Waste & Recycling machinery leader Blue Group rolls out BigChange Mobile Workforce Management technology

Waste and Recycling machinery leader Blue Group rolls out BigChange Mobile Workforce Management technology, fully integrated with SAP Business One.

Blue Group, leading specialist provider of materials processing equipment for the quarrying and waste recycling industry has implemented BigChange’s 4-in-1 Mobile Workforce Management Platform across its Service division. The all-in-one system is fully integrated with Blue’s SAP Business One ERP system and provides intelligent job scheduling, an Android mobile app for service technicians and real-time tracking of all vehicles across the fleet. The solution was implemented by BigChange in partnership with Blue’s SAP Business One integrator, Frontline Consultancy.

Blue Group chose BigChange as part of a digital transformation project to enhance customer service and automate the warranty claims process. The BigChange system has revolutionised the booking and scheduling of planned and reactive maintenance, connecting customer service teams with mobile technicians in real-time. Intelligent scheduling has replaced the use of Outlook and jobs raised in SAP are instantly synced with the BigChange platform. It allows advisers to quickly offer customers urgent maintenance slots at a time and date to suit them, considering real-time technician and equipment availability, proximity to the customer and live traffic data. The intelligent scheduling engine ensures maximum flexibility for the customer whilst minimising travel time and distance, driving fuel savings and a reduction in emissions.

Real-time visibility of the operation ensures customer service advisors are empowered to answer customer questions in an instant and automated estimated time of arrival (ETA) alerts by email and text message ensure customers are always fully informed.

Peter Lidbetter, Group IT Manager at Blue Group said:

“BigChange have worked extremely well with everyone involved in this project. Across the business they have always been willing to go the extra mile and give us the support needed to take the project forward. As a company they are at the cutting edge of service management, producing a fantastic product that is easy to use for everyone involved from our service engineers to the back office staff.”

Stuart Hardiman, Commercial Service Manager at Blue Group commented:

“The BigChange technology has put us in another league and has made the customer experience completely seamless. It has empowered the entire service team and gives us true real-time visibility into the KPIs that are fundamental to successful service delivery.”

Blue Group supply, install and maintain crushers, screeners, shredders, material handlers and recycling plants for leading industrial users across the UK and Ireland from 8 strategically placed sites. They provide an industry leading maintenance offering to maximise uptime and to keep machines running efficiently. The group turned over in excess of £100 million in 2017.

The BigChange technology is saving hundreds of thousands of pieces of paperwork annually, and has replaced an electronic pen and paper based legacy system with digital workflows running on rugged waterproof Samsung Android Tablets. Each day, Blue technicians complete an electronic walkaround check, logging and photographing any defects that are managed to resolution via integrated fleet management functionality. On starting their timesheet, technicians have instant access to their jobs for the day with detailed information about each customer, site and machinery. Job data is automatically loaded into the integrated sat-nav with turn-by-turn guidance and live traffic updates. On arrival, the app takes care of risk assessments and method statements and guides the technician though equipment specific service workflows, capturing a detailed audit trail. Photos are captured during the service process for added proof of service.

On completion, customers automatically receive electronic job-cards via email, proactively confirming completion. This instant sync with the back-office means no ‘paperwork’ needs to be returned for processing and allows Blue group to instantly raise warranty claims, avoiding any delays and boosting cashflow. The system is also delivering duty of care benefits for lone workers, providing confirmation that all engineers have returned home after their jobs.

BigChange founder and CEO Martin Port said:

“With their adoption of the latest BigChange technology, fully integrated with SAP Business One, Blue Group are delivering a world class-leading customer experience that will maintain their competitive winning edge in the market.”

Caine Fearn, Managing Director of Frontline Consultancy commented:

“Frontline have been working in partnership with BigChange to deliver a truly business changing solution for Blue Group. With a fully integrated SAP Business One back office and their remarkable field service application, Frontline and BigChange have delivered a complete, scalable business solution for anyone serious about field automation, job & stock control and customer service.”

TWO tech hubs are to be created in Yorkshire designed to help support businesses and skills in the area. The Treasury said two hubs would be created in Leeds and Sheffield with the project set to roll out from April.

The hubs are two of 11 to be created nationally and will benefit from a share of the £21m earmarked from the expansion of the Tech City project. The announcement came as Philip Hammond announced £500m of investment would be used to increase the development of Artificial Intelligence, as well as 5G and full fibre broadband. The new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation would be created to work with government, regulators and industry to “lay the foundations for AI adoption”. “The world is on the brink of a technological revolution,” Mr Hammond said “A new tech business is founded in Britain every hour. And I want that to be every half-hour. So today we invest over £500m in a range of initiatives from AI to 5G and full fibre broadband.”

Martin Port, founder and chief executive Leeds-based technology start-up BigChange, said:

“We welcome this announcement and support for tech businesses from the Chancellor. “Financial backing and stability is a huge hurdle facing all start-ups, so I am pleased to see the government pledge more than £20bn of new investment.”

“I just hope this funding is easy to access and readily available for those who need it, rather than being hidden among reams of red tape.”

AI has become increasingly prominent in mainstream technology, with many of the popular gadgets such as the Amazon Echo powered by the technology. However Richard Parris, chief executive of digital firm Intercede, warned that a lack of investment in cybersecurity was a crucial issue that still needed addressing.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

Elliott, the UK market leader in the portable accommodation hire sector has implemented BigChange’s all-in-one Mobile Workforce Management platform across its Loohire portable toilet division, as part of a full rollout across the business including tankers, service and the delivery and collection fleet.

BigChange technology will save Elliott millions of pieces of paper annually and has significantly improved back-office administration. Technicians receive their work orders instantly on the BigChange app with paper job-cards and proof of delivery worksheets replaced by job-specific electronic workflows that guide technicians at every step including risk assessments. Technicians no longer need to return paperwork to the back-office, saving a huge volume of previously manual back-office processing.

Adam Dimmock, Director of Loohire at Elliott commented:

“Implementation of BigChange Technology is part of our 2020 strategy; to continue to grow our market leading position in terms of scale and transform ourselves to become the market leaders in safety, service and relationship management. The BigChange system is ensuring we can exceed our customers’ expectations with innovative features such as a pre-arrival alert that customers receive ahead of arrival, allowing them to clear the way for our tankers on busy construction sites. The technology is driving us towards a 15% reduction in transport costs and we’re realising significant fuel savings thanks to dynamic routing and improved driver behaviour.”

The hire-specific turnkey solution from BigChange has introduced a paperless revolution, equipping mobile technicians with Samsung and Motorola Android tablets that manage receipt of job instruction, electronic proof of collection and delivery, site servicing, timesheets, electronic start-of-day vehicle walkaround checks and Health and Safety procedures. The system is also a rich vehicle tracking system providing real-time location updates, driver behaviour scoring and tachograph interface.

The system is fully-integrated with the Elliott Rental Management system meaning that planned tanker services, toilet maintenance, deliveries and collections are automatically pushed through to BigChange. On logging on to the app at the start of each day, drivers and technicians are guided to start their timesheet, conduct a walkaround check that meets DVSA requirements (recording, photographing and alerting any vehicle defects) and have instant access to their jobs for the day.

In the back-office, the system is enabling planners to respond faster to customer needs, intelligently allocating work orders based on real-time technician availability, skills and live location. This is significantly increasing productivity and enabling Elliott to maintain its position as the UK’s largest provider of portable toilets and efficiently provide same-day service from its hire branches nationwide to clients across the Construction and Events industry. Its portable loos are used by top-tier construction companies such as Carillion, Keepmoat, Costain and Wilmott Dixon and for flagship events including Glastonbury, Cancer Research UK events and the Olympics.

The workflow also effectively manages damages and chargeable items; photos captured at the point of delivery or collection are automatically relayed to the back office, allowing them to instantly raise an invoice for chargeable work. Photos are time, date and location watermarked, providing robust proof of condition.

The BigChange system is providing a detailed work and maintenance history for all rental assets, giving management visibility of productivity and utilisation across their operation as well as a real-world view of how long jobs are taking. The company are using the insight and data to create dashboards that will be shared with customers, giving them a transparent view of the service levels they are receiving.

Martin Port, founder and CEO at BigChange said: “We are proud to be playing a key part in the Elliott technology strategy. Our scalability, flexibility and ability to successfully integrate with Rental systems mean BigChange is the future of managing the mobile workforce in the Hire industry.”

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

Nic Hamilton, brother of the Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, was spreading the message that “Speeding is only for the Track” ahead of Road Safety Week later this month.

His appearance in the city is in partnership with road safety charity Brake and Leeds based road safety technology business BigChange.

At the event at the BigChange headquarters at Temple Point yesterday the 25-year-old talked about speed – and its ability to thrill and also its ability to kill on Britain’s roads.

Hamilton’s message on the day was that “speeding is only for the track”.

Martin Port, the founder and CEO of Bigchange, one of the fastest growing technology businesses in the UK, also spoke about the firm’s unique in-vehicle technology that helps drivers to understand their driving behaviour better, cutting speed and significantly reducing road deaths.

Hamilton was born with cerebral palsy and when he was only 18 months old his parents were told that he would never walk and that his eyesight was extremely poor and would deteriorate as he got older.

However, he defied the medical odds and after years of hard work and dedication went from being wheelchair bound to walking unaided by the age of 17.

His parents decided to agree to his request to be allowed to race and he was given the opportunity to race in the highly competitive Renault Clio Cup series.

In 2015, Nic became the first disabled athlete to compete in the British Touring Car Championship and, with just 20 percent of the UK’s 11m disabled population being involved in sport, he hopes to inspire individuals that pushing yourself regardless of your life situation or industry is possible.

This year sees Nic returning to the Renault Clio Cup racing with WDE Motorsport.

Read the full story on the Yorkshire Evening Post website:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/racing-driver-s-plea-for-leeds-motorists-to-slow-down-1-8843909

The best of Yorkshire business have been recognised at the 2017 Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards.

Leeds-based Big Change Apps was given the award for the best company turning over up to £10m (sponsored by The Yorkshire Post) while Southerns was named best company turning over between £10m and £50m (sponsored by Grant Thornton).

Elsewhere Sky Betting and Gaming were big winners with three awards, taking the prize for Best Company turning over £50m (sponsored by DLA Piper) and the Technology Award (sponsored by City Fibre), with its chief executive Richard Flint named Business Leader of the Year (sponsored by Provident Financial).

The Individual Award for Excellence was presented to Trevor Hicks of the Justice for the 96 campaign.

Mr Hicks, who lost both of his daughters in the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, went on to be one of the figureheads of the campaign for justice on behalf of the 96 victims of the disaster and their families.

Presenting the award, The Yorkshire Post’s Business Editor Mark Casci said:

“In the 12 years these awards have been running we have honoured men and women for making this region and country a more prosperous and proud place.”

“You have gone beyond that and made this region and this country a more just place to live. And that is something which is truly priceless.”

Other winners included:

J&C Joel in the Exporter category (sponsored by Propaganda)
BemroseBooth Paragon in the Turnaround category (sponsored by Hendersons Insurance Brokers)
Zenith Vehicle Contracts in the Outstanding Employer category (sponsored by Cascade HR)
Verdion in the Commercial Space category (sponsored by Doncaster Sheffield Airport)
Headoffice3 in the Young Business category (sponsored by First Direct)
Belle Lingerie in the Entrepreneur category (sponsored by Leeds Beckett University)
Spooner Industries in the Apprenticeship category (sponsored by Yorkshire Building Society)

The event was hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter Steph McGovern.

For the full list of winners and all the reaction from the big event will be featured in a special supplement to be printed in The Yorkshire Post next Tuesday.

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