CREATIVE STRATEGIC BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY

The Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) is the leading professional body for residential property management professionals. They provide learning and qualifications to over 5,000 members, who serve the private, social, build-to-rent and retirement sectors, managing estates and developments across all tenures.

IRPM’s core aims are to raise standards across the property management sector, provide individuals with professional accreditations and assist practitioners in assessing job applicant capabilities.

IRPM are adopting our Membership Experience Platform, MemEx, to replace their existing ColdFusion CRM and ASP.NET CMS, to better support their business functions long into the future.

Wattle were selected as IRPM’s strategic technology partner to deliver an extensive transformation programme comprising discovery, member research, UI / UX, website build, portal development and CRM transformation. The programme aims to digitise many of IRPM’s core functions, creating significant efficiency gains across the organisation and improve member acquisition, engagement and retention at each stage of the digital journey.

The programme began with an extensive discovery phase, which enabled our project team to gain a critical understanding of the charities culture, organisational needs and functional requirements across website CMS and CRM technologies. The implementation began with a gap / fit analysis of those requirements against the existing functionality on the MemEx platform. Requirements outside core MemEx functionality were then defined and delivered via additional development and configuration including:

• Advanced CPD functionality enabling members to seamlessly learn, via online CPD training courses, and progress through IRPM’s qualifications framework.
• Voucher codes providing unique discounts and offers to members across IRPM’s range of training courses and products.
• A dynamic job listing board making it easy to keep up to date with the latest roles and job applicants.
• Bundled products, making it easier to progress through training and earn new accreditations.

We are looking forward to working in partnership with IRPM in the longer-term to help them realise further cost savings and efficiency gains.

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is the government-backed, sector-owned national support body for the further education and training sector. They are the guardians of professional standards in the sector, supporting teachers through each step of their professional journey.

Wattle were selected as the ETF’s strategic technology partner to deliver an extensive digital transformation programme, termed ‘Transform’, and centred around the adoption of a single Umbraco CMS (website and membership portal) and Dynamics CRM platform.

The programme began with an extensive discovery exercise. Discovery enabled the dedicated Wattle project team to gain a contextual understanding of ETF’s organisational objectives, functional requirements, and member processes and personas. The process also defined a strategic plan for delivery including design, UI / UX, content architecture, website, portal and CRM.

Implementation began with an extensive design, UI / UX and content definition phase. This work resulted in the remapping of ETF’s proposed website architecture, navigation and content, based on the findings from user research and member interviews.

The strategy for development started with a gap / fit analysis of ETF requirements against the existing functionality of MemEx, our membership experience platform. MemEx formed the baseline functionality framework for ETF’s build. The development process then consisted of the configuration of MemEx, across website, portal and CRM, and the customisation of the platform to fit the specific needs of ETF. 

ETF’s unique requirements drove the development of several bespoke features including:

• Automating the membership upgrade process for members upon completion of qualifications.
• The ability to automate the recording and tracking of member level CPD by activity type and time spent.
• The development of a Professional Status Register, where members applying for teaching roles could automatically be assessed online by the respective hiring educational institution.

• The ability for members to download certified badges, for use within digital communications and documentation, demonstrating their professional status.
• Member access to a comprehensive set of educational resources, for continued professional development, that can:
  • Be filtered by a range of parameters i.e. member type, teaching topic, location etc.
  • Tailored based upon a member’s interests and engagement history.

What makes the ETF ‘Transform’ programme so unique is the broader digital ecosystem, consisting of a further 11 websites serving differing organisational functions. Following the successful deployment of the MemEx platform into ETF, the Wattle team will define a consolidation strategy for this wider digital estate. The aim being to maximise the effectiveness of the entire digital ecosystem, secure efficiencies, drive down ongoing technology costs and ensure seamless user experiences.