Access Community Trust (ACT) is a regional charity operating in Suffolk and Norfolk that focuses on promoting social inclusion and supporting individuals who are at risk of social exclusion. The Trust provides a broad range of services aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable people, including accommodation, mental health support, and employment mentoring. In addition to homelessness support, ACT runs several community hubs and social enterprises. These include mental health cafes and youth services.
ACT have struggled with software systems for three years, trying and failing to implement three previous systems. Like many charities, ACT bought multiple ready-made software products and tried to make them fit their needs. As Richard explains,
“With previous systems, they were always focused on clients only, but ACT needed something to cater for our workforce as well”. Another issue was a lack of consistency in key activities, as Richard continues, “We had multiple recruitment managers throughout the organisation with their own ways of doing things but now we have an integrated platform that has streamlined the process and brought consistency.”
ACT implemented Zone's all-in-one digital platform to integrate all parts of their organisation. Now, they can run services, onboard new clients, support their staff, collect and analyse the data, and present their impact back to funders. Richard believes one of the greatest advantages is the organisation’s "use of Zone to better present and use data."
ACT have seen benefits across the board. To measure their impact, ACT have spent time developing their organisational KPIs, which they are now able to report against using data captured in Zone. They have also been able to improve their employee experience by using Zone’s internal ticketing system for colleagues to flag requests that can be tracked, responded to and closed with an outcome.
In some weeks, ACT can take on as many as 7 new employees. Previously a challenge for their HR Manager, she can now use bespoke trackers within Zone to onboard staff, complete checks and easily access information to ensure that new staff are fully compliant. Having employee information and qualifications all in one-place, has been revolutionary. For managers, Zone has “brought greater visibility, so the head of care and support is able to go in and see what staff are doing day-to-day, see performance reviews and feedback”.
Staff have taken to the system far quicker than they have with previous solutions. Richard shares that
“rather than having four different systems that all have a different look and feel, we’ve got one system, with all functions under one roof and the same user experience.”
Richard’s favourite part of the system is the integration with job websites. Now, ACT are able to post job roles directly to multiple job websites from Zone and receive applications into the system to be reviewed, progressed and tracked. Feedback can then be sent directly to applicants based on whether their application was successful or not, and additional forms can be sent to them to start their onboarding journey with the organisation. Previously, this would all be completed manually, saving time for the colleagues involved and providing a unified approach to application processing.
Richard is very passionate about Zone’s reporting capabilities.
“Before we would see the data as an afterthought. We would capture information retrospectively, looking back at the previous quarter. Now, we are able to view the data in real-time and look at emerging trends, which helps us to adapt and improve our services much faster.”
“I think it's above and beyond anything that I've ever used before or, or anything that I've seen before…I love it. I can't praise it enough.”
