Case Study: Colchester and Ipswich Museums improve user satisfaction and CMS adoption with Axiell Collections

How Colchester and Ipswich Museums Improved User Satisfaction and Drove CMS Adoption with Axiell Collections

Colchester and Ipswich Museums, which manages a wide mix of collections across two towns and two local authorities, was struggling with a fragmented and unreliable collections management setup. With data spread across 10 databases, limited access, poor user engagement, and a system that was slow and hard to use, the museum needed a more reliable, externally hosted CMS. It worked with Axiell to move to Axiell Collections and support its broader collections management needs, including an online collections presence.

Axiell helped Colchester and Ipswich Museums consolidate and map legacy data into Axiell Collections, test the migration, and launch collections online through Axiell Internet Server. The result was a major improvement in user satisfaction: internal surveys showed users rated Axiell Collections as good or very good, and all respondents agreed the CMS met their work needs. The museum is now adding around 1,000 new records a month, has improved documentation visibility, and is using the platform to drive stronger engagement and better data quality.

Colchester and Ipswich Museums