Customer Story: Arnold Clark

Overview

Founded in 1954, Arnold Clark employs over 10,000 people across 200 locations, including key divisions in Leasing, Rental, and Fleet Services.

As the business expanded, each division developed its own way of managing customer relationships. Information was scattered across different systems, making it difficult for teams to know the full extent of their engagement with any one customer, or that customer’s full value to their business.

“Before SugarCRM, it was very unconnected. We could be leasing, renting, and selling vehicles to the same company, and we would have no single view of that,” says Kieran Doherty, Sales Director at Arnold Clark Finance.

“We ended up irritating customers by contacting them, not realising we’d already dealt with them.”

The challenge: Disconnected systems, no clear customer picture

Before SugarCRM, Arnold Clark’s customer data was fragmented. Each division managed its own records, and there was little coordination between them.

“The CRM we had was very much a diary system with limited functionality, so our salespeople were not very invested in it, and we didn’t have a clear overview of the customer,” Kieran admits.

Sales teams could log appointments, but lacked key features such as email archiving. This meant customer conversations often lived in individual staff members’ inboxes. As a result:

• Managers had no single view of the customer relationship

• Teams risked contacting the same customer multiple times from different divisions

• A lack of centralised data made it hard to access customer information if an employee was on leave or off sick

• Reporting was limited, reducing visibility into opportunities and performance

Recognising the need for change, Arnold Clark started looking for a flexible CRM system and an implementation partner who could tailor it to the company’s way of working.

The solution: SugarCRM, implemented by Provident CRM

Arnold Clark commissioned a project management team to review the CRM market. After assessing multiple platforms, they selected SugarCRM for its flexibility, adaptability and cost-effectiveness.

“Other CRM providers charged for extra features. With SugarCRM, we saw the adaptability we needed without those limitations,” explains Kieran.

SugarCRM recommended Provident CRM as the best-fit partner to handle implementation. An expert partner was critical to ensuring Arnold Clark’s new CRM integrated with existing systems, including its leasing and rental management platforms and fleet order processing.

“We needed more than an out-of-the-box setup. Provident CRM helped us configure the system to work the way we operate – for example, being able to attach a leasing manager, rental manager, and fleet manager to a single customer account,” Kieran shares.

Nick Ballantine, Business Analyst at Arnold Clark, added,

“From the start, Provident CRM was very good at listening to how we worked and suggesting ways of doing things we hadn’t thought of. That gave us confidence straight away.”

“Provident has been flexible, friendly, and helpful throughout…The relationship has worked very well.”

– Kieran Doherty, Sales Director, Arnold Clark Finance

From fragmented tools to a single source of truth

Provident CRM and Arnold Clark worked together to create a SugarCRM setup that unites customer data across divisions, streamlining sales processes and giving managers complete visibility for informed decision-making. The system was configured with end-users in mind: easy to adopt, straightforward to use, and focused on saving time.

The result is a platform that supports the business in multiple ways, from ensuring continuity of customer conversations to simplifying reporting and automating everyday tasks.

Email archiving

SugarCRM’s email archiving tool gave Arnold Clark something they’d never had before: a reliable communication trail. All customer email correspondence can be saved directly into SugarCRM records using Sugar Connect, making it accessible by all system users.

“If someone is off sick or on annual leave, their colleagues can see exactly what’s been discussed,” says Kieran. “We had one case where a staff member was unexpectedly on long-term sick leave, and email archiving allowed us to pick up their customer conversations without missing a beat.”

Account overviews and standardised communications

SugarCRM also helps Arnold Clark work more efficiently day to day. For example, sidebar navigation gives teams a clear view of recent activity, saving time and giving staff immediate context.

“Instead of digging through emails and appointments, you can see the last contact at a glance,” Kieran shares. “That’s been very useful.”

Arnold Clark has also created email templates for renewals, prospecting, and follow-up, ensuring consistent messaging and reducing time spent on manual tasks for the team.

Dashboards and reports

Dashboards have become central to Arnold Clark’s sales management process. Kieran runs a Monday morning meeting where activity and results are reviewed live in SugarCRM.

“We look at call activity and review renewals, incoming enquiries, price exceptions and common complaints. Having all of that in one place, in real time, is night and day compared to using spreadsheets,” he explains.

And sales team members have a clear view of their targets, how they’re currently tracking, and how they stack up against their colleagues. This provides another layer of visibility—and friendly competition.

Cases and visits

Beyond optimising sales processes, SugarCRM underpins Arnold Clark’s customer support service. For example, the Cases module captures and categorises complaints, helping managers track trends and take evidence back to manufacturers.

“With electric vehicles, especially, customers are experiencing new issues. Now we can isolate problems by model and fuel type, and approach manufacturers with clear feedback,” says Kieran.

The Visits module also supports face-to-face engagement. Salespeople log client visits and attach review packs, ensuring meeting outcomes are recorded consistently.

Automation and process definitions

Provident CRM has helped Arnold Clark automate tasks that previously required manual follow-up. For example, a new referral system sends out emails, triggers alerts, and staggers reminders without the need for human intervention.

“The team was great at helping us set up process definitions so the system could handle things like alerts and follow-ups without needing manual input,” Nick adds. “This has freed up time and made our workflows much more reliable.”

Arnold Clark also uses automation to flag high-value opportunities, sending alert notifications for activities on key accounts so that managers can review and act on them quickly.

The results: 91% adoption and full customer visibility

Since going live in 2019, Arnold Clark has embedded SugarCRM across all its divisions. Of 150 licences, an average of 136 are active each month: that’s a 91% adoption rate.

“The good thing about SugarCRM is it’s quite flexible. Not everyone uses it in the same way,” Kieran notes. “People adapt it to how they see it working for them.”

For Arnold Clark, the key benefits of using SugarCRM business-wide include:

✓ Full customer visibility across leasing, rental, and fleet management
✓ Cross-sell opportunities identified from a single view of accounts
✓ Faster renewals through automated workflows and dashboards
✓ Improved customer experience with quicker response times and more consistent communications
✓ Reliable reporting for management, from call volumes to complaint trends

“It’s helped us to identify further opportunities,” says Kieran. “If we’ve sold a customer cars or vans, we may also see potential for rental or other services. We would have completely missed that before.”

SugarCRM also facilitates better internal communications. With shared visibility into customer accounts, salespeople in different divisions are more likely to collaborate, arrange joint meetings, and pass on warm introductions instead of making cold calls. Kieran notes,

“In the past, it was very siloed, but now teams talk to each other much more.”

Expert CRM support drives system value

SugarCRM has given Arnold Clark a better platform for managing customer relationships, but it’s the partnership with Provident CRM that makes sure the platform fits the business.

“Provident has been flexible, friendly, and helpful throughout,” says Kieran. “The relationship has worked very well.”

This partnership is ongoing— it’s not a one-off transaction. Through comprehensive support packages, Arnold Clark benefits from dedicated consulting that includes weekly sessions with a Provident CRM customer success manager, allowing them to test and implement new ideas quickly. This structured approach ensures continuous optimisation and keeps Arnold Clark ahead of evolving business needs.

“The Provident CRM team are very easy to talk to, and they’re always there if we have queries. Having one point of contact who knows our business makes a big difference,” notes Kieran.

Beyond weekly check-ins, Provident CRM also supports Arnold Clark with quarterly live sessions on SugarCRM features, plus regular events that bring the company together with other customers, allowing them to speak and learn from other users. A multi-layered methodology that delivers both technical expertise and connection. Kieran shares,

“The events are great for speaking with other companies and seeing how they use SugarCRM. You always come away with ideas.”

What’s next for Arnold Clark?

Arnold Clark plans to keep expanding its use of SugarCRM, guided by Provident CRM’s expertise.

“The system can do a lot more than we’re currently using it for,” Kieran reflects. “Every time we attend a training session, we learn something new we can put into practice.”

With 91% adoption already in place, the company’s focus is now on deepening the ways SugarCRM supports customer engagement and cross-divisional collaboration—always with Provident CRM as a trusted partner.

About Provident CRM

We’re an independent consultancy that works with leading digital solutions for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and business processes. We’ve helped hundreds of teams across Ireland, the UK, and Europe roll out customised systems that make their work lives easier, so they can better serve their customers. We dedicate our time to getting to know our clients to find the right solution for their business, build workflows that make sense, enhance cross-team communications, and create automations that cut through admin so everyone can focus on what matters – their customers’ success.