BigChange Fires Business Growth for AinsCo

Posted on 30 March 2022 by Martin Port

AinsCo Fire and Security is using BigChange field service management software to drive business growth. The company designs, supplies, installs and maintains bespoke fire and security systems working alongside organisations such as the NHS, Network Rail, Alstom Transport, Mersey Rail and Light Cinemas. Using the cloud-based platform, AinsCo has made efficiency gains across the board, reduced operational costs and improved customer service.

“Since implementing BigChange we have achieved many wins that, when we look at the bigger picture, have had a massive impact on the business overall,” commented Dan Ainscough, Operations and Finance Manager at Wirral-based AinsCo Fire and Security.

“We have reduced our carbon footprint, made efficiency savings across sales, operations and finance, reduced call-out rates and increased first-time fixes. We have lowered our costs and charges, whilst improving the service we provide and the protection we offer.”
Dan Ainscough, Operations and Finance Manager, AinsCo Fire and Security

AinsCo Fire and Security, formerly M P Electronic Fire and Security, turned to BigChange when it was looking to invest in technology as part of a major rebranding exercise. Prior to this, the Wirral-based company had used industry-specific software that required in-house servers to run and offered little visibility and even less automation of processes. AinsCo reviewed several solutions before selecting BigChange basing its decision on system capabilities, user-friendliness, and the ability to customise.

“Most of the systems we considered had a focus on sales and marketing and, like our old system, were very defined and restrictive,” continued Ainscough. “Our focus was on system functionality, and we knew we needed the ability to tailor the solution to meet our specific requirements. BigChange met all our benchmarking criteria, and the support and training were fantastic. We now feel we own our system rather than the other way round!”

Since implementing the complete job management solution, which incorporates customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, job finance and business intelligence in one simple to use and easy to integrate platform, AinsCo has achieved a number of milestones in the management of its mobile operation. AinsCo uses the BigChange CRM to streamline new client onboarding resulting in efficiency savings across sales, operations and finance. All AinsCo vehicles are tracked giving real-time visibility and intelligence to respond to reactive jobs and the introduction of automated van stock has resulted in an increase in first-time fix rates.

BigChange is also helping AinsCo introduce new working practices and reporting processes with improved health and safety monitoring, including COVID risk assessments and method statements, job completion reports, complete with photographs, daily job cards and contactless sign-offs.

“BigChange has allowed us to streamline our business and has been instrumental in allowing us to scale up our operation whilst still maintaining the high levels of customer service we demand and our customers expect.”
Dan Ainscough, Operations and Finance Manager, AinsCo Fire and Security

“As a family business we are only as strong as our relationships, and we value BigChange, and the team behind it, as a key relationship that has already contributed to our success and will continue to positively impact the future of our business, ” Ainscough concluded.

BIgChange customer AinsCo desktop office shot

BigChange Digitisation Transforms Faelsafe Fire and Life Safety

Posted on 10 March 2022 by Martin Port

Faelsafe Life Safety, the national fire and life safety company, has transformed its business using BigChange field service management software. Since implementing the cloud-based platform, Faelsafe has reduced its administrative resource, eliminated paper from its mobile operation and improved the efficiency of engineers working across mainland UK.

Working directly for organisations such as Stoke and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue, Wooltex and Smurfitt Kappa, Faelsafe specialises in the installation and maintenance of fire detection and alarm systems, Fire Extinguisher supply and maintenance, fire safety equipment and through its sister company Faelsafe Electrical, commercial electrical works, specialising in sprinkler plant rooms.

“Our motto is ‘don’t fael to be safe’ yet we were ‘faeling’ to secure the future of the business by not investing to succeed,” commented Andrew Hutchinson, Director of Faelsafe. “Despite having job management software, we were still producing paper worksheets and reports, in triplicate, and having to wait for engineers to return to base before we could process them. This was labour intensive, resulted in delays in invoicing and meant dealing with customer queries was virtually impossible.

“Since implementing BigChange we have slashed our administrative resource, we have removed every filing cabinet from the office, eliminated delays in invoicing and query resolutions and improved the efficiency of our engineers.”
Andrew Hutchinson, Director of Faelsafe

Headquartered in Leeds, Faelsafe made the move to BigChange following a recommendation from its IT support company. The complete job management solution, which incorporates customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, financial management and business intelligence in one simple to use and easy to integrate platform, has helped Faelsafe remove paper from its job allocation and reporting workflows.

Engineers are automatically allocated work and completion reports, including photographs and customer signatures, which are digitally captured, stored and shared with the back-office operation. Route scheduling and live tracking is also helping Faelsafe optimise the use of mobile engineers reducing time spent travelling between jobs.

Additional aspects of the BigChange system that are helping Faelsafe improve service levels include the online library, which it uses to store information pertaining to specific customer sites and equipment, and customisable worksheets which are used to allocate health and safety checks such as PPE and equipment.

“BigChange supports our ambition to be a forward-thinking business,” concluded Hutchinson. “As it is truly cloud-based every member of the team can access and share the information they need, when they need it and from wherever they are, which positively impacts the service we provide every single day.”

Trustee Fire and Security Boost Productivity by 25% with BigChange

Posted on 1 December 2021 by Martin Port

Trustee Fire and Security has boosted productivity by 25 per cent using the latest field service management software. Since deploying the BigChange job management platform, Trustee has also been able to deliver significant improvements in customer service by providing digital, real-time reporting from service engineers using mobile devices linked to live vehicle tracking.

Trustee is a fire and security specialist first established in 1978 and based in Orpington. The company provides solutions for both domestic and commercial properties with a range of services from fire and intruder alarms to CCTV, access control, automatic gates, fabrication and emergency lighting. Trustee embarked on a major business expansion drive 3 years ago and has since seen year-on-year growth.

Two years ago Trustee realised that their ageing legacy system could not cope with the expanding business. A new system was needed to provide a fully digital solution with high levels of automation, and a platform for future ambitious growth plans.

Nick Toomey, Director, Trustee Fire and Security says:

“We work in an industry bound by a lot of health and safety legislation and is broadly behind the times when it came to digital working; it was still an industry burdened with paperwork we knew that moving to a real-time digital reporting system was the future but finding a suitable system proved difficult. BigChange proved to be by far the best option and offers tremendous potential as the platform to transform this industry.”

BigChange brings together customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, financial management, and business intelligence into one simple to use and easy to integrate platform. Trustee run a fleet of vehicles servicing clients across the south-east of England, with engineers equipped with rugged tablets for managing their jobs and reporting; the BigChange platform synchronises mobile devices and the central CRM so Trustee has complete visibility of all jobs.

Trustee particularly like the automated scheduling and routing, ensuring the best allocation of resources, optimised and backed with useful management information, such as the calculated cost of each job. Invoicing in BigChange is also much quicker and two-way integration with Xero accounts software means BigChange provides a completely seamless end-to-end business solution.

Toomey comments:

“BigChange has enabled us to eliminate paperwork and completely digitally transform the way we work. That has led to productivity gains across the office and field service operations of around 25 per cent. However, it’s customer service where the greatest benefits are being realised. Customers are very impressed with the provision of instantly updated data from our engineers and automated communications,”

On the fleet side, Trustee’s engineers use their tablets to record their vehicle safety checks and tracking provides useful safe driving performance statistics, as well as keeping customer services informed of the location and progress of all engineers. BigChange software guides engineers with workflows to ensure procedures are followed and all data is complete, ensuring consistency and quality. Future implementation will address the stringent fire and security compliance reporting.

Toomey adds:

“BigChange is a great business tool as we can see everything going on, in real-time and 24/7 from anywhere by just connecting online. That also makes business expansion so easy, it is just the case of adding another user. It’s certainly broken down traditional IT barriers and we’ll be able to expand freely whether it be through organic growth or acquisition”

BigChange Boosts Revenue and Supports Growth at Securitay

Posted on 5 August 2021 by Martin Port

Security specialist Securitay has witnessed a 10 per cent increase in revenue following the introduction of mobile workforce management technology from BigChange. By switching from paper-based planning and reporting, Securitay has improved the efficiency of job allocation, completion reporting and invoicing, which has resulted in a significant increase in income from the existing client base.

The Dundee-based company has also been able to respond to an exponential growth in demand, because of COVID restrictions, without having to employ additional staff.

Richard Jennings, Deputy Managing Director at Securitay commented:

“To put it simply BigChange allows us to do more with less, with BigChange we can empower every team member to do what they are employed to do rather than spending time on paper forms and reports, and, because everything is automated, there are less mistakes and fewer omissions.

He continued:

“BigChange works across the operation from senior management looking at contract reporting and KPI’s, to Emergency Response Officers accessing schedules and filing job reports, HR use BigChange, Accounts use BigChange, Sales use BigChange, we use BigChange to manage our fleet and our drivers, and we use BigChange to communicate internally and with clients. In fact, I’m not sure how we managed before BigChange.”

Securitay provide a range of security services covering guarding, mobile patrols, key holding, lone worker, and CCTV Monitoring. Working with clients such as the NHS, Arnold Clark, Graham & Sibbald and various local authorities, Securitay also subcontracts for G4S, Mitie and Securitas, offering a local solution for national contracts. With offices in Aberdeen, Dundee, and Inverness, Securitay currently employs more than 100 operational staff supported by a back-office team of around 20.

Using the single platform CRM, Job Scheduling, Mobile App, Vehicle Tracking and Online Portal, from BigChange, Securitay has completely transformed the management of its mobile operation from paper forms and reports, produced in Word and Excel, to a fully automated planning, scheduling and reporting workflow. Real-time updates combined with easy access to time-critical information, enabled the company to respond to a 30 per cent increase in demand for key holding and void property services, due to COVID-19 restrictions, using the same workforce.

BigChange also supports Securitay’s SIA (security Industry Authority) Approved Contractor Status and its vision to improve standards across the private security sector.

Jennings added:

“The health and safety of our staff and customers is an integral part of our success. Using BigChange we can undertake regular driver behaviour, welfare and lone worker checks, allowing us to identify and resolve any issues before they become problems. This is evident in our staff retention and our published Corporate and Social Responsibility to the communities in which we work. BigChange has also allowed us to manage new staff inductions, ongoing training and appraisals, safely and on-time, whilst maintaining a complete audit trail.”

Metroline Transform Fire and Security Services with BigChange Mobile Working Tech

Posted on 9 June 2020 by Martin Port

Metroline Fire & Security has implemented high tech mobile workforce management technology from Leeds-based BigChange. The cloud based system that combines back office software with a mobile app has replaced a number of different systems with a real-time management and operational system that has proved invaluable for delivering services during the Coronavirus crisis.

Folkstone-based Metroline Fire & Security design, install and maintain fire alarms, intruder alarms, access control and CCTV systems for commercial and residential clients throughout Kent and East Sussex. The BigChange system, which went live in January 2020, has replaced an ageing job management software and a separate vehicle tracking system.

“BigChange has enabled us to undertake a complete digital transformation of our business, replacing a series of separate systems giving us a single view and total visibility of the business” says Paul Roberts, Director Metroline Fire & Security.

Running a fleet of 25 vehicles – tracked as part of the BigChange system – the company’s engineers use JobWatch a 5 in 1 mobile phone app that synchronises in real time with the central office CRM and scheduling system.

Paul commented:

“BigChange has already provided Metroline with significant improvements in productivity and customer service and during the Coronavirus crisis it has allowed us to continue to operate seamlessly with no impact of our ability to deliver our services. On lockdown, everyone could work from home we were able to shut down the office and be up and running at home within one hour.”

With BigChange also we can change the way we operate we are looking at ways to stock up vehicles to use the stock facility on JobWatch.

Metroline installation and maintenance engineers receive jobs on their mobiles with the JobWatch app replacing all paperwork with electronic data entry for everything from job sheets, to vehicle checks and risk assessments. Linked to job sheets are photographs captured on site showing completed installations and repairs with control panels to provide evidence of ‘all working in order’.

Paul continued:

“The BigChange No Touch Signature Capture App has been especially useful allowing us to gain job sign-off without directly interacting with the customer. With hotels and schools closed our usual contacts are simply not at work with the No Touch feature supported by photos showing work completed we can easily get jobs signed off.”

Metroline has seen some immediate benefits in efficiency through improved scheduling and tracking allowing the optimisation of resources through pinpointing of the nearest available engineer and improved route planning to reduce unnecessary mileage.

BigChange Gives Fireward Complete Control Over Mobile Workforce

Posted on 6 November 2019 by Martin Port

Automatic fire suppression specialist, Fireward Ltd, has rolled out high-tech mobile workforce management software, providing real-time visibility to field operations within the business.

The App-based software, JobWatch sees field-based engineers equipped with rugged tablets, replacing all need for physical paperwork, delivering a 5-in-1 business solution incorporating a CRM, job scheduling, tracking, invoicing and management reporting.

Formed in 2009, Fireward is regarded as the UK’s leading specialist in fire suppression systems for mobile and heavy plant machinery and equipment. The Chelmsford-based company installs, maintains and services systems manufactured by Reacton Fire Suppression Ltd, which detects and suppresses fires in a matter of seconds. Requiring no electricity to operate and with exceptional reliability, Fireward’s fire suppression systems protect a wide range of high-value assets from plant machinery & equipment to electrical control panels, buses & coaches to airport ground support equipment.

Edward Barnes, CEO of Fireward commented:

“Fire is often overlooked as a cause of disruption and as a serious risk to the business itself. The immediate physical damage is only part of the problem caused by a fire; the costs of operational disruption and reputational damage often far exceed the cost of the original damage. Without adequate protection, it can take just a matter of minutes to bring a company to its knees.”

Fireward’s certified engineers install, maintain and service fire suppression systems across the UK. Providing a rapid response service, engineers use their tablets, for everything from risk assessment and post-fire reports to job checklists and vehicle inspections.

Barnes, comments:

“We were pleased to discover BigChange at a show back in 2016. We had been through a long and unsuccessful process trying to get three different systems working for our business and all had failed. Due to the ease of set-up, we were able to implement the system ourselves in just two weeks,”

“With BigChange we now have a system that supports our business model providing many benefits in terms of efficiency, productivity and customer service.”

Fireward’s fleet of nationwide vehicles is fitted with BigChange trackers, providing the customer service team with full visibility of engineer locations and a record of arrival and departure times from site. The location and condition of plant and other assets are key factors in assessing the risk of fire and the tablets are used to record ‘time and location’ linked photographs. With the ability to capture a customer’s signature ‘on-screen’ via the app, there is immediate proof of every job completed, allowing for a streamlined invoicing process resulting in fewer billing queries.

Barnes adds:

“BigChange supports our company ethos, which we achieve with a modest team in place. JobWatch has not only allowed us to do five times more services a month but has allowed us to freely expand our business where we are now installing well in excess of 1200 new systems a year,”

Some of the favoured features by the Fireward team include the job allocation and scheduling features of the system, which sees ‘jobs’ added to an ‘unscheduled’ list, allowing for all outstanding jobs to be reviewed in one place before allocation, depending on engineer location and availability.

The CRM software meanwhile has become a useful tool for the Fireward sales team. As well as allowing customer locations to be pinpointed to aid streamlining customer visits, the team has utilised the BigChange software to connect a comprehensive list of plant machinery and equipment to a correctly specified fire suppression system, allowing for fast and accurate quotations.

With the Fireward engineers working remotely across the UK, they need to have the ability to effectively manage their stock levels without causing downtime and potential loss of business. With the help of the JobWatch tablet, engineers are now able to track and replenish their van stocks with ease, as well as the ability to record and review all stock movements, parts and equipment used during the process of installation, maintenance and servicing of Fireward’s fire suppression systems.

CCTV Monitoring Focuses on Growth with BigChange Mobile Workforce Tech

Posted on 25 September 2019 by Martin Port

CCTV Monitoring, one of the fastest-growing construction site CCTV installation and monitoring businesses in the UK, has rolled out a mobile workforce system as part of a cloud-based business system from Leeds-based BigChange.

Equipped with rugged tablets running a 5 in 1 app called JobWatch, CCTV Monitoring engineers are tracked and connected in real-time to the central system giving management 24/7 visibility of their field operations.

CCTV Monitoring has a team of CCTV and security specialists with engineers that can be deployed quickly nationwide to provide a complete CCTV service from site assessment to installation, monitoring and servicing. Based in Emley, West Yorkshire, the company also operates a 24 hour state of the art monitoring station for key building sites across the UK. CCTV Monitoring services some of the biggest names in industry including Kier, Balfour Beatty, Morgan-Sindall, Galliford Try, Willmott Dixon and Skanska.

BigChange has provided a complete end-to-end solution to CCTV Monitoring which handles the entire business process. From logging incoming service requests on CRM software, to work scheduling and job allocation, through to routing and tracking to live job reporting, invoicing and management reporting.

Stuart Capstick, Managing Director of CCTV Monitoring, says:

“Initially we simply used BigChange as a CRM but we knew straight away that it provided a tremendous opportunity to improve the way we worked. The potential became very clear when we installed some large screens in the office and we could all immediately see our entire operations in real time and see the exact status of each job,”

he adds:

“BigChange really has revolutionised our business and it helps that it is very intuitive, very easy to use; it’s just ‘out there’,”

Founded 2005, CCTV Monitoring was formed to resolve the problems caused by opportunistic and professional theft from construction sites by using cost effective, technologically based CCTV alternatives to manned guards. The company secures sites in the most effective and technologically beneficial way; including an environment-friendly solar-powered system for remotely monitoring sites without the need for mains power.

With BigChange CCTV Monitoring has improved the way resources are allocated as the system gives an instant overview of each engineers’ location, status and capability. Linked to GPS trackers on their vans, engineers use their tablets for navigation, job sheets, timesheets, parts ordering and vehicle safety inspections. The devices can also be used for capturing time and location stamped photographs; providing indisputable evidence from site should future customer queries arise.

Capstick says:

“With BigChange we can get the right people to the right job quickly and efficiently; we’ve seen a very significant increase in productivity since implementing BigChange;”

he adds:

“Our profitability per job is now typically 30 percent greater than before. That profit is being ploughed back into the business to invest in new equipment and support our expansion plans nationally and into new markets,”

Like other adopters of BigChange CCTV Monitoring sees the system as a platform for growth. After consolidation last year, the company is expected to grow by 40 percent in 2019 with expansion not only in the construction sector but also into new markets and new areas of service such as access control and fire prevention.

Capstick explains:

“The thing about BigChange is that we are no longer constrained as a business. We can expand freely without needing to worry about our IT capability – it is all on the cloud and mobile. As they say old ways won’t open new doors and we have a new way – BigChange gives us fingertip control of the business and with the flexibility of the system we can easily tailor it to bring on new services.”

With the introduction of BigChange, customer services have had a big boost through improved communication with clients. With better and more up to date information clients are kept in the picture with emails with expected time off arrival on site and job completion reports, backed with photographs.

Capstick says:

“For many clients we already provide live CCTV feeds through our monitoring service but they were pretty much in the dark when it came to our installation and service work. With BigChange that has changed and now we can keep them in the picture,”

“It’s good for business in other ways as well as previously we were going out to do chargeable reactive maintenance work but our records were not updated; on this alone BigChange has increased our annual billings by around £30k a year in fees previously not charged.”