Overview of the situation
RFS is a small but ambitious Community Interest Company (CIC) dedicated to supporting the armed forces community, particularly military spouses, with employability, coaching, and mentoring programmes. With just three core team members dedicated to events and programmes, they had successfully launched several impactful services, but they knew they were reaching their operational limit.
The problem you faced
As RFS expanded their offerings beyond their flagship mentoring programme, their internal systems, still heavily manual, were buckling under the weight of increasing demand. Admin was spiralling, and the team was stuck in a cycle of firefighting.
What caused the problem
Everything was handled manually:
- Applications were submitted via email or paper forms
- CRM entries were created one by one
- Emails and SMS reminders were written and sent manually
- Their communications team couldn’t keep up with showcasing new events
With no automation or integrated digital solution in place, the admin burden multiplied with every new programme.
“I was getting up at 5am just to send out SMS reminders manually, because there was no other option.”
— Kim Williams, RFS
Impact of the problem
The team was stretched to breaking point. Important candidate communications risked being missed, event promotion was inconsistent, and opportunities were falling through the cracks. The growth of the organisation was being limited, not by demand, but by a lack of digital infrastructure.
Cost of the opportunity
RFS was leaving impact and funding on the table. Their ability to support more members of the military community was directly limited by how many hours of admin they could squeeze into the day. Without change, they would have to scale back offerings or significantly increase headcount, neither of which was viable.
The plan Green Gorilla Apps proposed
GGA didn’t just take a brief, we helped shape it. Through detailed discovery sessions, we mapped RFS’s processes, spotted bottlenecks, and proposed a scalable, cost-effective digital portal tailored to their exact needs.
Key features included:
- Automated application flows and CRM integration
- Automated emails and SMS reminders
- Instant user profile creation and event registration
- Feedback and reporting tools built in
- Easy internal management of new programmes and events
“We spoke to several developers, but GGA just got it. You translated our chaos into clarity and that made all the difference.”
— Kim Williams, RFS
Our approach wasn’t about building ‘just an app’, it was about enabling a small, mission-led team to grow without compromise.
Results that followed
The results were game-changing:
- 📈 3× increase in programme offerings (from 3 to 9+)
- 👥 2× growth in candidate reach
- 🕒 20+ hours saved in admin per programme
- 🔁 End-to-end automation of comms, feedback, and CRM updates
- 🙌 Team members now focus on high-value tasks like grant writing
- 🚀 Portal now supports unlimited scaling with the same team size
“Now I can set up a full event series in two hours, knowing it’ll run itself for the next two months. That’s a complete shift in how we work.”
— Kim Williams, RFS
Even new staff quickly recognised the power of the platform, after experiencing one event delivered the “old way,” they immediately asked why the portal wasn’t being used.
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