CRM software your whole team can use
IBIOS Customers is CRM software for small UK businesses and tradespeople. Keep every customer in one place: contact details, enquiries, quotes, jobs, payments and notes, linked together so anyone in the team can pick up where a colleague left off.
For: Any business that deals with customers by phone, email, web form or in person. Use it on its own or alongside the other IBIOS products.
What it does
- LiveOne record per customer with their quotes, jobs, payments and notes linked together
- LiveEnquiries from your website forms land in the system, ready to follow up
- LiveSeparate brands inside one business, with staff limited to the brands they work on
- LiveAccess rights per role and per person: for example, payment details for managers only
- Coming soonAI answering your phone and creating the record for you
Proven in a real business
IBIOS was built inside a working bathroom showroom in Northern Ireland, where it runs the business day to day. That is our proof story, not our limit: each product works on its own for any business that needs it.
Buying guide
Choosing CRM systems for a small UK business: what actually matters
Written by the IBIOS team. IBIOS was built inside a working bathroom showroom in Northern Ireland, where it runs the business day to day. Last updated 18 October 2026.
How do you choose CRM software for a small business?
Decide what a customer record has to hold before you look at any software. For most small businesses a CRM fails not because it lacks features but because the quote, the job and the money live somewhere else, so staff stop opening it.
- What one customer record must show. Contact details, every enquiry, every quote, the jobs, the payments and the notes. If any of those lives elsewhere, staff will keep asking each other.
- How enquiries arrive. Website forms, phone, email, walk-ins. Count where your enquiries really come from and check each one lands in the CRM without retyping.
- Who uses it and what they may see. Sales, office, warehouse, managers. Payment details and margins are not for everyone.
- How many brands or trading names you run. If you trade under more than one name, decide whether staff should see every brand’s customers or only their own.
- What it must connect to. Your website, your calendar, your accounts. Ask which connections are working today.
- How you get your data in, and out. Import from your current spreadsheet or system, and export if you ever leave.
Is a CRM just a contact list?
It should not be. A contact list tells you who someone is; a useful CRM tells you what you have quoted them, what they have paid and what you promised them on the phone last Tuesday. In IBIOS the customer record links their quotes, jobs, payments and notes, so whoever picks up the phone sees the whole history.
What happens to an enquiry from your website?
In IBIOS, enquiries from your website forms land in the system as records ready to follow up, rather than sitting in a shared inbox. Check how any CRM handles duplicates: the same customer filling in a form twice should not become two customers.
Web Chat and an AI receptionist that answers the phone and creates the record for you are both coming soon in IBIOS, not live yet.
Data protection: what a CRM changes
UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply across the UK, including Northern Ireland. A CRM makes compliance easier if it lets you find everything you hold on one person, correct it, and delete it when you no longer need it.
Marketing emails and texts have their own rules (PECR), also UK-wide. Record how and when each customer agreed to hear from you, separately from the fact that they asked for a quote.
One business, more than one brand
Plenty of small businesses trade under two names, for example a showroom and a trade counter. IBIOS keeps brands separate inside one business: staff are limited to the brands they work on, and managers get cross-brand reports. See multi-brand in IBIOS for how brands are set up.
Spreadsheet, sales CRM, all-in-one suite or IBIOS?
How the usual choices tend to work out for a business that quotes, takes deposits and delivers work.
| Option | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet or shared inbox | A sole trader with a short list of customers. | No history, no access control, and the latest version is always on someone else’s laptop. |
| Sales-pipeline CRM | Teams selling services with a long sales cycle. | Stops at "won": the job, supplier orders and payments live elsewhere, so the record goes stale. |
| Large all-in-one business suite | Larger firms with an administrator to configure it. | Weeks of setup, and you pay for modules you will never switch on. |
| IBIOS | A customer record that holds quotes, jobs, payments and notes, with brand separation and per-person access. | Early access by waiting list. AI phone answering, Web Chat and QuickBooks sync are coming soon, not live yet. |
What you need in place before you start
- Your current customer list, with duplicates cleaned up as far as you reasonably can. Ask us how it comes across before you start.
- A list of where enquiries come from today, and the website forms you want connected.
- Your brands or trading names, and which staff work on which.
- A decision on who may see payment details and who may export customer data.
- Your privacy notice and how you record marketing consent.
What it costs
The licence is the visible cost. The real cost of a poor CRM is the enquiry nobody followed up, and the time staff spend asking each other what was said to a customer.
Founding prices for waiting-list members are explained on the pricing page. The CRM works on its own, and other IBIOS products share the same customer records if you add them later.
Last reviewed October 2026.
What people get wrong
- Importing years of messy data without cleaning it first.
- Choosing a CRM that cannot see quotes or payments, then running both side by side.
- Giving every user the right to export the whole customer list.
- Treating a quote request as consent to send marketing emails.
- Setting up dozens of fields and stages nobody fills in.
- Assuming an integration works because it is on the supplier’s website. Ask to see it running.
Related reading
- CRM features
- User roles and access rights
- Quoting software buying guide
- Bookings and calendar
- All IBIOS products
CRM software FAQs
Is IBIOS CRM software for small businesses available now?
Yes, the CRM is live and runs our own showroom every day. New businesses join through the waiting list.
Can staff see a customer’s quotes and payments in one place?
Yes. The customer record links their quotes, jobs, payments and notes, and payment details are shown only to the roles you allow.
Do website enquiries go straight into the CRM?
Yes. Enquiries from your website forms land in IBIOS ready to follow up.
Can I keep two brands separate?
Yes. Staff are limited to the brands they work on, and managers get cross-brand reports.
Does the CRM answer the phone and log the call?
Not yet. The AI receptionist is coming soon; today IBIOS can write call reports from recordings your phone provider already makes.
Can I use the CRM without the rest of IBIOS?
Yes. Each IBIOS product works on its own and shares one set of customer records if you add more later.
Not sure the IBIOS CRM fits?
Tell us how enquiries reach you, how many people need access and what you use today, and we will tell you plainly whether IBIOS is a good fit or whether something simpler would do.
IBIOS Limited · company no. NI743167 · 10 Ballyclare Road, Doagh, Ballyclare BT39 0PE · Production is hosted in the UK.
Use Customers (CRM) in your business
IBIOS is in early access. Join the waiting list and we will email you when a place is available.