Powerboat & shorebased training · Liverpool, United Kingdom
Harbourside Sea School Liverpool
From spreadsheets to a new way of working.
Harbourside Sea School brought its website to life with real-time availability, automated manifests for its teams and improved cash flow after moving from spreadsheets to Broad Reach.
Read their story
“We used to run everything on spreadsheets. Your booking system has revolutionised our business.”
Based at Liverpool Marina, with access to the River Mersey, Harbourside Sea School teaches practical RYA powerboat skills alongside shorebased subjects such as navigation, marine radio and first aid. Behind that teaching is a business that made the move from spreadsheets to Broad Reach.
Building confidence on the water.
Harbourside offers a route into boating and a way to keep developing. Its practical courses span the RYA powerboat scheme, while shorebased training builds the knowledge that supports time on the water.
For a school with that range, running the business means looking after several kinds of course and the people booking them. The work continues around every lesson, from making dates available to welcoming the next group of students.
The starting point was a spreadsheet.
Before Broad Reach, Harbourside ran its bookings on spreadsheets. Moving to the platform gave the school a dedicated booking system to support its next chapter.
Ian Costello’s account of the change is clear. He describes a school that used to run everything on spreadsheets, and a booking system that has since revolutionised the business.
Bringing the website to life.
Real-time availability changed what Harbourside’s website could do for the business. Customers could see available places and book through the school’s course calendar and course pages. The website became an active part of taking bookings.
That made the connection between the school’s offering and its actual availability visible to customers. People could explore the training, find a date and take the next step in one place.
See Harbourside’s course calendar (opens in a new tab)Getting the right information to the team.
Broad Reach also provided automated manifests to Harbourside’s teams. The people delivering the courses could receive the information they needed about who was attending.
Those manifests connect the bookings made through the website with preparation for the day’s training. Sending them automatically makes that handover part of the school’s booking operation.
A difference the business could feel.
Harbourside also experienced improved cash flow after moving to Broad Reach. Alongside a website with live availability and automated information for the team, the change reached the financial side of running the school.
That breadth helps explain Ian’s description of the platform as having revolutionised the business. Harbourside’s story brings together the customer’s experience of booking, the team’s preparation and the school’s cash flow.
What changed for Harbourside Sea School Liverpool.
A website with live availability
Customers can see available places and book through the school’s own website.
Manifests sent automatically
The teams delivering the courses receive the manifests they need to prepare.
Improved cash flow
The move to Broad Reach also brought a financial benefit to the school’s day-to-day operation.