Refugee Council needed a replacement for their current Client Relationship Management System (CRM) that had been designed for use when they were running fewer projects.
Refugee Council is a charity that works with thousands of refugees each year, and has over 200 staff and 29 different services. They offer support from the moment a person arrives in the UK, offering crisis advice, practical support, and mental health services. They help them to get into work, find them accommodation and help them to integrate into their new communities. They also run social activities to help refugees integrate into their new way of life.
Having spent a few years using an existing bespoke CRM, staff members had found it clunky and hard to record information, and to develop it to record and report on all services properly would have been much too expensive. Data input and processing customer information was a huge challenge for the Refugee Council.
Refugee Council knew they needed a new CRM to be able to track and record client information swiftly and collaboratively, and to be able to use data on clients and services for income generation and influencing government policy.
They undertook a rigorous research process, and when involving staff, they decided to use In-Form as it is built on leading, modern, reliable, up to date technology (Salesforce), it can be customised for many different services, and has a quick and easy to use interface.
Meeting needs
As In-Form was developed with the client in mind, integration with Refugee Council’s business processes has worked seamlessly.
Being able to customise In-Form to meet Refugee Council’s needs has already been a huge success. Staff are able to record all in one place; client details, the support provided and outcomes.
"I knew it was going to be a good system to use. The way that In-Form has been developed with the client in mind has greatly helped organisations like ours. It is simple to use and saves everyone a lot of time." - Peter, In-Form implementation manager, Refugee Council.
Reporting
The implementation of In-Form has streamlined their reporting processes, and data quality has been transformed.
The reporting and dashboard functions were a new addition - something the staff and managers didn’t have from the previous system, and which has saved them a lot of time and improved their ability to monitor casework. To be able to download and share these reports was something that made reporting much more efficient within the organisation.
"I would recommend In-Form to other organisations, it's built for the sector by the sector...we got a really good new system that transformed the life of frontline staff and ultimately our clients" - Peter, Implementation Manager, Refugee Council.
Training
After some training, staff members with less experience of using technology were able to record their work much more easily. Staff were pleased to be leaving the old system behind and welcomed the easy to use intuitive and straightforward In-Form system. Many staff report how they can use In-Form confidently.
Next Steps
Because of the sheer scale of their services, Refugee Council decided a phased rollout was the best option for them. The final phase of full implementation was completed in August 2020, making the system fully available across all 29 services.