Customer Stories — How Beauhurst is Supporting West Northamptonshire Council
“Because of this platform, I have a list of the top 100 companies in my area, including turnover and employee numbers — we just wouldn’t have had these without Beauhurst.”
Inward Investment & Business Growth Manager
Customer overview
Partnership Impact
At a glance
Strategic engagement with 100+ key local companies
Thousands of pounds saved in a few months by the Business Intelligence team
Enhanced relationships with major employers in the region
Why West Northamptonshire Council chose Beauhurst:
Filling a critical data gap
Support inward investment
Monitoring funding impact
Identifying and engaging top local employers
The challenge
“As a newly formed council, we didn’t have a legacy data platform or much historic insight to build from.”
A key issue was that West Northamptonshire Council’s existing sources — comprising public grant listings, directories, and internal spreadsheets — were often inaccurate or outdated. This meant it lacked a reliable means of verifying companies’ size, activity, or even whether the company was still active.
This lack of reliable data made it difficult to confidently prioritise engagement on a local level, though this also extended beyond the local area, making it far harder to attract inward investment.
“I spoke with colleagues across the organisation, including our Business Intelligence team, and it was immediately clear that this was a gap we all recognised.”
For companies that the council had supported with grants, the lack of reliable company data — or the means to easily access this information — undermined the council’s ability to track and evidence the impact of grant funding and business support.
Our solution
With plans to improve their business intelligence capabilities, West Northamptonshire Council adopted Beauhurst across three core teams: economic growth, business intelligence, and the Local Growth Hub.
Support during onboarding was a core part of the council’s early success. Beauhurst’s Account Management team, particularly Beth Draisey, provided extensive training and supported the setup of the entire account, helping to build custom searches and Collections, and showing users precisely how to get the most from the platform. Having reached out to another council for their view on Beauhurst, Louis added, “I had high expectations for Beth and the team and all of those expectations were exceeded.”
The platform was quickly integrated into day-to-day work across all three teams. From verifying inbound investment enquiries to preparing for meetings with top employers, the council began using our data and platform to inform engagement strategy and reduce admin time. Now, West Northampton Council uses Beauhurst for research, strategic insights, and local business engagement.
“I always have Beauhurst open so I can dive into it straight away,” Louis explained. “It enables me to do a deep dive into a business in a very easy and effective way. This saves me considerable time and energy.”
This data-driven approach enables the team to approach companies with greater confidence, providing full visibility into their turnover, growth trajectory, and key decision-makers. In one case, a press release found on Beauhurst led Louis to discover a cleantech company that perfectly aligned with the region’s strategic priorities and recently moved into the area. “We’ve already had a meeting with them, and now we’re going for a site visit,” Louis added.
The council is also utilising Beauhurst to support its due diligence processes, particularly when evaluating speculative opportunities for grants. The platform allows Louis and his team to quickly and effectively research a company’s background, which helps them to make informed decisions about potential business interactions or investments. For the business intelligence team, Beauhurst provided instant access to accurate, structured company data, replacing hours of manual research and freeing up resources for deeper analysis and richer insights.
“Beauhurst is an extremely detailed data hub, created in such a way that it’s completely accessible and usable for anyone.”
The results
- Time saved — Reduced research time per client/prospect client meeting
- Smarter resourcing — Strategically allocated 22 licenses across key teams
- Streamlined workflows — Minimised manual research from multiple sources
“I’m struggling to think of anything we need that we can’t get off Beauhurst.”
Access to our platform has helped the Council build a verified list of the top 100 companies in the area. This information has built a strong foundation for stakeholder engagement, sector mapping, and the development of tailored business support.
The business intelligence team has quantified at least £4,000 in efficiency savings in just six months, thanks to the time saved on company research and report building. These efficiencies also freed up capacity for further insights.
From an engagement perspective, the platform has helped West Northamptonshire Council make new connections with some of the area’s most prominent employers, including companies that had previously been out of reach. “I went looking for a specific company that we wanted to work with, looking on Beauhurst, then found their MD, and connected with him on LinkedIn,” Louis explained.
The team has also used Beauhurst’s data to inform evidence-based policymaking, including targeted support for underrepresented founders.
“We looked into the gender pay gap, the number of businesses founded by women, and it strengthened the narrative of what we’re trying to say. I don’t think we’d have had access to that data anywhere else,” explained Louis.
Across all these use cases, the result is the same: better information, used more efficiently. Ultimately, this enables the council to act faster, build stronger relationships, and make better-informed decisions for the region.
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