A customer relationship management (CRM) system is the shared record of who your customers and prospects are, what has been said to them and what happens next. You need one when contacts, deals or follow-ups live in several people's inboxes and spreadsheets and things get missed. Choose it for the few jobs you need done, roll it out in small steps and treat the data in it with care: in Canada, PIPEDA sets ten principles for how organisations collect, use and protect personal information.
Key takeaways
- A CRM replaces scattered notes with one record of each contact, conversation and deal, and a clear view of the pipeline.
- Start from the process: stages of your sales or service work, who owns each step and what a follow-up looks like.
- Choose the smallest tool that does the jobs you need, and check that your data can be exported.
- PIPEDA's ten fair information principles include accountability, identifying purposes, consent, limiting collection, safeguards and individual access.
- AI features can draft summaries and suggest next steps, but a person should check them and the data they use.
What does CRM software do?
At its simplest, a CRM keeps:
- Contacts and companies, with a history of every interaction.
- Deals and pipeline stages, so you can see what is open, what is stuck and what is likely to close.
- Tasks and reminders, so follow-ups happen.
- Communication records, such as emails, calls and notes, in one place.
- Reports, on pipeline, response times and results.
- Connections to your website forms, email, calendar and other systems.
Technology has changed the sales process mainly by making all of this available in one shared place on any device, instead of in individual notebooks and inboxes. The need for clear process and honest follow-up is unchanged.
Does your company need one?
You probably do if:
- you have more leads and customers than one person can remember;
- more than one person talks to the same customers;
- enquiries from your website, phone and email are tracked in different places;
- follow-ups are missed or you cannot say how many deals are open;
- you want to know which channels bring customers; see Digital marketing for startups.
You probably do not need one yet if you have a handful of customers and one person managing them, though a simple spreadsheet will need replacing as you grow.
How do you choose a CRM?
- Write down the process. Stages from enquiry to customer, who does what, and what information you record at each step.
- List the five jobs it must do. For example: capture website enquiries, assign owners, remind follow-ups, show the pipeline, report by source.
- Check integrations. Does it connect to your website forms, email, calendar and accounting?
- Check usability. If people find it slow, they will not use it. Try it with real tasks.
- Check data control. Can you export all your data in a usable format, and where is it stored?
- Check security. Access controls, audit trails, two-step login and backup.
- Compare the total cost over three years, including setup, training and per-user fees.
How do you roll it out?
- Start with one team and one process.
- Import clean data, not everything: remove duplicates and old records first.
- Agree a few rules, such as every enquiry is logged within a day.
- Train people on the daily tasks only.
- Review after a month and remove fields nobody uses.
What privacy duties come with a CRM?
A CRM holds personal information, so privacy law applies. In Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner describes PIPEDA's ten fair information principles:
- Accountability: the organisation is responsible for personal information it controls and appoints someone to oversee compliance.
- Identifying purposes: say why you collect information, before or when you collect it.
- Consent: people must be aware of and agree to collection, use or disclosure, unless that is inappropriate in the circumstances.
- Limiting collection: gather only what you need, by fair and lawful means.
- Limiting use, disclosure and retention: use information for its original purpose and keep it only as long as needed.
- Accuracy: keep it correct, complete and current enough for its purpose.
- Safeguards: protect it in proportion to how sensitive it is.
- Openness: make your policies easy to find and understand.
- Individual access: people can ask what you hold, see it and request corrections.
- Challenging compliance: people can question your compliance, usually through your accountable privacy officer.
Other countries have their own laws, so check those that apply to your customers. This is general information, not legal advice. See also Privacy for AI features: Canada and India.
How does AI fit into a CRM?
AI features can summarise conversations, draft replies, suggest next steps or score leads. Use them as assistants, not decision-makers: check that summaries are accurate, avoid sending sensitive customer data to tools you have not reviewed, tell people when AI is used where they would expect to know, and keep a person responsible for what is sent to customers. Our AI agents and AI assistants pages describe how we build such features with human review.
FAQ
What is CRM software?
A system that stores customer and prospect records, conversations, deals and tasks in one shared place, with reporting on the pipeline.
How big does a company need to be to use a CRM?
When more than one person handles customers, or one person can no longer keep track, which can be a very small business.
Should we build our own CRM or buy one?
Most companies should start with an existing product and check that it covers the jobs they listed. Build or extend only for needs that products cannot meet.
What does PIPEDA require of a CRM?
PIPEDA's ten principles apply to the personal information in it: accountability, stated purposes, consent, limited collection, limited use and retention, accuracy, safeguards, openness, individual access and the ability to challenge compliance.
How long does it take to roll out?
For a small team and a simple process, weeks. Larger rollouts take longer because of data cleaning, integrations and training.
Sources (1 link)
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, "PIPEDA fair information principles": https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/p_principle/
