Spreadsheet, CRM, or a shared directory?
Most small teams are stuck between a spreadsheet that's always out of date and a CRM that's too heavy to bother with. Here's where a shared, self-updating directory fits.
The spreadsheet
Free and familiar — until three people keep three versions, numbers go stale, and nobody can find the file. There's no consent record and no way to call from it.
The CRM
Powerful, but built for pipelines and deals, not for "what's the current number for the marina?". Weeks to set up, per-seat pricing, and half the fields stay empty.
CentralContacts
A shared phonebook that keeps itself right. Minutes to start, one flat price, click-to-call built in, and a consent record on every contact. Just the address book — done properly.
Side by side
| What matters | Spreadsheet | CRM | CentralContacts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole team sees the same contacts | Only if shared — and messy | Yes | Yes |
| Stays current automatically | No | No — manual updates | Yes, with consent |
| Click-to-call from Teams & Meet | No | Sometimes | Yes |
| GDPR consent record + audit trail | No | Partial | Yes, on every contact |
| Handles contacts with no email | Yes | Often no | Yes |
| The person can maintain their own record | No | No | Yes |
| Time to get going | Minutes | Weeks | Minutes |
| Training needed | None | Plenty | None |
| Typical cost | Free-ish (hidden cost: chaos) | £££ per seat | £7.99/mo for 5 |
When to choose what
If you're a solo operator with twenty contacts, a spreadsheet is fine. If you run a structured sales pipeline with forecasting and deal stages, you want a CRM. But if you're a team that lives on the phone — trades, a marina, an agency, a charity — and you just need everyone calling the right, current number, that's exactly the gap CentralContacts fills.
You can even run it alongside a CRM: keep deals where they belong, and let CentralContacts be the always-current phonebook the whole team shares.
Get the shared phonebook, skip the spreadsheet chaos.
Import your contacts and your whole team is calling the right number in minutes.