Posts by Lucy Tothill

Artificial intelligence has moved remarkably quickly from experimentation to everyday business reality. A year ago, many organisations were still exploring the possibilities of tools like Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT and AI-powered CRM solutions. Today, AI is helping teams write content, analyse data, respond to customers and automate processes that once required hours of manual work. As…

Customer relationship management systems are often associated with sales teams tracking leads and opportunities. While this is one of the most common uses of CRM, many organisations rely on these systems for entirely different reasons, and membership organisations are a good example. For membership organisations, CRM is not primarily about managing sales pipelines. Instead, it…

When people think about sales, they often think about relationships. They picture conversations with customers, negotiations over pricing, and the moment a deal finally closes. While relationships remain at the heart of sales, the reality is that modern sales organisations have become far more complex than they once were. Customers expect businesses to remember every…

AI is rapidly becoming part of everyday business tools, and Microsoft Copilot is one of the clearest examples of this shift. Rather than being a standalone AI application, Copilot is designed to sit alongside the tools people already use, helping them write, analyse data, find information, and automate tasks. For many organisations, Copilot represents the…

Unsure on ideas for summer plans? At Cloud9 we are lucky enough to be only a ten-minute walk away from the seafront. When the summer sun hits the Sussex coast, there is nowhere quite like the Brighton and Hove seafront. The historic promenade comes alive with an infectious, buzzing energy, transforming the beach into the…

For many roles, work happens on the move or on-site with customers, and in those moments going back to a laptop to check or update your CRM simply isn’t practical. That’s where mobile CRM comes in. Modern CRM systems are designed to travel with you. Whether through a dedicated app or a mobile-friendly experience, they…

Why is AI Important? Artificial intelligence has quickly moved from an emerging technology to a standard part of modern business systems. Whether organisations are ready for it or not, AI is already embedded in many of the tools they use every day. The conversation is no longer about whether businesses should adopt AI, but about…

What is Change Management? Implementing a CRM solution or project means also implementing a business change, and implementing a business change requires management. Whenever the way people work is altered there will be resistance, because change disrupts routine, confidence and control. It is not as simple as implementing new technology and everyone happily using it…

A Background to CRM Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems were developed to provide organisations with a structured way to record, manage, and analyse their interactions with customers and prospects. At a fundamental level, a CRM system acts as a central repository for customer-related data, capturing information about individuals, organisations, sales activity, and commercial outcomes. With…

Integration is one of those words that gets thrown around constantly in CRM projects. Everyone wants it, but few people fully understand it, and almost nobody appreciates how much work sits behind the scenes. At its simplest, integration just means connecting one system to another. But in practice, it is the difference between a CRM…