SEC-01
Least-privilege access
Each integration gets the narrowest scope that lets the work function. Nothing more.
Stage 02 · BuildCRM & ERP systems
When the system of record stops matching the business
CRM and ERP are where a company keeps its truth. When the software cannot express how you actually work, people build a shadow process in spreadsheets and the truth moves out of the system.
- Access stays in your accounts
- Every change on record
- Written, auditable deliverables
- C01Follow the work, not the org chartIn scope
- C02Exhaust configuration firstIn scope
- C03Fix the data before the workflowIn scope
- C04Customize narrowly and deliberatelyIn scope
- C05Integrate rather than duplicateIn scope
- C06Make entry worth doingIn scope
In short
Most CRM and ERP problems are configuration and process problems rather than software problems. Before customizing or replacing, the questions are whether the workflow in the system matches the workflow in the business, whether the data is clean enough to trust, and whether the people entering it get anything back. Replacing a platform without answering those reproduces the same situation on a newer licence.
- 5
- Warning signals
- that say this is the work
- 6
- Controlled steps
- each ships something you keep
- 4
- Written refusals
- lines we do not cross
Self-audit
Signals this is the work
Tick the ones that are true where you are. Nothing is sent anywhere — the answer is for you, not for us.
If more than one of these is true today, the problem is usually further along than it looks from the outside. That is not a sales line; it is what the cost of waiting does.
Readiness checklistCRM & ERP systems
0 of 5 true
Nothing ticked yet.
How we do it
The sequence
Each step ships something you keep. You can stop after any of them and still be better off than when you started.
Start with step one- 01
Step 1 of 6
Follow the work, not the org chart
Sit with the people doing it. The documented process and the real one differ, and the difference is where the project succeeds or fails.
- 02
Step 2 of 6
Exhaust configuration first
A large share of "we need custom development" is a module bought and never set up. Configuration is cheaper to own and survives upgrades.
- 03
Step 3 of 6
Fix the data before the workflow
Duplicate customers and inconsistent product codes undermine everything downstream. This is scoped as real work, not a migration footnote.
- 04
Step 4 of 6
Customize narrowly and deliberately
Where the business genuinely differs, extend rather than fork, so upgrades stay possible.
- 05
Step 5 of 6
Integrate rather than duplicate
One authoritative source per fact, with the others reading from it.
- 06
Step 6 of 6
Make entry worth doing
People maintain data they get value from. If the system only takes, the data decays whatever the policy says.
Assurance
Secured and auditable by default
These controls apply to every engagement, including this one. They are engineering decisions, not a certificate on a wall — and you can check each of them.
SEC-02
Credentials in your name
Accounts and keys live in your tenancy. You can revoke any of them without asking us.
SEC-03
Every change logged
Changes, deployments and incidents leave a written trail you can audit.
SEC-04
Restores tested, not assumed
A backup only counts once it has been restored. We test, and we report the result.
SEC-05
Separate environments
Development never touches production credentials or unmasked customer data.
SEC-06
A documented exit
Runbooks written as we go. Leaving means revoking our access — nothing is held back.
What we will not do
The refusals
The things we turn down are a better description of how we work than the things we sell.
Standing commitmentsCRM & ERP systems
- 01
We will not: Replace a platform before establishing whether it was ever configured properly.
- 02
We will not: Customize around a process that should be simplified instead.
- 03
We will not: Migrate dirty data on the assumption it will be cleaned later.
- 04
We will not: Promise an upgrade path while forking core behaviour.
Questions
Before you ask
Anything else, ask on the first call. There is no charge for working out whether this is the right fit.
Talk about a problemShould we replace our CRM or fix it?
Fix it first, in most cases. Replacement is justified when the platform genuinely cannot express your model, when it is unsupported, or when the licence economics have stopped working. It is not justified because the current one is disliked — that is usually configuration, training and data quality, all of which follow you to the new system.
How do you handle migration?
Data cleanup is scoped as its own piece of work with its own estimate, because it is where migrations overrun. We migrate in stages with both systems readable, reconcile record counts and key totals, and keep the old system available read-only until the new one has been trusted through a full business cycle.
Can you work with our existing platform?
Yes. Most of this work is on Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, Zoho, SAP, NetSuite, Odoo and similar, plus the custom systems that grew alongside them. The platform matters less than whether it is configured to match how the business actually runs.
What about the shadow spreadsheets?
They are evidence, not misbehaviour. Every one is a place the system failed to support real work. We read them before designing anything, because they describe the requirements more honestly than any specification.
Tell us what isn’t working.
One process, one system, one decision you are stuck on. An engineer replies within one working day with how we would approach it, and whether it needs building at all.