Unseen

They call it a hidden crime. But with 21 million victims around the world, it’s a crime that’s often hidden in plain sight. Thanks to charity Unseen, victims in the UK now have somewhere to turn. Its 24/7 helpline, which is powered by Salesforce and the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP), handles around 400 calls every month.

“We want to bring about systemic change, and raise awareness of just how big an issue this is, both at home and abroad,” said Justine Currell, Executive Director at Unseen. “Very few people realise that the UK is among the top 10 countries of origin for slavery identified in the UK, with hundreds of children impacted every year.”

Unseen has been fighting against modern slavery since 2007, working with emergency services, local authorities, non-govermental organisations, and survivors. In that time, it has helped more than 1,500 men, women, and children from various countries escape desperate circumstances and get their life back on track.

Modern slavery, human trafficking, and forced labour are estimated to have generated USD $150 billion in illegal profits in 2016. Although there’s no typical victim, it’s often society’s most vulnerable or socially excluded groups who are targeted. “We provide safehouses and outreach support to enable survivors to rebuild their lives – from helping them to find work to offering counselling,” said Currell.

Unseen’s helpline, which was launched in October 2016, is often the first port of call for people impacted by human traficking and slavery, as well as concerned citizens and businesses.

“When we launched the helpline we had two initial requirements: it needed to be available 24/7, and we needed to capture, record, and analyse all the call data,” said Rachel Harper, Helpline Manager. And with Service Cloud, that’s exactly what happens.

Every call to the helpline triggers a new case in Service Cloud, where advisors can take notes, add actions and manage referrals to the police, NGOs or other government agencies. Each case has a unique reference number, so multiple calls can be linked back to the same record. “It’s really important for victims to feel that they’ve been heard,” said Harper. “With Salesforce, we can show them that we’re listening. Any advisor can view a case history and pick up the conversation without asking repeat questions.”

Safeguarding Privacy

Due to the sensitivity of the information it captures, Unseen needs a platform that can be secured with role-based permissions. “With Salesforce, every action leaves a footprint,” said Harper. “We can see who’s working on what and use timestamps to track when things were done. Even small things, such as having to update passwords every couple of months or being automatically logged out of the system if it’s left running, are hugely reassuring.”

Currell and the 16-strong team at the helpline also use Salesforce to share updates and ideas. “With Chatter, we can pin conversations to relevant records without having to worry about information security or survivor privacy being put at risk.”

As well as ensuring a speedy response to victims, the helpline provides Unseen with a wealth of case data that can be collated and analysed. “Tackling a crime that leaves no traces is challenging on multiple levels,” said Currell. “With Salesforce, we can unlock new insights to build a better picture of the scale of the problem as well as supporting and helping potential victims.”

For example, the charity can segment data to evaluate slavery prevalence by geography, industry, or gender as well as to identify if certain types of exploitation are becoming more common. “Richer insights help us make sure victims don’t fall through the cracks and back into obscurity,” said Harper.

For Unseen, the UK helpline is just one of its weapons against modern slavery and human trafficking. It now wants to extend its partnerships with EU organisations, so it can tackle the problem across borders.

“We’ve logged more than 2,500 cases this year. And thanks to the efficiency gains enabled by Salesforce, we have the resources to take on even bigger case loads,” said Currell. “The Salesforce team have been instrumental in establishing integrations and workflows that help our team work more effectively. As a result, we can maximise our resources to help more people find freedom and get their lives back on track.”

Unseen is a UK charity with its head office in Bristol. We provide safehouses and support in the community for survivors of trafficking and modern slavery. We also run the UK Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline and work with individuals, communities, business, governments, other charities and statutory agencies to stamp out slavery for good.