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!