Emerging from the pandemic, business owner Ben Gardner faced a very different kind of challenge: a period of unprecedented growth. Demand was high for Ecology by Design's consultancy services as land managers and developers sought to promote biodiversity and meet new legislative requirements, and the expanding team quickly outgrew their existing systems.

As hard as he tried, Director Ben struggled to find a software solution that would meet the needs of a mid-sized business. By the time he met Dan from Rapid Indigo, he'd sunk significant resources into looking for an answer - with minimal success.

'It seemed like a simple ask: a system that meets our needs, and doesn't cost £100k to set up,'‍

We're a fairly simple business, and a lot of the software out there is aimed at businesses that really aren't. We found ourselves wanting to turn off 99% of the features, and that wasn't possible.'

'I spent 2 years trialling different systems, spending time, energy and money, only to find that none of them met our needs. It took several meetings with HubSpot to find out that it would cost £30-100k just to get started with them.'

They'd ended up with a mixed bag of pieces of software, none of which fitted exactly what was needed.

'It really became apparent when we were onboarding new staff how many different systems we had,' says Laura, Ecology by Design's Associate. 'It took 10 different steps to complete a single end-to-end process.'

And this inadequate system was costing a huge amount to run. 'We were spending probably over £30,000 per year in CRMs and software - and they weren't meeting our needs. We had to change our processes to fit the system, if it worked at all.'

'We didn't have a way to tell if someone had made a change or a mistake. Everything connects; if something is wrong anywhere in the data, the end result will be wrong - the quote, the process, and the decisions we're making.'

The business was growing fast, but the software wasn't helping Ben and his team to keep up. 'I need to trust the numbers. I need to know they're accurate and be able to manipulate them. If the numbers aren't there, we're going to fail.'

'It's visually pleasing, not overcomplicated, and doesn't cost the earth.'

Before making any suggestions, Dan from Rapid joined the team on an ordinary workday to get to know the business. By sitting alongside them, he could observe in real time how they flicked between systems, experience pain points firsthand, and spot efficiencies that would make the process easier.

It was clear that the existing system was too fragmented to be sustainable, so Dan proposed building out a low-code solution in AirTable that would replace multiple other processes and pieces of software.

Ben and Laura had some initial concerns about going bespoke, but they were won over by Dan's commitment to understanding the business. 'Whenever I'm sat with Dan and requesting a new feature, he'll always ask why,' says Ben. 'He digs into the pain point and whether what we're asking for will actually solve it. Rapid Indigo are invested & passionate about how we're going to work on this - that's really important to us. It's a partnership.'

The new system now handles sales, quoting and invoicing for the whole business, and will soon expand to include project management. Complete with an integration directly into Xero to save any duplicating information and automatically create invoices.

Like any software project the transition period is key. With support from the Rapid Indigo team, they were able to roll out the system seamlessly: backfilling existing information, setting up interim processes, and building the staff team's confidence.

'We timed it to coincide with the start of our financial year, which made sense to the team and gave it time to bed in before our busy season,' says Laura. 'It was an impressive roll-out in a short amount of time, and the team have really embraced it'.

'We're providing a better service and protecting ourselves.'

'The new system gives me confidence in the data we have', says Ben. 'I have accurate numbers on the screen in front of me, ready to share with the Senior Management Team for decision-making. If something's wrong, it gets flagged immediately - we no longer have the risk of data getting lost or changed without our knowledge.'

Improved job satisfaction is another key outcome.

'We're ecologists because we like to be outside,' says Laura. 'We don't want to be stuck inside doing paperwork. I'm excited to have streamlined and efficient systems that flow naturally and don't require much input from staff.'

Ben agrees. 'We’re a relatively small team and most of us have come from a corporate background we hated; we don't want to inherit processes like dreaded timesheets. The simpler and easier we can make the processes, the happier people are to stay with us for the long term.'

The new system has also slashed running costs. 'Our monthly PipeDrive bill alone has dropped from £1600 to £400, and with more efficiencies to come. Overall, we're taking zeros off our annual tech bill.'

Looking forward, Ben is pleased that the system will allow the business to expand without losing its unique identity and culture.

'Rather than growing to become a big, unwieldy team, we want to keep the team small and repeat it in different geographies. And as an environmental business, it's important that we're not travelling half the country to get to our work. Having a replicable system allows us to grow geographically while keeping that small, niche team.'

Meanwhile, Laura appreciates that they won't outgrow the system anytime soon.

'There's a whole lot more development we can do on this. It's really exciting that there are more efficiencies to come and that the system will grow with us.'