Case Study

A unified CRM for knowledge exchange and business partnerships at the University of Sussex

A tailored HubSpot Sales Hub implementation supporting consultancy and IP commercialisation processes, WorkTribe-linked workflows and improved reporting for the Innovation & Business Partnerships team.

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Background

The Innovation & Business Partnerships (IBP) team at the University of Sussex oversees a wide range of commercial and academic partnership activity, including consultancy projects, contract research, IP commercialisation and support for academic-led innovation. With opportunities arriving from multiple internal and external routes, the team needed a centralised CRM that could bring structure, visibility and consistency across their commercial pipeline.

A key system within the university is WorkTribe, the UK’s sector-leading research and project management platform used to manage pre-award information for consultancy and research activity. While WorkTribe captures valuable project data, it operated separately from the team’s wider business development workflow. The team required a defined and reliable way to connect this information to their CRM without introducing duplication or manual error.

Alongside consultancy work, the IBP team also manages a significant volume of IP disclosures, assessments and commercialisation opportunities, each requiring careful tracking from initial enquiry through to negotiation. They also needed a robust intake mechanism to capture all new enquiries and prospect information before determining whether they belonged in consultancy, IP or another commercialisation route.

To meet these needs, Sussex chose HubSpot Sales Hub Pro and partnered with Growth London to design and implement a CRM framework that would support their most active commercial routes - consultancy (with WorkTribe-linked data flows), IP commercialisation, and structured enquiry intake - while laying the foundation for future expansion across additional service lines.

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Sales Hub Pro Implementation

Engagement Overview

Growth London worked closely with the IBP team to map their operational model, streamline processes and translate the most immediate commercialisation priorities into a scalable HubSpot setup. The engagement combined data model design, pipeline architecture, workflow automation, reporting and structured user training.

Our phased approach included:

  • Discovery & Data Model Design: Conducted deep scoping sessions and designed custom contact, company and deal properties tailored to KE activity, including academic affiliation, stakeholder type, SME status, research themes and commercial route classification.
  • Pipeline Architecture
    • A consultancy pipeline aligned with WorkTribe’s pre-award and project initiation stages
    • A comprehensive IP pipeline covering disclosure, assessment, patenting and commercial negotiation
    • An initial enquiry pipeline ensuring all new opportunities are captured and correctly routed
    • Additional pipelines, such as facilities access, scoped for 2nd phase (Q1 2026).

  • Implementation & Configuration: Configured HubSpot objects, associations, lifecycle automation, user permissions, email/calendar integrations and structured data-entry templates. Ensured academic stakeholders could be captured and managed consistently within the CRM.

  • Workflow Automation: Delivered extensive automation across lifecycle management, academic identification, faculty/school tagging, regional segmentation, WorkTribe-linked validation, and financial data handling.
  • Reporting & Dashboards: Built dashboards to support consultancy and IP performance reporting, including pipeline visibility, forecast analysis, SME engagement, research theme insights and a “State of CRM Data” quality board.
  • Training & Enablement: Delivered structured onboarding for both core users and wider team members, supported by documentation and video guides for handling WorkTribe imports, managing deals, updating lifecycles and navigating HubSpot efficiently.
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A CRM built for structured knowledge exchange

The University of Sussex now has a centralised CRM that supports its core commercialisation workflows, reduces dependency on spreadsheets and improves visibility across the IBP team.

Structured consultancy pipeline aligned to WorkTribe’s project lifecycle

Comprehensive IP commercialisation pipeline with clear decision points

Intake pipeline capturing all new enquiries and ensuring correct routing

Automated lifecycle, academic identification and validation workflows

Improved data hygiene and standardisation across academic and industry records

Growth London as an ongoing partner for continued optimisation and future expansion

5-stars

A CRM framework built around how our team actually works

Growth London took the time to understand the complexity of our Innovation and Business Partnerships activity and translated that into a straightforward, structured CRM setup that aligns with how our team operates. Their guidance on data model design, consultancy workflows, IP pipelines, and WorkTribe integration has delivered a system that is far more reliable and easier to manage.

The training and documentation they provided have also been invaluable in helping the team adopt HubSpot with confidence. We now have a solid foundation and a clear path to expand our CRM as our commercialisation activity grows.

Services provided: HubSpot Sales Hub Pro Implementation, Deep customisation to complex processes and revenue streams, Systems integration, Training & Onboarding

Samyra Cury Salek

Samyra Cury Salek, Knowledge Exchange Programme Manager

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University of Sussex, IBP Team