Supporting Those Who Served

We were delighted to support Veterans Outreach Support in Portsmouth as they recently went live with their new Cimplify CRM, built on the Salesforce platform.

The introduction came through our relationship with the Lloyds Bank Foundation, who support hundreds of community charities across the UK to become more effective and sustainable. Cimplify is one of only a small handful of CRM solutions that LBF are sufficiently confident in to fund directly on behalf of the charities they work with — something we’re incredibly proud of, and which speaks to both the robustness of our solution and its suitability for busy, mission-led organisations.

Starting from a Position of Trust and Understanding

We already had a good level of insight into the veterans sector, having worked with several veterans’ organisations previously. That experience meant we were able to get up to speed quickly, understand the context in which Veterans Outreach Support operate, and avoid some of the early discovery friction that can slow projects down.

This was particularly important as the project ran to a relatively short timeline. Fortunately, Veterans Outreach Support themselves had a very clear sense of what they wanted from the system and how it needed to work in practice. There was also something about the military mindset that meant the project management clicked into place almost immediately — roles were clear, decisions were made efficiently, and momentum was maintained throughout.

From start to finish, it was a highly focused and efficient implementation.

Key Requirements and Challenges

As with most real-world CRM projects, this wasn’t a simple “out-of-the-box” setup. Some of the key requirements we worked through together included:

• A bespoke user security model, ensuring that system users could only access the data and records appropriate to their role and responsibilities within the organisation. This was critical given the sensitivity of much of the information being recorded.

• Online registration and referral processes, delivered using Salesforce Experience Cloud functionality, allowing data to be captured securely and efficiently without adding administrative burden.

• A comprehensive data migration, bringing together information from earlier recording and reporting systems into a single, coherent platform — doing away with paper records and multiple spreadsheets in the process.

Throughout, the focus was on building something practical, usable, and sustainable — a system that staff would actually want to use day-to-day, not just something that looked good on paper.

Looking Beyond Go-Live

What really stood out for us was the charity’s clear commitment to improving outcomes for their service users, and their openness to using better data to support that mission. The ability to quickly extract meaningful management information is already proving to be a major time saver, and the team can see the difference the system will make as it becomes embedded across the organisation.

The glowing feedback we received from VOS means a great deal to us:

“The support we received from Goodlabs has been first rate, giving us confidence and helping us refine our plans… We would not hesitate to recommend Goodlabs and Cimplify to any charity looking to improve the way they manage their beneficiaries and activities.”

Behind the People Who Make a Difference

We’re thrilled to be working with charities like Veterans Outreach Support — organisations that are deeply committed to the people they serve and serious about improving lives. Being trusted to support that work, quietly and competently behind the scenes, is what motivates us.

We love being the people behind the people who make a difference!

Ai 'Agents' are coming...

Goodlabs’ managing director Matt Wilson shares his thoughts about AI-influenced changes to the Salesforce brand and wider product offering

It’s corporate logo is a blue cloud with the word Salesforce in it. The brand presides over a huge range of interconnected digital data products, many with “cloud” in the title. But now many are being re-badged with “agent” instead — part of a serious pivot to AI. Recent articles circulating after this year’s Dreamforce, including one reporting Marc Benioff’s comment that he might even rename the company Agentforce, made me stop and think about what this could mean for the #nonprofit sector.

And why, despite my reservations about the terminology, I’m genuinely excited about what AI agents could mean for charities. I’ll share three reasons.

My business introduces lots of charities to Salesforce, largely because of its core CRM strengths and the generous discounts available for smaller organisations. But every time I demo the system to a new prospect, I have to start with: “Why would a charity be interested in a product with ‘Sales’ in its name?” I’d be quite happy not to have to do that any more.

That said, I’m not convinced that the words Agent and AI naturally go together in most people’s minds. There’s a real risk of confusion. But if we put the branding to one side, the underlying direction of travel is fascinating — because AI agents could genuinely reshape how busy charities manage and report on their services.

Here are three reasons I’m excited.

1. More human referral journeys
Referral pathways for people seeking help can be long, clinical, and complicated. AI agents could make them feel far more human. Instead of navigating complex forms, someone could describe their situation in their own words and be guided through a gentle, conversational process that captures exactly what a service needs. The same outcomes, but with greater dignity and far less friction.

2. Reporting that feels like insight, not admin
Salesforce reports and dashboards already help to reduce the stress around impact reporting — but the learning curve is still steep. AI could flatten it. Imagine asking, “Show me referral trends over the past six months and highlight anything unusual,” and receiving a dashboard, a narrative summary, and suggested next questions. Not replacing good measurement practice, but making it accessible to every organisation.

3. Training and support woven directly into the CRM
Many frontline workers don’t see themselves as ‘tech-confident’, and they shouldn’t have to be. AI assistants could sit within the CRM as a calm, patient guide: helping staff complete tasks, record interactions accurately, follow safeguarding steps, or simply remember where a field lives. Real-time support embedded in daily work, improving confidence and data quality simultaneously.

If Salesforce is serious about reframing its ecosystem around agents and AI, I hope our sector doesn’t just brace for the change — but sees the opportunity in it. Done well, these tools could help charities spend less time wrestling with systems and more time doing what they do best: supporting people.

A Powerful CRM For A Mighty Charity

The Kennedy Street mission

Small but Mighty: Implementing Salesforce for Kennedy Street Recovery

We’ve loved working with the team at Kennedy Street Recovery down in Brighton — a community-led charity doing incredible things to support people in recovery from addiction.

While they might be small in terms of staff headcount, but they really are mighty when it comes to impact. Kennedy Street is all about lived experience, peer support, volunteering, and building real community — and you can feel that energy in everything they do. From their peer-led recovery workshops to their daily Recovery Café, they’re creating spaces where people feel safe, supported, and seen. It's all about practical help, emotional connection, and hope — and it’s working. Lives are being rebuilt every day.

When they first came to us, Kennedy Street were using an old custom-built database that was no longer fit for purpose. To keep things ticking over, they were relying heavily on spreadsheets — which was far from ideal as a means of tracking complex journeys of change.

That’s where Cimplify came in — our Salesforce-based impact management system designed especially for charities. We worked closely with Mark and the team to customise the core application around their operating model — to deliver a solution that reflects the way they work and supports the brilliant things they’re already doing.

As Mark puts it:

"Working with Matt and Abi at Goodlabs to build, configure and implement our new Cimplify CRM has been a great experience. The attention to detail and consideration of the needs and nuances of our charity has been second to none. They coached us through the whole process from set up to training, and the support has meant that we are now really confident moving forward with using the system. I also know that if we get stuck they will be there to help, which is very reassuring. Cimplify itself is really intuitive and our team started using it on day one. I would definitely recommend Goodlabs and Cimplify."

Thank you, Mark! That means a lot.

It’s been a real pleasure to work alongside such a passionate and values-driven team. We’re looking forward to continue to support Kennedy Street in the years ahead.

Complex Needs, Cimpl Data

People can be complicated, but data shouldn’t be

A charity in the West Midlands recently asked for our support to transform their data management practices in relation to the recording of interactions with their clients. Their service users have multiple and complex needs, often relating to mental health, addiction, or both. A range of services are offered including 1:1 support, group work and also accommodation.

Through our Cimplify CRM solution for charities we were able to migrate them over to a more efficient and organised way of operating. No more client data hiding in Word documents hidden on Sharepoint, in Teams or even worse, on staff C drives. Now the whole team has role-related access to the clients relevant to their service. For management, reporting has been brought to life with realtime dashboards providing insight into service demand month by month. Clients presenting risks are more easily identified meaning that creating a safer environment for everyone.

The moral of the story is that whilst people may be complex, data can still be made Cimpl!

CRM for Veteran's Charity

Charities come in all shapes and sizes, serving all sorts of different groups in society. We were pleased to be asked to support a Veterans charity for the first time.

Veteran’s HQ Liverpool provides much-needed support to hundreds of ex-servicemen and women right across the Merseyside region. The leadership team of the charity and its committed volunteers were beginning to struggle to keep track of all the many diverse requests for support and a busy schedule of participation in a range of groups and activities.

Using our Cimpl CRM application which utilises the security and versatility of the Salesforce platform we were able to deliver a user-friendly and cost-effective solution. In order to ensure that new users to the system had the best possible start we travelled to Liverpool to deliver in-person training.

In particular the in-built report and dashboard features that Cimpl offers have transformed the way that the charity reports back to its various funders, really taking the sting out of producing detailed reports on activity and impact.

Don’t be shy to get in touch if you’d like a demo of how our Cimpl CRM could make a difference to the way your charity manages its data.

The Power of Messaging

Cimpl has a new messaging partner: ValueText

We are always working on ways to improve our Salesforce CRM solution: Cimplify. One of the things we’ve been wanting to add for some time is an integrated messaging service as an alternative to email.

This requirement was really important for a new charity CRM client, a mental health charity based in North Wales. They need to keep in close contact with their service users as their 1:1 and group programmes tend to be quite dynamic. For their service users email is not a channel they use often for communication, but they all have mobile phones. Two-way chatting and also the ability to bulk message to a wide range of different lists was essential.

After testing a number of third party products we chose to go with ValueText. The quality of their solution, ease of use, great customer service and most of all highly competitive pricing (including a charity discount) made them stand out from the competition.

Having live tested this solution for several weeks we’re now really happy to offer it to all of our Cimplify customers who also wish to make the most of the power of messaging!

Cimpl arrives in Cumbria

The roster of charities around the UK switching to our Cimpl CRM continues to grow with the latest deployment on behalf of a charity in Kendal serving those who are homeless, vulnerable housed, lonely or needing support.

As is often the case, the charity had an existing CRM but it was no longer meeting their needs. The legacy system was causing staff and volunteers a lot of frustration, sapping their time, and all sorts of workarounds were needed to account for its inability to adapt their ever-evolving service.

Having got to know the charity first through a piece of strategic work looking at Theory of Change and a new outcomes framework we were well versed in the impact that the charity was making and the demands of its funders with respect to reporting on that impact.

At Goodlabs we always encourage an ‘impact-first’ approach. This ensures data management is constructed around measuring the things that matter most. Upskilling staff is key to this too, because however well designed the CRM may be ultimately the reports and dashboards it presents are only as good as the data going in. Patiently overcoming system-adoption anxieties is key, including when necessary going at the pace of users who need additional hand-holding.

Feedback from the charity has been really encouraging. It’s great to know that we’ve been able to deliver on our promise to “make impact easier”.

If you’d like a demo of Cimpl drop a line to: cimpl@goodlabs.uk

Pic by Jonny Gios, Unsplash