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Most small teams are stuck between a spreadsheet that's always out of date and a CRM that's too heavy to bother with.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 reason on 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 reason on record for 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 |
| Lawful-basis 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 |
| Syncs into your Google Calendar & Contacts | No | Add-on, if at all | Yes, built in |
| Follow-up tasks, watches & notes on a contact | No | Yes | Yes |
| Each contact gets a private self-service portal | No | Rarely | Yes |
| Run campaigns and capture leads by QR | No | Yes | Yes |
| Time to get going | Minutes | Weeks | Minutes |
| Training needed | None | Plenty | None |
| Typical cost | Free-ish (hidden cost: chaos) | £££ per seat | £9.99/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.
How it compares to other contact tools
Not everything is a spreadsheet or a CRM. Here's where CentralContacts sits against the other ways teams keep contacts.
Shared address books
Good for a team to share one list. But it's your copy of other people's details, kept current by you — no reason on record, and no way for the person to see or fix what you hold.
Digital business cards
Great for keeping your own card fresh for people who saved it. That's outbound identity, not a business's directory of its contacts staying right — a different job.
Contact enrichment
These guess who your contacts are, scraping public web and social data to fill gaps. CentralContacts does the opposite: it asks the person.
Address books share your contacts. Enrichment tools guess them. CentralContacts asks them — and keeps a record of what they confirmed, and when.
Compare in detail
The simple alternative to a CRM
Why most teams don't need a pipeline tool at all.
Read more →CompareCentralContacts vs Capsule CRM
A CRM built for deals, or a directory that stays current?
Read more →CompareCentralContacts vs Contactzilla
Device-synced address book vs a book that keeps itself right.
Read more →FeatureSelf-updating contacts
How a book keeps its own details current, with consent.
Read more →GuideWhat a small team actually needs
The full breakdown of spreadsheet vs directory vs CRM.
Read more →PricingSimple pricing
Free for individuals, £9.99/month for up to 5 users.
Read more →Get the shared phonebook, skip the spreadsheet chaos.
Import your contacts and your whole team is calling the right number in minutes.