BigChange Mobile Workforce App & Telematics Speeds Road Gritting Operations

Leeds, 13 February 2020 – UK gritting company AA Salt has doubled the productivity of its gritting operators following the introduction of a cloud-based mobile workforce system from BigChange. The system combines real time vehicle tracking and mapping with a mobile app that synchronises in real time with back office management software as part of a 5 in 1 solution for paperless working.

AA Salt provides commercial gritting and snow clearing services and the productivity gains are due to improved routing and job scheduling using BigChange Schedular software and greater efficiency through the elimination of paperwork. As part of the system the fleet is also fitted with GPS tracking so gritting operations can be monitored 24/7 and this, coupled with live status reports from gritting operators, has allowed AA Salt to boost customer service.

“As demand for our gritting service increased we knew we had to automate more” says Ben Tanner, Sales and Operations Director, AA Salt. “When extended freezing conditions hit the UK in 2019 we had just started using BigChange. Without the system we would never have coped with the demand and BigChange has basically allowed us to double our business.”

“Productivity gains have been very substantial thanks to BigChange. Through work optimisation and digital reporting we reckon we are saving 5 minutes per job and reducing driving time by a total of 4 hours each night. From just 100 jobs a night we can now do up to 450.” Tanner adds.

AA Salt clear and grit private roads and estates such as car parks at retail sites, universities and industrial estates. Jobs are scheduled and allocated in BigChange and allocated with jobs sent directly to gritting operators’ tablets. AA Salt has mapped and geofenced each site and using the BigChange JobWatch app, operators can see job specifications and notify of any issues with time and location referenced photographs on location.

AA Salt has seen a significant improvement is customer service as a result of the real time data now being received. Now all gritting reports are live and accessible to customers through the JobWatch web portal. Previously records of work done was very limited and the company did not have the job reporting capability required by some potential key customers.

“Previously we were too nervous to outsource work but that has changed with JobWatch. Now if we need to contract out the contractor can use exactly the same JobWatch app on their mobile phone so we can have the same level of control and seamless reporting to the customer.’

About BigChange: www.bigchange.com

Launched in 2013 and based in Leeds, UK, BigChange provides a range of mobile workforce management technologies that are trusted by over 40,000 mobile workers and back-office personnel at more than 1,200 organisations around the world. BigChange employs 150 people and signed over £20m worth of new contracts in 2019.

BigChange's pioneering all-in-one mobile workforce and job management solution, JobWatch, provides organisations of any size with a paperless means of planning, managing, scheduling, and tracking their mobile workforce operations. Combining CRM, job scheduling, vehicle tracking, a mobile workforce app, and an on-demand booking app, the system can manage in-house and sub-contracted operations simultaneously.

BigChange is recognised with several industry awards. It won the Technology & Innovation prize at The Logistics Awards in 2017 and 2018, was named in the 2018 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, and featured in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 in both 2018 and 2019.