Category: In The Spotlight

US computer giant Dell has agreed a deal to buy data storage company EMC for $67bn (£44bn).

EMC shareholders will receive $33.15 per share, $24.05 of which will be in cash.

If approved by regulators, the deal would be the biggest in history between two technology companies.

Falling demand for PCs means Dell is looking to expand into more lucrative businesses, and it has identified data storage as a key growth area.

“Our new company will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next-generation IT ,” said Dell boss Michael Dell.

EMC boss Joe Tucci said: “The waves of change we now see in our industry are unprecedented and, to navigate this change, we must create a new company for a new era”.

Mr Dell will be chairman and chief executive of the combined group that, Dell said, would be the world’s “largest privately-controlled, integrated technology company”.

‘Stunning coup’

The exact cost of the deal will depend on the value of shares in VMware, the software company controlled by EMC. VMware will remain an independent, listed company.

The price per share agreed represents a 20% premium on Friday’s EMC closing share price of $27.86. EMC shares were up about 4% in pre-market trading on Monday.

The deal is expected to close some time between May and October 2016.

Analysts suggested the deal was a brave move by Dell.

“Dell wants to become the old IBM Corp, a one-stop shop for corporate clients,” said Erik Gordon from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

“That model fell apart a couple of decades ago. Reviving it would be a stunning coup for Dell.”

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Our JobWatch and JourneyWatch products have evolved with lots of new functionality.

To capture all these new features, we’ve put together a brand new visitor website, ensuring that you get the full picture.

What’s more it’s fully mobile optimised – so we challenge you to view it on your mobile or tablet.

I would love to hear what you make of it please let me know.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Work-related road accidents are the biggest cause of work-related accidental death.

Approximately 1000 people are killed annually compared to approximately 250 fatalities due to accidents notified annually under the Reporting of Injuries Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).

Employers have duties under Health and Safety law to assess driver competence. Even though employees who drive will have passed the driving test, this on its own is not enough. Employers should still assess individuals to determine competence, attitudes and risks etc. (Source RoSPA)

Managing a Driving for Work Policy is a legal requirement under Health and Safety Legislation & Road traffic law. Management and employees can both be prosecuted for road traffic crashes involving work-related journeys, even when drivers are using their own vehicles.

A survey of 500 business decision makers reveals that 57% of businesses are unaware that they could be subject to a public order if found guilty of a fatal accident at work. This penalty is so significant that it should ensure that Health and Safety is at the heart of business decision making. Particularly when strategic decisions about investment in training or providing new equipment are being made versus promotional spend.

When asked about the implications of breaching the Act-a publicity order or a fine of 10% of turnover, 59% of businesses regarded the former as the greater threat.

In launching the findings of the research CIEH Chief Executive, Graham Jukes said: “This poll research highlights the lack of awareness in most businesses of the effect that an accident at work may have on a firm’s ability to trade in the future. The HSE have just published their new strategy and business awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring effective health and safety provision is at its heart. “Business leaders must act proportionately but if they fail to properly resource health and safety and something goes wrong then it will not just be the victim that suffers but the business as a whole through the link to the corporate manslaughter and homicide Act.” (Source CIEH)

A risk management policy must be written when a company has five or more employees. Business mileage is any mileage done on the behalf of the business other than commuting, unless they are travelling to a location that is not their usual place of work then it still comes under Health and Safety Law. (Source DfT & HSE).

Average fleet accident rate 65%, Average bent metal cost – £700 (per vehicle)Average hidden costs – £700 x 4 (£2800) – (between 4-36 times bent metal cost . Average overall cost per crash – £3500.

Driver training is a self-funding investment which can be funded from the savings of just fuel alone.

Some of the other benefits include:-

www.bigchangeapps.com

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Alex Epstein, founder and creator of Concoction (a customised haircare brand), delivers an energetic pitch.

“It has a great appeal,” says Harris. “You can tailor the product to your own needs which is great.”

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

BigChange, the mobile workforce technology company, today announced the launch of Scheduling Assistant, a revolutionary new service enabling businesses of all size to maximise the capacity and efficiency of their mobile workforces.

Available as part of BigChange’s online JobWatch system, Scheduling Assistant connects to mobile workers’ diaries and telematics systems, to help back office personnel pick the lowest cost mobile worker with available time within an agreed customer service level.

Scheduling Assistant considers a wide range of factors – including the existing schedule, location, capability and rate of each mobile worker – to calculate the travel time, distance and total cost associated with assigning new jobs to them. These considerations include return journeys to base or their next job.

Back office personnel are able to allocate and dispatch a job within seconds. The customer will get immediate notification of the appointment, which they can accept instantly and get real time progress updates. The job is added automatically to the schedule on the appropriate employee’s BigChange mobile computer.

Customers already using the BigChange Scheduling Assistant have dramatically increased the amount of billable time available for each mobile worker. Early adopters have been able to extract more than £500 worth of additional billable time a month for each mobile worker and achieve significant reductions in travel time. It has also helped reduce fuel consumption, typically saving 300 miles per month for each mobile worker.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

It isn’t fun to have a bad experience with customer service. Sometimes, expectations are not met when you are on the other side of the phone.

Studies show strong customer service pays great dividends to an organization’s long-term stability and growth; many companies employ a customer relationship management system to help keep customers happy.

The benefit of customer service is obtaining customer retention. Happy customers become repeat customers. This means competent, well-trained customer service representatives are needed to handle questions and issues; if the company doesn’t have this it often looks for a cmr solution that will reassure customers that their needs will be met. Representatives who excel at listening to the customer go a long way with the customer’s resolution of an issue. Support desk representatives that strive to help the customer can ultimately lead to better customer satisfaction.

BigChange JobWatch System offers CRM included for free in the web based back office software, combine that with Vehicle Tracking and go paperless with the JobWatch Mobile Android App your customer service levels will hit new heights.

Get in touch now to start making a BigChange for Small Change

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Speed is a critical factor in all road crashes and casualties.

Speed is a critical factor in all road crashes and casualties. Driving is unpredictable and if something unexpected happens on the road ahead – such as a child stepping out from between parked cars – it is a driver’s speed that will determine whether they can stop in time, and if they can’t stop, how hard they will hit.

Hence reducing and managing traffic speeds is crucial to road safety. It has been estimated that for every 1mph reduction in average speeds, crash rates fall by an average of 5%. Breaking the speed limit or travelling too fast for conditions is recorded (by police at crash scenes) as a contributory factor in more than one in four (28%) fatal crashes in the UK. This is arguably a gross underestimate, because whether or not a vehicle is judged to have been speeding or going too fast for conditions, the fact it was involved in a collision means it was going too fast to have stopped in time. In this way, speed is always a contributory factor, albeit often in combination with other causes: no one was ever killed by a stationary vehicle.

JobWatch powered by BigChange includes for free Driver Behaviour Reporting and Alerting. The system measures Speeding, Acceleration, Harsh Braking, Cornering and MPG. We promote praising safe driving and award our customers with cash donations made on their behalf to “Brake Road Safety Charity” . Well done to Exova PLC for promoting safe driving, Darren Leanning of Exova Grimsby won the BigChange Safe Driving Award last quarter.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Volkswagen’s ‘Eyes On The Road’ PSA Highlights The Dangers Of Distracted Driving

It doesn’t take a horror movie to get audiences to jump from their seats. Sometimes, a clever ad will do the trick.

Moviegoers in Hong Kong apparently didn’t know what was in store when the lights went down and they began to watch a film in which a driver is cruising down a road.

Watch the clip above to see what happened next.

The clip ends with the following message:

“Mobile use is now the leading cause of death behind the wheel.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says drunk driving led to 10,322 deaths in the United States in 2012, compared to 3,360 due to distracted driving.

However, the agency says “impairment associated with using a cell phone while driving can be as profound as that associated with drunk driving.”

Contact www.BigChangeApps.com

Martin Port
Founder & CEO