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A platform for improving international relationships for UK Boarding Schools

Schoolchildren taking an exam.

The British Boarding Schools Network needed help revitalising their brand, their digital platform and their public-facing website. Through research, creative design and web development, we delivered a cohesive digital solution to achieve all three objectives.

British Boarding Shools Network logo.

Who are British Boarding Schools Network?

The British Boarding Schools Network (BBSN) is a membership and services network for schools recruiting international students.

What they needed

BBSN came to us with an existing platform and a brand identity that wasn't a true reflection of their business. They wanted to collaborate with a new digital partner, add new functionality for their users and build a better brand experience.

They had three specific builds in mind:

  1. A brand and marketing tool kit

  2. A marketing website

  3. A web app platform for connecting member boarding schools with international educational agents

The BBSN web portal on a screen.
Some of the marketing collateral for BBSN.
The BBSN web portal on a screen.

Transforming BBSN's Digital Identity: A Threefold Approach

Objective-Centric Project Breakdown

The journey we embarked on with BBSN was divided into three distinct pathways, each formulated to meet one of BBSN's strategic goals. These included a comprehensive rebranding and brand strategy overhaul, encompassing an evolution of the business name, designing and building a marketing portfolio website, and a custom web app product design and build.

Unravelling User Experience

We started with an in-depth analysis of BBSN's existing web app platform and other brand materials. This exploratory phase aimed to provide a thorough understanding of the current user experience and identify customers' unmet needs and areas for enhancement across all three project deliverables.

Building a User-centric Website with Kentico

For the development of BBSN's public-facing website, we selected the enterprise CMS platform Kentico. Chosen for its distinctive and customisable functionality out of the box.

Developing a Bespoke Membership Management Framework

Simultaneously, our team engineered a tailor-made membership relational management framework. This custom-built system was seamlessly integrated with Kentico, balancing the need for bespoke functionality with the advantage of leveraging Kentico's feature-rich platform.

Clarifying and Optimising Data

The initial platform exhibited an array of unique data fields catering to various user types, such as schools, organisations, and staff members. However, these data weren't coherently mapped or documented, presenting a significant opportunity for improvement.

Overcoming Data Migration Challenges

With over 3000 schools and agencies in the existing database, each possessing more than 400 individual fields, understanding, mapping, and migrating this data was a monumental task. Recognising the challenge, we leveraged the combined power of Kentico's functionality and our bespoke app to deliver the required results.

Pushing App Capabilities Further

The harmonious blend of technology allowed us to stretch the app's capabilities. Consequently, we managed to create extensive profiles, offer users the ability to add news and events, implement a complex search feature, and much more, propelling BBSN's digital platform to the next level.

What We Delivered

A cohesive digital offering. This included a refreshed brand, a responsive, public-facing website and a web app that caters to different user needs.

The results:
  • 3000+

    profiles migrated

  • 1200%

    search response time improvement

  • 600%

    admin area speed boost

  • 280%

    data saving time decrease

  • Climate-Positive Website - EFWA Accredited.
  • Ecologi.
  • SME Climate Hub.
  • The Green Web Foundation.