The Challenge

Samaritans coronavirus response.

2020 was a difficult year for the world. Samaritans, the UK suicide prevention charity, continued to see high demand for their services. They needed to continue to manage this demand, while making it possible to deliver certain services remotely.

At the start of lockdown, Samaritans worked with NHS England to set up a helpline for NHS workers. Not only that, they needed to both set up the line, and manage it, remotely. The calls made to the charity are highly confidential. They rely on concrete processes to ensure the right actions are taken in response.

Credera engaged with Samaritans to help them respond immediately to the new requirement. Partnering closely with Salesforce and the charity’s suppliers to manage the project, Credera would help to put the new helpline in place within just two weeks.

The Solution

Optimising digital infrastructure for even greater impact.

Samaritans began their journey with Credera in 2017, when they decided to switch their Salesforce Service Management provider. The system their 20,000 volunteers use to manage their calls is eLog, which integrates with Salesforce. It manages everything from the reason for someone’s call through to any safeguarding concerns. This is core to their listening service. Credera picked it up smoothly and fixed the problems they had.

Since starting the partnership with Credera, Samaritans has added safeguarding and prison support, as well as the NHS helpline to respond to the pandemic. They also made the move to transition from Salesforce Classic experience to Salesforce Lightning.

Credera worked with the Samaritans team closely to help them prioritise budget for migrating to Lightning. With only three members in Samaritans’ business systems team, Credera was crucial in making the Lightning transition happen – and supporting the business case for it. The team was able to migrate in a month and communicate to the users quickly. The biggest impacts were in bringing together their files and emails for case management. Additionally, their Salesforce users said that they like the new look and feel, which the charity expects will improve user adoption.

Ultimately Samaritans’ digital programme manager has a vision that using Salesforce should become as commonplace as using email. Their relationship with Credera will be key to enabling this vision. For that reason, Credera is proud to partner with Samaritans. It is a technically advanced charity that understands how, by optimising their digital infrastructure, they can have an even greater impact.

The Results

Praise for the project.