Our Story
Big Technologies acquired Buddi in 2018. Buddi was founded in 2005 by Sara Murray OBE, the current Chief Executive Officer. Sara established the Company following an initial idea to create a GPS device small enough for a child to carry. Following a series of investments and development over an initial three-year period, the first product was launched; a small device that could be carried on a person to track their location. The Buddi product was made available online to an open marketplace. This device was purchased quickly by authorities with a responsibility for delivering adult social care. The Company’s customer base developed to include more than 100 local authorities and NHS organisations. They were seeking a high quality and reliable product to enable people, who were facing cognitive and/or physical decline, to live independently.
By monitoring the online demand for the product, Sara identified that a large number of customers had purchased the device as a monitoring tool to locate elderly relatives, as well as to provide reassurance against the risks of a fall at home: a major cause of hospitalisation and loss of independence. Over subsequent years, several local authorities started to recommend the product as an affordable alternative to placing elderly family members in residential care, particularly where monitoring movements had become the primary issue.
In 2009, Big Technologies was approached by a UK NHS Foundation Trust to adapt the technology to help support community leave for forensic mental health patients. The patients under this pilot were individuals who had been sanctioned to a mental health institution following a serious crime. Under European law, the patients were obliged to begin rehabilitation into the community after a set period of time. The obvious solution at the time was to use the existing monitoring technology bought by the Ministry of Justice from two big public companies. However, that technology was so basic that it did not provide location tracking and could be removed with a simple tool, such as a pair of scissors.
Big Technologies created the first version of its “Smart Tag”, which could be securely attached to the person and provide live location tracking. The twelve-month pilot resulted in a strong positive response from clinicians, who recognised the rehabilitative benefits, coupled with the reduction of risk and increased flexibility. The Group continues to supply updated versions of this solution to several mental health hospitals across the UK.
The Company’s entry into the criminal justice market came in 2010, following a pilot with a UK police force, which had been using the Buddi products to safely support victims of domestic violence, victim protection and witness protection. The UK police force was eager to explore whether an application of the Company’s technology could provide evidence that previous repeat offenders, who had been participating in a rehabilitative programme, were no longer committing crimes, by mapping out their location against known crimes. This generated both economic and social benefits, with reduced police time and resources spent eliminating false enquiries, and by enabling any innocent and rehabilitating offender to avoid unnecessary contact from the authorities. An independent evaluation by NESTA demonstrated the reduction in re-offending of the individuals taking part, as well as the positive impact on the local community through less crime. The Company’s technology is now used within the mainstream business of 80% of UK police forces.
Following the success of this programme, Big Technologies began to bid for larger national contracts, such as the UK Ministry of Justice contract in 2012. At that time, the Company’s ability to win this national contract was limited given the perceived risk of awarding a national contract to a small company. Despite its small size, the Company was awarded “Preferred Bidder” status for that contract.
In 2014, the Company won a significant government contract for an initial five-year period to deliver its technology to a major government customer overseas. In 2019, as a result of the scheme’s success, the Company won a new 12-year contract in a competitive bid process for the same customer. The Company has continued to invest in both people and its technology platform, attracting a highly experienced management team with deep sector knowledge. Continued success in the criminal justice sector has delivered new contract wins to serve further local government regions in the same country, alongside some key new government customers from Europe and across the Americas. As a result, the Company became a proud recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise - International Trade.
The Company has continued to develop its technologies for the care market and will shortly be introducing world-leading, innovative solutions to tackle loneliness and enable Care-On-Demand for the first time.