Customer Story: Old Royal Naval College (ORNC)

Prior to implementing Access Charity CRM, key stakeholders for the ORNC would manually monitor all budget-related tasks via Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, which would take a member of staff approximately 2 hours per week to organise. This challenge essentially led the organisation to seek a cloud-based charity CRM that would save them valuable time, while also being able to manage their processes remotely.

Since introducing Access Charity CRM, the organisation can now view this data within the Workspace dashboard, providing live updates of their budget activities. As this is now an automated process, it's saved the ORNC 144 hours of work time across the past year, allowing them to invest this directly into their organisation's campaigns and activities.

Having previously implemented a number of our products - including Access’ visitor attraction management software - a positive relationship had already been formed. This led to the ORNC choosing Charity CRM having been impressed by Access' open and honest approach.

The ORNC’s rapport with Access is such that they've praised our Customer Success team for their outstanding support and even consider them as a crucial member of their team. This positive relationship, dovetailed with Charity CRM providing tangible results has led to the ORNC endorsing both Access as a software provider and Charity CRM as a quality product to other organisations.

Access’ James Vjestica sat down with Marek to talk about ORNC’s journey with Access Charity CRM.

• Removing human error by automating key processes
• Saved the organisation over 144 hours over the past year
• Seamless integration with both Access products and third party platforms
• Clear insights are accessible from a central location
• Enjoyed a productive relationship with our Customer Success Team
• Reaps the benefits of a cloud-based approach

What challenges did the ORNC initially face?

“We originally didn’t have a charity CRM. But after gaining funding, we were able to invest in this software, in addition to other solutions surrounding financial management, accounting, and visitor attraction management. Another consideration was that we wanted our CRM to be a cloud-based solution, which would allow us to manage the system without needing to be within the grounds. Thankfully, Access have been able to deliver all of these requirements.

“We also initially looked into separate solutions, but this would have relied on technical API connectors and file transfers in order for a transfer of data to be possible. Instead, all of our Access solutions are connected via the group data hub, which allows us to retrieve data from a central location. We feel a sense of safety in the knowledge that these connections and data are looked after by the Access Group.”

Since implementing Charity CRM, have any features been particular highlights?

"You have a system that's highly capable of creating and presenting data visualisations on the fly, making them both useful and easy to drill down into. The best part is that once these visualisations are built, they only need to be created once. After that, it requires minimal effort to make any necessary adjustments.

“What really impressed us was how quickly we were able to get everything up and running with just a brief consultation. We had initially assumed we would need to export data to certain platforms in order to build what we needed, but your in-house solution handled much of what our departments were looking for.

“We've also introduced some of the out-of-the-box reports from your system to our fundraising team, who had been struggling with a lack of resources. They’re a small team - just two or three people – and had previously been relying on manually creating Excel spreadsheets and other tools. Charity CRM essentially became the missing team member they needed, allowing them to access ready-made, presentable reports without having to build everything from scratch."

Has the software led to any tangible benefits?

“We have saved around 144 hours across the past year. We’ve switched on certain analytics that monitor budget sensors which our Senior Managers can view in Workspace to see live updates regarding their annual budget. This was previously 100% a manual process and would take one person 2 hours per week to organise. Since implementing Charity CRM, we’ve been able to automate this process and save ourselves valuable time, allowing us to focus on other areas of our organisation.”

How have you found working with Access' support team?

“We’ve really embraced having a Customer Success Manager and the opportunities they have provided such as developing our staff to use the Access products. Where training is concerned, this has been made far easier than if each of our products were from different software suppliers, which would have been difficult to manage.

“From a support perspective, Access has  been great. Whether it’s through Pete in Customer Success or the guys raising and responding to tickets, they’ve very much become a member of the team. This has been acknowledged by our staff as communication feels internal rather than via an external third party. It’s been very personable and we’re able to get things done.

“I don’t think that we would be able to efficiently manage all of our Access products without the support of the Customer Success team. If we did this ourselves, we would use too much of our own resources which wouldn’t successfully manage the potential of these applications together. It’s only through conversations and planning with your Customer Success Manager that you can really get the most out of these products.”

What else impresses you about Access?

“Previously, we only felt comfortable using the system for the top-end fundraising and grant management aspects of our organisation. However, after updating the system, we realised that we could also easily integrate our visitor data.

“Before, our data was scattered across different platforms - some in our admissions system, some in our previous ePOS platform - and managing it involved manual imports and running reports, which could get messy and lead to errors. Now, with the updated system, data moves automatically. For instance, when someone uses our ePOS system, their information, including Gift Aid transactions, email addresses, and physical contact details, goes straight into the CRM. This is something we never had before, and it's incredibly powerful.

“This shift has even led us to increase our cloud storage capacity with you, because we now manage a large volume of annual passholder details. The reach of our campaigns has expanded significantly, allowing us to conduct email and physical mail campaigns on a scale we never thought possible before using this system."

How have you found Charity CRM’s integration capability?

"Firstly, we're excited to use the Make connector because it simplifies communication between two different organisations. This approach allows us to create solutions that expand our client base, making it mutually broader and more connected across a single platform.

“Regarding integration directly between Access products, a great example would be the Gamma connector into Charity CRM. When someone makes a purchase in the shop, their details sync with the CRM, updating their profile. This allows us to track how often they visit, when they shop, and other valuable data points. The ability to access this additional data is truly remarkable."

Why did you choose Access Charity CRM?

“We opted for Access Charity CRM above other competitor products as we had already built a strong rapport with Access from purchasing other solutions. From our experience, it felt as though it was going to be an open, honest, and ongoing relationship with the Access team, which has very much remained.”

Would you recommend Access to others?

“Yes, I would definitely recommend both Access and Access Charity CRM for any charity, of any size. It's incredibly powerful and you have the right levels of support to help even the smallest of teams that would be using it.”

Do you have any advice for other charities who are thinking about working with Access?

“Success won't happen overnight, but when it does arrive, it's incredibly rewarding. It’s crucial that you put the work in, but between both parties, you can come up with something that's absolutely perfect for your organisation.”