Ulrike Eder, chief marketing officer, esynergy
As chief marketing officer at esynergy, I had the immense pleasure and honour of attending the Computing Digital Technology Leaders Awards 2024 alongside our esteemed client, Marie Curie.
Witnessing Marie Curie win the award for Best Not-For-Profit Project for their Single Customer View project was a testament to the hard work, collaboration, and shared vision that have defined our partnership since its inception.
Marie Curie, a UK-based charity, provides care and support to individuals with terminal illnesses. Their mission to close the gap in end-of-life care relies heavily on effective engagement with their broad community of supporters, volunteers, and donors. However, fragmented data across four separate systems posed a significant challenge, hampering their ability to optimise marketing, donor relations, and volunteer coordination.
In September 2022, Marie Curie selected esynergy as their implementation partner to help realise their vision of a unified data platform. Our track record with non-profits and expertise in cloud data platforms made us a fitting choice for this ambitious project. Together, we embarked on a journey to build a Microsoft Azure-based Single Customer View platform, consolidating over one million donor and volunteer records in just six weeks.
Our collaborative efforts rapidly yielded a robust MVP, providing a comprehensive 360-degree view of supporters. This solution has empowered Marie Curie with detailed activity histories, enabling more personalised and impactful engagement. As Sunny Jaisinghani, head of data practice at esynergy, aptly put it, "Through close collaboration, we integrated Marie Curie's data into an engagement engine that will ultimately help millions receive end-of-life care."
The immediate impact of the platform has been profound. Within six weeks, Marie Curie experienced a transformative shift in how they engage with their community. With over one million records harmonised into a single source of truth, fundraising managers can now analyse participation across various engagement channels, optimising their activities.
Operational efficiency has also seen a remarkable boost. The consolidation of data from four systems has dramatically reduced the manual reporting efforts previously required. Marie Curie staff across different functions can now self-serve trusted data and analytics via interactive Power BI dashboards, eliminating significant duplicate data entry needs. This newfound efficiency has already led to tangible results, with one campaign leveraging new segmentation to achieve a twofold increase in engagement.
Looking ahead, our partnership with Marie Curie continues to drive innovation. The foundation for a comprehensive single supporter view is now in place, and we are working together to further enrich data and analytics capabilities. Upcoming phases will focus on integrating predictive machine learning for donor retention, developing interactive self-service data products, and embedding customer experience use cases like web personalisation.
Marie Curie's commitment to doubling involvement in end-of-life care services nationwide underscores the importance of unlocking the full potential of data and technology. Our collaboration is not just about implementing cutting-edge solutions but also about transforming community engagement to better serve their mission. As Neal Venables, head of data engineering at Marie Curie, expressed, "Using integrated data for predictive analytics, we'll better anticipate the needs of our diverse supporter community."
Reflecting on this journey, I am filled with gratitude and pride. The partnership between esynergy and Marie Curie is a beacon of what can be achieved when technology meets its purpose. The success of the project is not just a technological triumph but a significant leap forward in service delivery and community engagement for Marie Curie. We at esynergy are privileged to collaborate with such a dedicated and visionary organisation, and we look forward to continuing this transformative journey together.
Personally, witnessing Marie Curie receive the Best Not-For-Profit Project award already marks a highlight of my year and it affirmed the incredible impact that technology can have when driven by a shared commitment to making a difference.
As esynergy's chief marketing officer, Ulrike Eder leads marketing initiatives that drive business growth and are aligned with esynergy's mission to deliver exceptional business value to clients and communities. With over 15 years of experience, Ulrike has worked with leading technology organisations, built globally distributed teams, expanded businesses into new markets and designed marketing strategies that demonstrate measurable ties to business growth. Ulrike is a dynamic, multilingual leader passionate about technology and her experience spans Europe, the Middle East and the US.
