BigChange, the leading workforce management technology company for the service and transport sectors, announces today that Martin Port, founder and CEO, is to move into a new role as chairman. Richard Warley, who joined the business as chairman at the start of 2021 will become the driving force of the business as CEO.
The move is announced as BigChange prepares for the next phase of its development. The business, which has achieved nine years of consistent growth, is preparing to expand rapidly across multiple international markets and is building out the next generation of its technology platform.
BigChange’s field service management technology is the core workflow tool for businesses employing field service technicians and operators. BigChange’s tools provide job scheduling, customer invoicing and payments automation, mobile workforce management, and client engagement. The Company’s platform serves 1,600 small to enterprise clients spanning more than 20 industries, from plant hire to drainage and waste, social housing to food service. Clients include Sunbelt Rentals, Silentnight, Recycling Lives, HSS and EDF.
Martin Port, founder and chairman, says:
I couldn’t be more confident that Richard is the ideal person to take on the day-to-day running of the business. He is passionate about BigChange, he’s taken the time to get to know our people and our culture, and he has an extraordinary depth of experience running billion-pound companies. It is our hope that, together, we can help BigChange to reach this milestone – unicorn status – in just a few years. We currently employ over 200 people around the world, and we hope to take that figure to 500 people.
This is a really exciting time for both me and for BigChange. I feel as though I have had a promotion and relish the prospect of a new challenge. My ambitions for BigChange have only intensified over the last few years and I know that, with Richard by my side, we have the best chance of executing our plan to become the leading mobile workforce management platform in every market we target around the world.”
Richard Warley, CEO of BigChange, says:
Martin has built a really special company that combines great technology with a very big heart and an absolute focus on making the world a better place for its customers and the people who work here. I’m excited about the scale of the opportunity out there for BigChange – both in terms of the size of addressable market and the breadth of technological solutions we can bring our customers.
Martin is an evangelist for the business and a great strategic thinker. My role is about taking this business to the next level and ensuring that we preserve all that is brilliant about BigChange’s culture while evolving into a much larger entity. I am going to continue to develop JobWatch’s functionality and relevance to the market, all while maintaining our focus on customer success and excellent service.”
BigChange has experienced 50% average year-over-year revenue growth since inception. In 2020, BigChange was recognised for its outstanding contribution to innovation when it was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, one of the highest official honors for companies in the UK. It boasts a Net Promoter Score of 84.8 – a rating that denotes world class customer service. It has also been ranked among the UK’s top employers, receiving two stars in the Sunday Times “Best Companies To Work For.”
For mobile workers, compliance checks happen daily. They need to show simply and clearly that they are sticking to industry safety measures, the law, customer requirements, and company best practices.
The BigChange platform is designed with this in mind, and the tips below will help compliance checks run smoothly.
Mandatory Questions
When setting up worksheets to be completed on-site, simply tick the ‘Mandatory’ box next to any essential questions.
Where you need your mobile workers to complete a check before they start working, if you have one or more mandatory questions, you can set the ‘Completion time for resource’ on the worksheet to ‘Before starting the job’. This requires mobile workers to answer those crucial questions before they can get started on their job.
It’s just one way to keep your employees safe and ensure compliance checks are made on-site.
Conditional Branching
This makes sure the right questions get asked and don’t get in the way of work.
It allows you to set up worksheets so that questions are only shown if they need to be, which is important because irrelevant questions cause frustration and waste time in the field.
Conditional branching has multiple uses. For example, if a frontline worker reports that a certain hazard is present, it can automatically prompt follow ups about the nature of the hazard, and give tailored guidance. If the hazard is not present, the additional questions are not shown.
Or on a feedback form a customer rating of 1-4 could prompt more questions about why the customer was dissatisfied, while a rating of 8+ could prompt them to leave a brief, written review.
We hope these tips make compliance easier with BigChange. We’ll be back again soon with more ways to get the most from the system.
Nobby Stiles wasn’t a man naturally cut out for football. His son John told this month’s Motivational Monday that he was half-blind, stood at 5-foot-5, and was 9 stone wet through.
Even his name wasn’t right. After meeting Manchester United coach Jimmy Murphy, he was told:
“You can’t be a tough-tackling midfielder with a name like Norbert”.
That’s how we came to know him as Nobby.
And yet Stiles is one of only three Englishmen to have won both the World Cup and the European Cup.
John Stiles joined the BigChange team to tell the story of his father, the 1966 England midfielder who died in 2020 with advanced dementia, which his family links to years of heading the ball.
John said:
“All of us have obstacles in life and my dad had plenty, what he did have going for him was a fantastic sense of humour. He was always enthusiastic, and he was never beaten.”
Nobby was largely on the bench at United from 1960 to 1963. Five years later, he’d have a World Cup, European Cup and League Title to his name. It all came from not giving up.
Nobby was so short-sighted that when he forgot his contact lenses for his first under-23 game for England he tried to take out Scottish striker Charlie Cooke but kicked Billy Bremner instead. John recalled:
“After that, whenever they’d play together, they’d kick seven different shades out of each other.”
It was Nobby’s first step towards the 1966 World Cup. He played every minute for England – from media criticism after a crunching tackle against France, the violent game against Argentina (which finished with a chair through the dressing-room window), to the iconic image of him dancing with the Jules Rimet trophy in one hand and his false teeth in the other.
But there was a greater importance to John’s visit. Nobby passed away while suffering from advanced dementia in October 2020. He was one of many ex-players who suffered brain injuries after a long career in football – an “epidemic of dementia from heading the ball” as John put it.
Since its inception in 2020, John and his family have been ambassadors for Head for Change, a charity pushing for better protection of brain health in sport, and supporting ex-players.
John was joined by the charity’s co-founder Dr Judith Gates. She said that:
“Players like Nobby formed the foundation of the modern game but didn’t get modern-day compensation.”
Her own experience of supporting her husband and ex-Middlesbrough player Bill Gates (who suffers with chronic traumatic encephalopathy), motivated her to be part of the solution.
The instant impact Head for Change has had in setting up support groups, educating,
and funding groundbreaking research has shown the popularity of the cause.
Thanks go to the BigChange audience, who raised £1000 for Head for Change, and our speakers John and Judith. You can watch the full discussion here.
Next month, we welcome former English Netball head coach, Tracey Neville MBE. She guided the women’s national team to Commonwealth Gold in 2018 and will be joined by Leeds community-action charity CATCH. We hope to see you then.
BlueSnap to support BigChange Pay, enabling customers to accept a wide range of payment methods and manage the entirety of jobs through the BigChange platform
BigChange, the revolutionary mobile workforce management platform, today announced that it is working with BlueSnap, the global online payments technology company, to provide a comprehensive payment capability to field service companies around the world.
By integrating BlueSnap’s technology into BigChange’s software, the company’s 1,600 customers worldwide will be able to streamline their payment processes and improve their user experience by offering a wide range of fast, convenient payment options through the platform.
The new BigChange Pay service will support a wide range of payment methods, including cards, mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and account-based payments. BlueSnap will ensure that BigChange customers worldwide can accept payment through the company’s platform, while protecting them with integrated fraud detection and chargeback management functionality.
BigChange Pay will provide detailed reporting and support automated payment reconciliation with jobs and invoices to further reduce the administrative burden on back-office teams.
Martin Port, BigChange founder and CEO commented:
Fast, efficient payment is the best reward for a job well done, and BigChange Pay will help businesses grow stronger by making it easy to deliver an amazing payment experience to their customers and get paid quicker.”
BigChange Pay means entire jobs – from quotation and job creation to service delivery, invoicing, and now payment – can all be managed within the BigChange system. That end-to-end approach enables exceptional customer service, complete control and more efficient, agile operations.”
Ralph Dangelmaier, BlueSnap CEO added:
BlueSnap is thrilled to be partnering with BigChange to offer their customers global embedded payments with BigChange Pay. With our white labeled solution, BlueSnap enables BigChange to deliver a seamless customer experience with auto-onboarding for global businesses who want to offer a localised payment experience and have greater visibility into their payment program with a merchant managed portal.”
At BigChange, keeping customer data secure is a priority. Our ISO 27001 accreditation and independent security testing regime is testament to that commitment.
However, you also play an important role in maintaining security by keeping passwords secure. With BigChange, your data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, but using the same password for other accounts or responding to phishing emails can put you at risk.
BigChange’s 2-Step Verification (2SV) – a security feature that requires two pieces of information to authenticate you when logging in – offers another level of protection for your account and data.
While the first piece of information is your username and password, the second is an extra credential that only you will have access to, a dynamically changing pin sent to your phone via the Google Authenticator App. You can even get the authenticator for many smart watches in addition to your phone. It makes sure that even if your password is compromised, your account remains protected.
We are encouraging all BigChange customers to enable 2SV in the ‘Admin’ panel of ‘My Settings’, on the BigChange system. Hit the ‘Create’ button, and you’ll be shown a QR code that you can scan to set up 2SV.
For more tips on security, check out our Information Security Report which lays out the best ways to keep your data safe with BigChange.
Best Companies has officially recognised BigChange as an ‘Outstanding Company to Work For’, granting the business a coveted two-star accreditation.
BigChange has been ranked in the UK’s Top 50 Technology Companies to Work For (39th) and The 75 Best Companies to Work For in Yorkshire and The Humber (51st).
It joins the likes of Intuit QuickBooks on the Technology list, which celebrates companies with outstanding employee engagement.
“Here at BigChange, we’ve made it our mission to build an inclusive company full of talented, engaged people. That is fundamentally the right thing to do and it also makes us more successful. I’m incredibly proud that our employee engagement has been recognised as Outstanding. It shows how far we’ve come towards achieving our mission. And it shows what a strong position we’re in for a future of exciting growth driven by excellent people.”
Martin Port, Founder and CEO
BigChange was recognised for its Motivational Monday speakers, the way staff are encouraged to speak up through the BigVoice committee, and the achievement of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Best Companies works with some of the world’s best-known organisations to measure, improve and recognise staff engagement in the workplace.
“One moment I was talking to my friend. The next second I was on the ground in more pain than I’ve ever felt. I’d been blown up. I woke up every morning knowing there was a one in eight chance. That day, I was the one.”
JJ Chalmers has lived an extraordinary life, but much of the story he told for June’s Motivational Monday revolved around a single, terrible moment. One Tuesday afternoon, during routine patrol in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, he was caught in the blast of an IED.
It was a pivotal moment. In a second, his active career in the forces was cut short; he was now on a different track – one that would lead to Invictus Games gold, a new career in broadcasting and even a stint on Strictly Come Dancing.
However, it wasn’t a smooth or simple transition. JJ’s story is one of constant determination in the face of great odds, but it isn’t a lonely one.
Far from the caricature of a grizzled military vet, JJ was beaming as he told of the strong support network that helped him face down every challenge: during his service, during his recovery and during his transition into the world of broadcasting.
This theme – making connections with others to bring out the best in yourself – begins with JJ joining the Royal Marines.
“I was raised in a house where service was held in high regard. I always wanted to be part of something bigger than myself. I wanted to be one of the good guys.
JJ entered basic training:
“They issue you with a lot: boots, hat, a rifle, but more than any of that, they make you realise that you have the attributes of a Royal Marine inside of you. It’s just about bringing that out. They make you cold, wet and miserable. They take you to where you think your limit is and push you further. You quickly learn that hard work and determination can get you much further than you think is possible. It was like a sea change in my head. I realised any challenge which lay ahead of me could be solved with will, cunning and the application of my skills.”
After graduating from training, JJ was sent to serve in Afghanistan. His unit was stationed in ‘the green zone’, a lush, fertile area in the south-east of the country that extends out from the Helmand river.
It was an area riddled with IEDs:
“They’re designed to kill, and they’re completely indiscriminate. It could be a British soldier, but it’s much more likely to be a civilian.”
JJ’s squad was sent to investigate a suspected bomb-making site, to shut down IED production in the area.
JJ said:
“It would be the most catastrophic place I ever visited”
After the bomb went off JJ recalled that:
“It was absolute pandemonium. We’d been taught to give ourselves first aid, but my right arm was almost gone and the fingers that remained on my left hand were barely hanging on. There was nothing I could do for myself.”
JJ received first aid from a fellow soldier. He recalls how he was told:
JJ that’s all I can do. I have to deal with the other lads now. Keep shouting, let us know you’re with us.”
He continues:
“I knew the helicopter would take 25 minutes and I knew there was a 98% chance of survival if I got on it. So I had to grin and bear it. I’d never known pain like it but I knew I needed to get on and getting on was all I could do.”
Despite not knowing the full extent of his injuries, JJ was relieved to be going home. He was put into an induced coma and transferred to the trauma unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
“You put broken men and women in at one end, and hopefully get superheroes out the other. I needed to start again like a child. I was physically broken, and in a tough place mentally. Those demons start speaking to you at that point. When they did, I realised I had two choices. Giving up and feeling sorry for myself, laying in the hospital bed and accepting I had a miserable existence. Or I could do what I was told and listen to the doctors, nurses and physios who were putting me back together.”
JJ returned to that moment in Afghanistan
“When I was lying there, I heard ‘I’ve done all I can for you, I need to go for the others’.”
But there weren’t any others in the beds around me.
“Two of our friends and our Afghan interpreter had died in the blast. They were snuffed out in an instant. That’s when I knew I didn’t have a choice. They weren’t given one, why should I be? The only option was to move forward and get better.”
As he went through recovery, JJ regained his independence. He started cycling with the use of a recumbent bicycle, saying.
“I re-learnt the benefits of exercise. I felt a reason to push myself again. But there was a huge part missing, the part the Marines gave me, sharing that experience with a team”.
In 2014, JJ took part in the first Invictus Games. He captained the men’s trike team, in a race that would prove pivotal in his recovery. He says:
“I was there for gold, or so I thought. It was an individual race but we could work together to position better. After 40 minutes all three of us were well placed for the sprint finish, but when it came time to leave the others I couldn’t do it. We’d worked as a team in that race and at every point during our recovery. Why did I deserve gold any more than them? We could only come through and finish together. We crossed the finish line hand-in-hand. I knew then that I wasn’t alone. That I could achieve anything with the help of others.”
That image of JJ and his teammates, crossing together, defined the first Invictus Games. All three were awarded gold and JJ was later interviewed by Jonathan Edwards.
“I knew on the Monday after, I didn’t want to be an athlete,”
he says:
“When I spoke to Jonathan, I said ‘The next time we talk, I want to be sat in your chair. How do I do that?’”
That marked the start of a broadcasting career that’s gone from strength to strength. JJ was a presenter at the Rio Paralympics, got involved in the D-Day Memorial coverage and had just wrapped up broadcasting from the Leeds triathlon the day before his talk.
JJ finished with some advice for listeners about staying positive post-pandemic:
“My recovery will never be complete. But my support network looks after me. When you’re at the end of a pointy spear, it’s the people behind you that power you. Whether you’re going onto the battlefield, onto the bike, or on air.”
He continued:
“I encourage people to take little victories and learn from little slip-ups. In the last year I was able to look at the circumstances imposed on us and wonder ‘How do I make the best of these?’”
He finished by saying:
“Keep on going. Keep on smiling. We’ll all get there together.”
JJ was joined by Trevor Fudger from Help for Heroes, the charity providing lifelong recovery support to service personnel who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty. He mentioned how the work they do can send an ex service person down a new path where they still get meaning and purpose outside of service. Thanks to our donors, the BigChange network raised £630 for their cause.
Next month, we’ll hear from John Stiles, the former professional footballer, son of 1966 World Cup-winner Nobby Stiles and campaigner raising awareness of dementia in football. Our charity partner will be Head for Change, for whom John is an ambassador. We hope to see you again then.
BigChange lets you automatically send worksheets to customers and save emails in your Notes at the push of a button. Read on to find out how.
The BigChange platform is designed to meet the needs of your business. An important part of that is automating repetitive, manual tasks, so you are free to focus on what matters most.
Automate Customer Feedback and Confirmation
For example, if you’re looking to get feedback or confirmation from customers, you don’t need to spend copious amounts of time chasing them up over the phone or email.
By using the ‘Third Party Worksheet’ feature, you can set an email to be automatically triggered by a Note or Job activity.
This can be useful in a few ways:
When you create a job activity, automatically send a worksheet to the customer for confirmation of job details, and include a list of additional services they may need.
When you complete a job activity, automatically send over a survey about how you performed.
If it’s important to receive confirmation before you start a job, you can prevent work being scheduled until this document has been completed.
Automatically Link Emails to Contacts Notes
Our next tip is to use the BigChange Outlook add-in to automatically link emails to your Contacts Notes.
The add-in icon is displayed on the ribbon at the top of Outlook, and allows you to seamlessly attach selected emails to your Contacts Notes. You can do this from your desktop Outlook app and Outlook Online.
If your contacts email you, you can add the email easily to an open Note, or create a new one.
If previous emails from the same contact have been saved, the add-in will automatically display the relevant Note. It can also recognise the email address and suggest Notes that might be relevant.
This helps you share information across your organisation quickly, and to store the information where you need it, in one place.
This video has more information on installing the add-in for individual machines and via Office 365 administration.
We hope these two tips help you save time in BigChange. We’ll be back again soon with more advice.
Richard Warley, BigChange’s new Chairman, has revealed that, of the many positions he’s held in his career, “the one that I am the most excited about, based on all of the companies I’ve seen, all of the experiences that I’ve had, is BigChange.”
Mike Profit, a technology leader with extensive field service management experience, joins BigChange as a non-executive director to help guide its product and expansion strategies. BigChange, the revolutionary mobile workforce management platform, today announced the appointment of Mike Profit as a non-executive director. Mike will provide strategic guidance to BigChange’s product and operational activities, and advise the company as it expands into new markets.
Based in Princeton, New Jersey, Mike brings more than 25 years of product and technology leadership experience gained at US-headquartered startups and blue-chip companies to BigChange’s board. He was part of the leadership team that built WorkWave, a market-leading field service management software provider, prior to its acquisition by IFS in 2017.
“BigChange has established itself as a market leader for SME customers in several key sectors and is perfectly poised to expand in the UK and internationally. I am honoured to join BigChange’s board and be part of its innovation and growth strategies.”
Mike Profit, Non-Executive Director, BigChange
“It’s fantastic to appoint someone of Mike’s stature to BigChange’s management team. His experience building field service management and Software-as-a-Service businesses is hugely valuable for informing our technology strategy and achieving our global ambitions.”
Martin Port, BigChange Founder & CEO
1,500 organisations across a wide range of sectors use BigChange’s field service management platform for job scheduling, customer invoicing and payments automation, mobile workforce management and customer engagement. Customers include Sunbelt Rentals, Silentnight, Recycling Lives, HSS and EDF.
