How Rupe Replaced Five Disparate Systems With One Central CRM

The Challenge: Cobbler’s Children & Creeping Complexity

Rupe trains and advises the new generation of Power BI users: people who can now access analytics without a traditional BI background. Two years in, with a growing client base after Ian Stuart started the firm when a previous consultancy closed its UK office, the irony was hard to ignore. A data company preaching integration was running on fragmented operational tools.

Monday.com sat as the main CRM. Time management lived in spreadsheets. Training management and registration lived in more spreadsheets. Certificates went through BadgeCert. Tickets through Eventbrite. Accounting sat elsewhere. Multiple invoices, manual re-keying, duplicated effort, and avoidable errors (the kind that matter when billable hours and client trust are on the line).

Monday.com could have been stretched with plugins and third-party consultants, but the stack was getting confusing and expensive. A Business Central feasibility study suggested it could work, for a bigger, heavier project than a small consultancy wanted. Rupe needed something fit for their size, and built to grow with them.

The Solution: One System of Record: Not Another Silo

Working with CRM Insights, Rupe implemented Workbooks as their central system: project management, training and attendance, surveys, and the operational hub, not just a sales database.

Discovery followed a familiar path: Don for the first conversation, Mike for product fit and confidence, then Charlie and Trevor for requirements with Rupe’s core team in London. A consultancy project delivered against the agreed scope (priorities shifted where the business needed them most), and Rupe moved onto an ongoing Customer Success engagement.

1. “Enter It Once” Data Discipline

The primary goal was to kill double entry: name, email, and company captured once, not retyped across five systems.

Result: That goal was achieved. Operational data now lives in one place.

“The main end goal was to eradicate the need for double entry of data… And we have achieved that.”

2. Stack Cull Without Losing Capability

CRM Insights helped Rupe peel off tools that created friction and duplicate cost. Timesheets, Monday.com, training management, BadgeCert, and Eventbrite were retired or largely replaced; Workbooks took the load for training, surveys, attendance, and day-to-day delivery.

Result: Five painful systems off the stack; fewer licences and fewer places for errors to hide.

3. A Command Centre Beyond Sales CRM

Workbooks became project management, survey generation and response capture, training management, and attendance, aligned with the principle “if it’s not in the CRM, it should be.” Certificate generation and training surveys were prioritised over QuickBooks in the first wave; QuickBooks integration followed as the next major piece.

Result: One configurable system of record the team can grow into, instead of another bolt-on CRM.

The Payoff: Ready to Scale Without Breaking

The move from a patchwork of tools to one operational hub put Rupe in a stronger place to grow.

• Double entry gone: contacts and operational facts captured once.
• Tool sprawl cut: five systems retired from a year-one stack that was already creaking.
• Scale posture: the business is now in a position where it can grow without the old operational break points (management reporting is the deliberate next polish).

The CRM Insights Difference

For a small consultancy, choosing an implementation partner is as big as choosing the product. Rupe wanted a smaller firm that still knew the platform deeply: someone who used Workbooks, had longevity in the market, and would talk straight about fit.

That showed up in how the decision was handled (calm, evidence-based, not pressured) and in delivery: Charlie as day-to-day project contact, Trevor as technical lead, with wider team support for development. Interactions described as friendly, helpful, and transparent, the same service standard Rupe tries to offer its own clients.

“I took my time… I said, look, this is a very big decision. I don’t want to have to make this again. I don’t want to get it wrong… [Mike] wasn’t pushy at all… they haven’t let us down in the implementation… it’s just been a very good journey.”

Workbooks is highly configurable (and therefore has a learning curve). Rupe’s experience is that CRM Insights know the product the way Rupe knows Power BI, which is what made the journey workable.

Ready to replace tool sprawl with one system of record?

If your operational data lives in five places and your team is retyping the same contacts, let’s talk.

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