Transforming Lives with Data That Delivers
Money Advice Trust is one of the UK’s leading debt advice charities, supporting thousands of people every day with practical guidance during moments of acute financial stress. Rising demand - and a goal to triple the volume of support provided - meant the charity needed a more joined-up, insight-driven approach.
Circyl worked with the Trust across two strategic projects to deliver a new income generation CRM in Dynamics 365 and a scalable Data & Analytics solution in Power BI to unlock timely data, reduce manual effort and enable smarter decision making.
The result is a step change in how the organisation tracks outcomes, manages relationships and plans for future growth - all so more people can get the help they need, when they need it most.
The challenge
The Trust faced two core issues that were limiting its reach:
- The Income Generation team had no centralised CRM - relying on Excel spreadsheets to track partnerships, funders, and pipeline activity
- The Service teams lacked access to up-to-date insight - with data split across systems, and reporting largely manual and retrospective
These were not just internal frustrations. Every missed update or misaligned metric was a barrier to timely support.
The Trust needed a joined-up solution that matched its people-first values - practical, focused, and built to support real-world delivery.
"Every minute spent re-keying data or waiting for updates was time we weren’t using to help someone. We needed faster visibility, smarter tools and a better way to work.”
Damian Chapman, Director of Income Generation, Money Advice Trust
Why Circyl?
Money Advice Trust had already scoped its vision: to modernise operations and become more data-led. Turning that vision into reality, however, required a strategic partner with the experience to guide delivery, align with internal processes and support future growth.
Circyl brought a structured, consultative approach by combining Microsoft expertise with a deep understanding of the Trust’s environment and mission.
From the very start, the focus was on solutions that worked in practice, not just on paper.
"What stood out about Circyl was how thoughtful and conscientious they were. It never felt like a sales pitch - they focused on solving the right problems."
Damian Chapman, Director of Income Generation, Money Advice Trust
What we delivered
Discovery & Analysis
Workshops with leadership and operational teams helped surface shared frustrations, highlight key bottlenecks, and align delivery with real needs. Circyl used a phased delivery model to keep things practical and focused.
CRM Implementation
A Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM solution was delivered for the Income Generation team, replacing spreadsheets and enabling a joined-up view of relationships, funders and opportunities.
Power BI Implementation
Circyl built a modern cloud-based reporting layer, connected to the Trust’s existing CRM used by frontline teams. This unlocked data across advice volumes, service demand and operational performance.
The results
Faster Transactions
Up to 2 hours saved per finance transaction thanks to smarter reporting and centralised data.
Immediate Insights
With up-to-date reporting on advice volumes, service trends and funding performance.
Increased Efficiency
Through greater alignment from Income Generation right through to frontline service teams.
“This wasn’t just about modernising systems. We needed to deliver better services, evidence outcomes more clearly and make room to innovate.”
Damian Chapman, Director of Income Generation, Money Advice Trust
Strategic Visibility
Enabling leaders to plan, prioritise and act faster when support is needed most through daily refreshed reporting.
Scalable Platforms
Unlocked data across advice volumes, service demand and operational performance and built to scale with growing requirements.
“Their openness to collaboration meant we could design something that didn’t just work technically - it supported the way they help people.”
