Interview: Sarah Hawkins, CEO, National Family Mediation
The CEO of the not-for-profit talks to Computer Weekly about how the organisation has finally automated referrals, after years of being told it was impossible, and launching its own mediation app
Going through a divorce is a difficult experience for anyone, but throw in mountains of paperwork, court battles and heightened emotions, and it can seem an almost insurmountable challenge.
This is where National Family Mediation (NFM) comes in. The charity, which is just over 40 years old, helps families through the divorce journey by providing mediators, information and support – and trying to keep it out of court.
As a small not-for-profit organisation, budget is tight, but its CEO, Sarah Hawkins, is keen to take advantage of technology as much as possible.
Hawkins took on the role of CEO in 2023, following several years in the organisation. One of her key priorities was to automate the referral process to make it easier for staff and clients alike.
When a potential client went through the enquiry process on the website, it could take an hour or more until a person manually received and replied to them. If they enquired over a weekend, they would have to wait until the following week for a reply.
“You’ve got these people, who are in a really emotional situation, reaching out for help but not receiving anything back,” says Hawkins. Soon after taking on the role of CEO, she decided this needed to change.
NFM is a decade-long Salesforce client and, according to Hawkins, had been told time and time again that automating referrals was simply not possible.
“When you come in with a fresh pair of eyes, you think, ‘Surely, it shouldn’t be this difficult’. But we were just being told, ‘No’.”
“As a charity, we try to utilise as much technology within a budget as we possibly can. Salesforce is primarily our main database, so we need that to be working to its full capacity,” she says.
No means yes
Taking it into her own hands, Hawkins started looking for solutions, with the idea that there must be “somebody that can help us” out there.
Then she found Salesforce consulting partner Brysa – and it turned out the automation she was seeking was indeed possible. Eight weeks after the project began, NFM had a streamlined referral process, through which information packs were sent out automatically and response times improved.
NFM offers mediation services in 500 locations, and also works with 13 different partners, all covering a separate postcode. Each referral, therefore, had to be checked and matched against either the local NFM organisation or one of the partners.
Now, all referrals are captured and routed with SalesForce Flows and a Google Maps application programming interface (API) to either NFM or one of its partner organisations.
The staff member who previously had to do all of this manually is now able to fully focus on their own role. “I’ve got a member of staff back into the team, which means we can answer more calls, reply to more emails and get more people booked onto the system,” says Hawkins.
The automation process has also led to a dramatic reduction in duplicate referrals.
Brysa also worked with NFM to set up automated email notifications, trigger communications on case updates, and ensure mediators receive timely alerts on their cases.
As well as automating the referral process, the project covered improved email delivery, storage optimisation, accurate service assignment and automation of communication on case closure.
“After five years of being told it couldn’t be done, it has been amazing to see people getting back to us almost immediately. Knowing that people are receiving information when the office is closed has taken a load off my mind, as well as work off the team,” says Hawkins.
The process went live in October 2024, and so far, so good. Hawkins is keen to go further and wants to automate other processes, hoping to free up another member of staff, with the board fully supportive.
For the new financial year, the board has allocated Hawkins a bigger budget, “because we have proven that the changes we have made have been really successful”.
In-house mediation tech
She is keen to do as much as she can with as little as possible. The organisation has also built an app called LegalEyes, through which it hopes to provide the full mediation process.
It has also built an online platform called MOMO. It has been five years in the making, due to budget restraints, but has finally launched.
We know IT is the way forward, and we’re looking at options for using artificial intelligence on our website, so we’re trying to keep up as much as we can, but as a charitable organisation, there can be restrictions
Sarah Hawkins, National Family Mediation
Hawkins says there are plenty of mediation apps out there already, but they are not backed by an organisation such as NFM and can hold a lot of confidential data.
To tackle this, NFM decided to create MOMO to take clients through the whole journey online should they wish to do so. It is particularly useful for property and finance cases, which tend to be very convoluted, according to Hawkins, with a lot of documents and information required.
“MOMO is a digital version of everything they would supply to a solicitor. Clients can upload all their documents securely, they can enter all their information securely, and it’s then available for mediators at a glance,” she says.
The app keeps clients within the mediation area, so instead of having to go off to find a solicitor, they can use the online platform, saving time and money.
Hawkins hopes the apps created in-house will eventually be used by its partner organisations on a licence basis. “Once we’ve tested it and made sure that the external version of what we’re using is okay and secure, we will then be pushing that out, and hope mediators would take us up on a licence offer,” she says.
Going forward, Hawkins is keen to automate as much as possible within the organisation, but recognises her ambitions may be hampered by budget constraints.
“Ideally, I would like everything to be able to be done through the website and fed into Salesforce,” she says, envisioning a future where clients book an appointment that goes straight through to the mediator.
“We know IT is the way forward, and we’re looking at options for using artificial intelligence on our website, so we’re trying to keep up as much as we can, but as a charitable organisation, there can be restrictions,” she says.
Read more Computer Weekly interviews with IT chiefs
