Yorkshire Christmas catch-up: The Floow’s Sam Chapman

With Christmas fast approaching, and the businesspeople of Yorkshire preparing to hang up their stockings for the holiday, Bdaily is continuing its December interview series with Sam Chapman, innovation leader and co-founder of The Floow.

As you already know, we at Bdaily love to bring our readers closer to the stories we write. So this month, we’re asking the questions we don’t usually get a chance to ask - giving you the opportunity to learn more about the people behind the businesses you often read about.

Based in Sheffield, The Floow is a telematics organisation that is currently supporting major global Insurers - including Direct Line Group, RSA, AIG, and AAA – through device-agnostic predictive analytics and digital end-user services.

Your Business

What were the highlights for your business in 2015?

2015 has been full of so many highlights for The Floow. Some of the key business achievements that come to mind include:

• Expanding work beyond Insurance and Fleet clients into Automotive firms like Renault and Nissan.
• Being asked to accompany the Prime Minister on a trade mission to Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia as an exemplar high growth company influencing the financial sector.
• The moment our export sales surpassed our UK income turning us into a majority export business.
• Being awarded the top international road safety award by Prince Michael in recognition of our work to improve safety on roads across the globe.
• Being involved in state-of-the-art research with the European Space Agency to look at pollution using vehicle and satellite data.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently this year?

I’m not a strong believer in hindsight. I believe that decisions are always the best choice you make at a time with the knowledge you have to hand. Looking back from a different perspective can have little impact on what has been and gone.

What’s in store for your company in 2016?

In 2016 The Floow is set to continue its worldwide expansion and growth plans; including business development intentions in the Far East.

We expect to start larger research projects and we will continue to investigate how we can use telematics data to predict pollution and aid traffic management. Inevitably, that will also have a relative impact on our team size.

Your favourites

Have any other Yorkshire companies caught your eye this year? if so - why?

JRI Orthopaedics really got my attention as a fellow Sheffield firm which is bringing innovative technology to China.

Interestingly, they have managed to take over the manufacturing of their products for China in Sheffield helping to buck the trend of manufacturing moving offshore.

At the Floow we also do this by manufacturing our solutions in Sheffield but showcase and sell them very much worldwide.

When business life gets on top of you, what do you do to destress?

I always make time for a glass of wine, nice food and my family. These things help me to switch off and relax.

Who has been your favourite social media personality this year? Any accounts stood out for you?

I’m not a huge fan of celebrity in itself so I follow few widely known ‘personalities’ on social media. I am personally much more impressed and influenced by individuals and groups pushing change or providing knowledge such as @TechNorthHQ for pushing the powerhouse regions industry; and @RoadSafety for advice from RoSPA which helps to save lives on the UK’s roads.

The what ifs

If you could do any job in the world what would it be?

I love looking at new science and technology with an eye on ways to practically use it to make a meaningful difference in the world. I do this now in The Floow where applying data and sound science is allowing us to understand road pollution far better than ever before.

If you could go back in time, which piece of advice would you give your younger self?

I’m unsure if a younger me would listen to advice from older me, so I would just try advising not to bother going back in the first place. Of course I would never listen.

What would be the perfect Christmas gift for you?

Clichéd, I know, but the one thing I never get enough of is time so a good gift would be an extra day in the week.

Thanks for your time Sam, Merry Christmas for the Bdaily team!

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