The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) is the world’s independent authority for precious metals and the standards setter that upholds trust in the precious metals market. Their mission is to ensure the highest levels of leadership, integrity, and transparency for the global precious metals industry by setting standards and developing market solutions. LBMA standards cover the purity, form, and provenance of the metal and business conduct.
Partnering with such a globally respected organisation highlights Collier Pickard’s ability to meet the needs of clients operating at the highest level of their industries. With such a critical role in a high-visibility, global industry, having a reliable and efficient CRM system is essential to their operations.
Collier Pickard’s ability to understand LBMA’s unique requirements, identify the right partners, and manage the project end-to-end ensured a solution tailored perfectly to their needs. LBMA’s prestige and multi-faceted operations – as a membership organisation, events organiser, and regulatory body – required a CRM that could handle complexity without adding to their workload.
Collier Pickard delivered exactly that, proving their expertise across multiple sectors. Additionally, our emphasis on aligning technology to LBMA’s real-world requirements demonstrated how we go beyond simply managing projects – we provide solutions that empower.
LBMA was operating on Microsoft Dynamics 2016, a system that had become obsolete and was no longer fit for purpose. The platform lacked the flexibility needed to support LBMA’s evolving business processes, making it increasingly difficult to align the CRM with their operational needs. As their organisation grew and their requirements became more complex, Dynamics 2016 proved too rigid to adapt effectively.
This lack of agility led to significant challenges in user engagement. Staff struggled to work within a system that couldn’t support the way they needed to operate, resulting in frustration and underutilisation. LBMA recognised that they needed a modern CRM solution that could evolve with their organisation, offering the flexibility to adjust to changing business needs while improving overall efficiency.
Recognising Collier Pickard’s strong track record in client satisfaction and timely delivery, LBMA agreed to a fixed price “Preparing for CRM” workshop. This involved:
Workshops with key stakeholders to identify pain points and goals
A thorough gap analysis to pinpoint why the existing system wasn’t delivering
The workshop confirmed that the main issues LBMA faced were a lack of user engagement, poor service from the previous service provider, and the obsolete functionality of Dynamics 2016. While greater engagement and ownership at the departmental level were required to fully exploit the benefits of the system, LBMA had already determined that staying with Microsoft Dynamics 365 was the right move, as it aligned with their broader transition to the Microsoft 365 infrastructure.
Collier Pickard’s role was to ensure this transition was as smooth as possible by providing expert guidance and acting as the glue between the various departmental development phases and Cloud9, the selected implementation partner.
By facilitating collaboration and ensuring alignment between LBMA’s evolving business processes and the CRM, we helped create a structured roadmap for the project’s success.
Once a new implementation partner, Cloud9, was selected, Collier Pickard worked closely with Cloud9 and LBMA to design a phased project plan:
Phase 1: Implementation of a membership system with a self-service portal, allowing members to update their data directly
Phase 2: Expansion of the CRM to include onboarding processes for additional departments
Phase 3: Integration with LBMA’s financial systems, setting the stage for future enhancements
Phase 4: Integration with LBMA’s event management system ‘Stova’ which is currently deferred.
Collier Pickard and Cloud 9 also approached DQ Global to address data quality issues and ensure clean, accurate data for the new system.
Collier Pickard’s secret sauce lay in the project management expertise of Paul Pitman, who acted as a single, dedicated point of contact between LBMA and the vendor. By shepherding the client and the providers, Collier Pickard ensured a smooth, efficient process while avoiding common pitfalls, such as:
Misaligned expectations between stakeholders and the vendor
Lack of preparation for key meetings
Data migration challenges
With rigorous project management, Collier Pickard kept the project on time and within budget, providing consistent guidance throughout. Paul ensured LBMA’s requirements were fully understood, helped prepare thoroughly for meetings, and avoided any risks of getting locked into rigid systems.
Collier Pickard’s knowledge guided LBMA to a partner for whom this project was an ideal fit – balancing experience, project size, and industry specialisation.
LBMA’s intention was always to engage widely with departments and key staff to foster ownership and engagement. Collier Pickard’s role was driving that intent and culture forward by working with departments to achieve deployment and project timelines.
Through daily involvement and collaboration, we:
Ensured departmental teams were fully engaged and took ownership of their CRM processes.
Supported the project’s phased deployment to align with LBMA’s strategic goals.
Facilitated a smooth transition by ensuring clear communication between teams and the implementation partner.
The result was a team of in-house administrators – not IT experts, but internal champions – who now support the CRM and ensure its adoption across the organisation. By reinforcing LBMA’s vision and ensuring every user saw real benefits, Collier Pickard helped turn engagement into long-term commitment.
With Collier Pickard’s support, LBMA successfully implemented their CRM system, achieving:
Improved data quality and migration through DQ Global
Greater user engagement and adoption of the reconfigured system
A functional, future-proof CRM that serves as an asset, not a burden
Thanks to Collier Pickard’s hands-on project management and role as a single point of contact, LBMA’s CRM journey was transformed into a success story. Their staff now view the CRM as a tool that reduces effort and drives efficiency, positioning LBMA for continued leadership in the global precious metals industry.
“Our previous CRM was not delivering—staff were disengaged, adoption was low, and our data was increasingly fragmented across multiple systems. Collier Pickard transformed our approach, helping the entire team understand the value of having the CRM as our single source of truth.
The real game-changer was having a dedicated contact from Collier Pickard who served as a single point of contact throughout the project. They managed every phase and seamlessly bridged communication between us and multiple vendors. This, in my view, was the key to the project’s success.
We now have an efficient CRM that provides a reliable source of data to strengthen our relationships with members and other stakeholders.”
Ed Blight
Chief Finance Officer
If your CRM feels more like a burden than a solution, Collier Pickard can help you transform it into a powerful business enabler.
Our “Preparing for CRM” workshop and Project Management services provide the expertise and guidance you need to uncover hidden challenges, streamline your processes, and ensure success.
Don’t get the experience you need the hard way – let us guide you now, so your CRM works for you from the start.
Contact Collier Pickard today and take the first step toward achieving what LBMA did.
Collier Pickard has been trading since 2004. The core team, however, has been together for more than 25 years – which means we have a great deal of experience as an independent CRM consultancy.
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