This means we can replicate the model anywhere in the country which aids in our expansion plans to have ImpraGas installers nationwide within the next five years.

Where would you like your business to be in three years?

In three years, we forecast a turnover in excess of £10m and believe we’ll be well on our way to covering the whole of England.

With the model as it stands, we can ensure that we’re offering the highest level of customer service to clients, nationally.

Growth challenges

What is the hardest thing you have ever done in business?

Without doubt it was getting started in the first place. Taking that initial leap of faith and personally investing everything is a huge test of confidence.

After that, the challenge is expanding and maintaining the same level of customer service, care of our employees and constant sales – these are every day challenges but ones we relish and tackle head on.

What was your biggest business mistake?

Not starting earlier. I always knew I could do it but, without start-up capital, taking out a personal loan was a huge risk. Thankfully it’s one that has paid off.

Piece of Red Tape that hampers growth most:

Paying tax – I’d rather be able to invest a portion of this money into providing more jobs and apprenticeships.

What is the most common serious mistake you see entrepreneurs make?

Not establishing robust systems and processes that are capable of withstanding expansion.

Some entrepreneurs are great at creating things but they don’t focus enough attention on scaling up and securing substainable growth.

How will your market look in three years?

Although they’ve been around for the past 10 years, renewable technologies such as solar panels, biomass and heat pumps have only recently started to be included in domestic housing.

I would expect renewables, as well as SmartHome technology, to be far more mainstream in domestic housing in three years time.

What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to a less experienced entrepreneur?

“Don’t wait for opportunity, create it.” Nothing is ever going to fall in your lap. You have to be out there looking for it or creating it yourself.

Personal growth

Biggest luxury?

A weekend away once a month; every month.

Executive education or learn it on the job?

On the job!

What would make you a better leader?

A little more patience.

What one thing do you wish you’d known when you started?

That it’s okay to make mistakes in business as long as you learn from them.

One business app and one personal app you can’t do without:

For business it’s LinkedIn and for personal it’s Tinder.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

BigChange powers ahead in the first half of 2017 and remains on track to achieve 100% sales growth with an annual turnover of over £7m. New orders in the period exceeded over £5m pushing our subscribers to over 15,000 across our customer base which is fast approaching 600 organisations.

New customers such as FSH Group, Sheffield City Council, London Borough of Bromley, Garic, High Access Maintenance, P&O Ferrymasters, Arrow Industrial Group, UpNorth Group, Blade Access & Platforms (UK & US), The NWH Group, Joda Freight, Jarvie Plant and many more, all joined the BigChange “Paperless Revolution”.

Our new customers operate in the following sectors: Catering, Hospitality & Event Hire, Construction, Public Sector, Plant Hire, Civil Engineering, Maintenance and Cleaning Services, Transport, Bus & Coach Travel, Electrical, Plumbing & Heating, Fire & Security, Facilities Management, HVAC, IT Networks, Printing, Glazing, Waste Management & Water Hygiene.

Awards & Progress

I’d like to reflect on some of our proud achievements in the first half of 2017:

Upgrading your Vehicle Tracking System

Four years ago, I founded www.bigchange.com with a vision to harness the benefits of a powerful, feature rich 3-in-1 Mobile Workforce Management platform that would be within reach of businesses of any size. We have combined back office CRM, Job Planning & Scheduling, a Rich Driver / Engineer Mobile App and Black Box Vehicle Tracking to help organisations go Paperless, making them more Efficient and Safer. As well as the UK, we have customers in Ireland, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, Australia and the USA.

I owe a huge thanks to our customers who have worked with us along the journey. They are the catalyst of our rapid growth and have helped us shape our system. JobWatch has transformed productivity and profitability for our customers and it is revolutionising the service experience for their own customers.

New Product Developments

During the period, we developed more applications and new features including an even richer CRM system with the ability to design templates for email campaigns, surveys, custom reports and financial documents. We have also added the Sales Opportunity Pipeline which has now been included along with CRM activity in our BigChange Analytics module.

Workflow and process automation, collaboration between your company and your sub-contractor community (Job Sharing) and an on-demand Job Booking App that our clients can deploy for their own customers. This will give every customer (no matter their size) the ability to have their own App in the iTunes or Google Play store for their customers to book, track and manage their work in real-time with secure payment options. These developments are part of our vision to allow organisations to become even slicker and more efficient whilst improving the quality of service.

Corporate and Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility, often abbreviated to “CSR,” is a business’ initiatives to assess and take responsibility for the company’s effects on environmental and social wellbeing. We support local charities and good causes that our customers support. We are keen to promote business within schools so we support Founders 4 Schools to inspire students and welcome young individuals to complete their work experience at our offices. We also support many good causes such as Danby Rovers (we are Shirt Sponsors) who play in the West Riding Ability Counts league set up for people with learning difficulties. We sponsor the Social Enterprise Street Lane Bakery, funding a delivery vehicle which is kitted out with BigChange technology helping them track deliveries to members of the local community. We support Transaid a charity that transforms’ lives through safe, available, and sustainable transport in Africa.

We are corporate sponsors of BRAKE, the Road Safety Charity as part of our ongoing commitment to the road safety cause. Additionally, we are a proud supporter of the British Israel Chamber of Commerce promoting business in the wider community as well as Connect Yorkshire, helping local businesses to grow by learning from Yorkshire’s most successful entrepreneurs. We also generate money for charities via referrals from our customers. For each successful recommendation, we donate £10 per unit to the charity of their choice on the customer’s first order.

I look forward to working even closer with you in the future.

All the best

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

BigChange powers ahead in quarter one 2017 with 100% sales growth and on track for annual turnover of over £7m. New orders in the period reached £2.7m pushing our subscriber base to over 12,000 across our customer base of 540 organisations.

New customers such as Innserve Ltd, Sheffield City Council, London Borough of Bromley, Garic, High Access, Watson & Hillhouse, P&O Ferrymasters, FSH (Group) and many more all joined the BigChange revolution in Quarter One. Our new customer acquisitions work in the following sectors: Catering Hospitality & Event Hire, Construction, Public Sector, Plant Hire, Civil Engineering, Maintenance and Cleaning Services, Transport, Bus & Coach Travel, Electrical, Plumbing, Heating, Fire, Security, Facilities Management, HVAC, IT Networks, Printing, Glazing, Waste Management & Water Hygiene

Awards & Progress

I’d like to reflect on some of our proud achievements in quarter one

Four years ago, I founded BigChange with a vision to harness the benefits of a powerful, feature rich 3-in-1 Mobile Workforce Management platform that would be within reach of businesses of any size. We have combined back office CRM, Job Planning & Scheduling, a Rich Mobile App and Vehicle Tracking to help organisations go Paperless, making them more Efficient and Safer. As well as the UK, we have customers in Ireland, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, Australia and the USA.

Digitizing the customer journey

I owe a huge thanks to our customers who have worked with us along the journey. They are the catalyst of our rapid growth and have helped us shape our system. JobWatch has transformed productivity and profitability for our customers and is revolutionising the service experience for their own customers.

Events

We look forward to welcoming you to the following exhibitions

New Product Launches

During Quarter Two 2017 we will launch more applications and new features including workflow and process automation, collaboration between your company and your sub-contractor community (Job Sharing) and an on-demand service app; that our clients can deploy for their own customers. This will give every customer (no matter their size) the ability to have their own App in the iTunes or Google Play store for their customers (businesses or consumers) to book, track and manage their work in real-time with secure payment options. These developments are part of our vision to allow organisations to become even slicker and more efficient whilst improving the quality of service.

I’d like to wish you good health and lots business success in the future.

All the best

Martin Port

CEO

Tel +44 113 4571000 Ext 333

Mobile +44 7973 671779

BigChange
3150 Century Way
Thorpe Park
Leeds LS15 8ZB
Tel +44 113 4571000

Email [email protected]

Web www.bigchange.com

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

BigChange achieves Record Sales Growth with a 225% increase in half year sales to £1.9m. Expected full year sales of £5m for 2016.

With over 400 customers and 9,000 subscribers BigChange is becoming an established force in mobile workforce management.

BigChange works with Google Maps and Google Apps and was recently featured by Google in a blog read more click here

BigChange recently won the BigChip Award 2016 for best B2B eBusiness project read more click here
www.bigchange.com

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

BigChange JobWatch is the All-In-One Mobile Workforce Management Solution. One Single platform brings together your back office, mobile workers & customers in perfect harmony.

The BigChange JobWatch system lets organisations eliminate paper letting them efficiently plan, manage, schedule and track their mobile workforce.

BigChange has worked closely with Google Maps over the last three years, they found the team highly Professional, Knowledgeable and Skilled. BigChange is committed to Google Maps for the long term and have renewed their contract which will see the base grow in the United Kingdom alone to over 50,000 subscribers by 2020.

Johann Levy Chief Technology Officer of BigChange and one of the world’s leading developers in Geographical based systems commented “After previously working with Microsoft MapPoint I can honestly say that the Google Maps platform has been transformational and the support has surpassed my expectation. We deal with humans at Google Maps not a website so we can interact with the team in respect of the new features, functionality and influence the product road map.”

The BigChange JobWatch System utilises Google Maps technology in many different ways from

BigChange plans to integrate Google Apps into the JobWatch system this will give all companies a complete End to End Apps that will enable voice communication, email and document management working in synchronisation with BigChange JobWatch.

www.bigchangeapps.com

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Discover the paperless way to plan, manage, schedule and track your mobile workforce.

View our new 2016 brochure and see how JobWatch makes it easy to manage your entire operation from quote all the way through to invoice.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW BROCHURE

NEW Features Include

Call: +441134571000

Email: [email protected]

W. www.bigchangeapps.com

Martin Port
Founder & CEO