Markets
Criminal Justice
The criminal justice system is the collection of agencies including, but not limited to, the police, the courts, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office (or equivalent), which are involved in the detection and prevention of crime, the prosecution of people accused of committing crimes, the conviction and sentencing of those found guilty, and the imprisonment and rehabilitation of ex-offenders.
Criminal Justice systems around the world are incorporating Electronic Monitoring (EM) into their offender management toolkit to enable the effective and efficient management of people within the correctional system; specifically, those individuals with the following status are often more efficiently managed via EM:
Remand is the process of detaining a person after they have been arrested until standing trial for an offence.
Probation is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court instead of serving time in prison. The offender is ordered to follow conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer. During the probation period the offender may be incarcerated if they break the rules set by the court or probation officer.
Parole is the early release of a prisoner who agrees to abide by certain conditions. Parolees are still considered to be serving their sentences and may be returned to prison if they violate the conditions of their parole.
EM is used to keep offenders out of custody, either as an alternative to incarceration or a means of post-release supervision (parole and probation). The average length of time for an individual tagging order is about six months, with a broad range.
A report by World Prison Brief, estimates that over three million people were held in pre-trial detention and other forms of remand throughout the world, while in the US the number of people on parole (878,000) and probation (3.5 million) far exceeds the number who are incarcerated (2.1 million, all 2018 figures).
In addition to offender management, electronic monitoring solutions are being utilised by authorities such as ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in the US for general border and quarantine solutions for tracking immigrants. Based on data from the US Department of Homeland Security, the average daily population of immigrant detainees in the US has grown 11% CAGR from 2015 to 2019. The number of illegal immigrants tracked by ICE has grown from c.10,000 in 2014 to 38,400 in 2019, driven by increased arrests of illegal immigrants from Central/Latin America and growing asylum seeker populations.
Big Technologies is a major disrupter in the criminal justice market, providing a premium offering compared to the competition. Big Technologies’ platform and products have been designed to address some of the legacy issues in the market that include inaccuracies and inefficiencies largely due to the lack of innovation and out-of-date technologies being used.
The Company’s criminal justice offering was born out of designing bespoke solutions for its customers, a philosophy that has continued to be at the core of the business. Big Technologies continues to drive innovation by developing its core platform and modular technologies to allow for profile customisation for each customer.
Big Technologies’ success, under the Buddi brand, in the criminal justice space is demonstrated through the 100+ government contracts it now holds and the consistently high customer satisfaction rates, with 100% contract extensions achieved to date. The Company’s focus is on quality technology and services, listening to their customers, then providing solutions that meet the customer’s needs. Through offender surveys and customer evaluations, the Company can evidence proven impacts on offending behaviour by customers’ use of their technology. Big Technologies, in addition, has significant experience in providing offender services, such as monitoring, building and running monitoring centres, redundant data centres, software integration and field services, where customers have required these services.
Healthy Ageing
The Care sector, in particular the personal emergency response market for vulnerable people, provides a significant opportunity for growth, with an estimated £13 billion addressable UK and US market. Within the UK, there is an estimated £850 million being spent on care calls by local authorities, providing a 15 minute ‘check-up’ on predominantly elderly individuals living alone to ensure they have not suffered a fall or require emergency care. UK statistics show that one in three adults over the age of 65 will fall each year, which with ageing populations and c.25% of all adults expected to be over 65 by 2034, has resulted in over 3 million falls recorded a year and rising.
Big Technologies has been able to utilise its knowledge and platform to develop a technological solution to address the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of care calls. The solution involves a light and un-obtrusive wristband that can be paired with the individual’s smartphone (or a Buddi Clip that includes GPS and two-way communication functionality). Big Technologies also utilises the ‘Buddi’ brand for its care product. When the wristband is being worn, the sensory technology can detect any falls, locate the individual and send an alert to either the designated contacts within the Buddi Connect app or a Buddi monitoring centre (or both). If the customer opts for Buddi to monitor the wristband, on receipt of any notification, direct telephone contact would be attempted from the monitoring centre to the wearer to understand any issues, in conjunction with contact also being made to their emergency contacts. A lack of response could be escalated to the relevant local authority, including the ambulance service if required.
In contrast to competitors’ products that require the wearer to press an alert button, Buddi’s intelligent wristband also automatically detects falls. Importantly, the Buddi solution enables wearers to link the wristband to a smartphone or small Buddi Clip device, rather than competitors’ devices that rely on short-range radio frequency and which are, therefore, restricted to only working at home (close proximity to a home base station). Buddi’s devices, therefore, provide wearers with independence and can delay the need for residential care provision. Meanwhile, family and carers are provided the reassurance that the wearer can be reached and located 24/7 in the event of an emergency.
The Directors believe that providing a solution, which a vulnerable person wants to use, will increase the chance that the technology will be accepted and used by the individual.
Big Technologies’ care products are offered to consumers on a contract plan that includes an upfront fee for the hardware and a modest monthly fee for the use of the Buddi software smartphone applications. The Company’s 24/7 monitoring services are charged on a monthly basis. Additional services include global roaming, allowing the products to be used and monitored outside the UK. The products can be purchased by both informal care providers (i.e. family) and formal care providers (i.e. local authorities and other care organisations). Buddi currently has an existing web presence offering B2C sales (www.buddi.co.uk). However, to date this has not been supported by extensive advertising spend. It remains an opportunity for the Company to exploit this market further through investment and targeted advertising campaigns.
The Company is currently testing a small, proprietary wall plug device that uses patented technology and artificial intelligence to monitor individuals and visitors within the home. This next generation device would complement existing technologies and enhance care visits and protect vulnerable individuals.
Digital Health
Big Technologies currently supplies the health market with its “Nujjer” product, which is a smart tracking solution designed to reduce the risk profile for patients at risk of type 2 Diabetes by encouraging best practice behaviour. The Nujjer product is an activity monitoring wristband that collects data on physical activity and eating habits to communicate with the patient’s smartphone app, to deliver personalised motivational messages. The Nujjer solution is specifically designed to increase patients’ daily activity, improve their eating habits, and more generally to encourage weight loss, which can naturally reduce their risk profile. The product aims to assist patients in making sustainable changes to their lifestyle, using a clinically tested device that is reliable for healthcare professionals to monitor.
Big Technologies was selected as one of five providers on the NHS Digital Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DDPP). This was a pilot scheme to determine digital solutions’ effectiveness in reducing the risk of Type 2 Diabetes, which includes the application of Big Technologies’ ‘Nujjer’ solution.
The Company successfully delivered the programme remotely across 52 GP practices in Somerset, and achieved QISMET accreditation to the Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) Quality Standard. NHS England conducted an independent evaluation of the pilot and found that the Company achieved “statistically significant” outcomes in helping patients to reduce their weight and HbA1c score, improving their health indicators.
In the UK, the NHS reports that there are 3.4 million people in England with Type 2 Diabetes. At an annual cost of £8.8 billion, Type 2 Diabetes treatment accounts for just under nine per cent of the annual NHS budget. As well as the 3.4 million with Type 2 Diabetes in England, NHS England estimates there are 5m people at risk of developing the disease. If current trends continue, one in three people are expected to be obese by 2023 and one in ten will develop Type 2 Diabetes. This illustrates significant future growth opportunities for behavioural change programs such as Nujjer in the UK alone. The Directors estimate that the size of the opportunity for the Nujjer solution, which brings a digital alternative to face-to-face behavioural change interventions in Type 2 Diabetes prevention, is in the order of £25 billion.
The Directors believe that Telehealth technologies, i.e. electronic sensors or equipment that monitor vital health signs of wearers remotely while they are at home or on the move, offer an opportunity to make significant health improvements and quality of life impacts for people with a high dependency on healthcare services. With Telehealth, readings are automatically transmitted to an appropriately trained person, who can monitor vital signs and make potential interventions without the patient needing to attend a clinic. Innovations like the Nujjer product are designed to increase the efficiency and availability of clinical support by allowing local practitioners to remotely connect with patients that are less able to look after themselves and helping to keep people out of hospital.
The Company’s product roadmap includes the development of additional sensor technologies to add functionality and value to healthcare professionals, which the Company intends to integrate with the wearer’s mobile phone using Bluetooth technology.