What is the difference between a conversational CRM and a chatbot?

A chatbot answers the customer on a website or support channel. A conversational CRM, in this guide’s sense, is the CRM itself driven in natural language by your salespeople: creating records, searching, follow-ups, quote reviews. The first talks to the customer; the second talks to your sales data.

Do we need to migrate Excel data? How long does it take?

Yes if you want a single source of truth. CSV or Excel import maps your columns onto your schema, handles duplicates, then loads records. For an SMB with a decent customer file, expect a few days to real first use; longer if several files must be consolidated.

Is it suitable for an SMB without an IT department?

Yes — that is the core use case. No full-time CRM admin is required to start. You can try self-serve or have ASC.digital install the schema, import, and train the team. Salespeople work in sentences, not configuration screens.

Must salespeople learn special commands?

No. They write in plain language. Slash commands exist for advanced users but are optional. If Pilot errs on a record, you correct the sentence or the field — the same way you would fix an Excel row.

Is data hosted in France?

Workspace data is hosted in the European Union. The vendor, Sublime Traders SAS, is based in Paris and operates under French law. The data residency page details multi-tenant isolation and the GDPR frame.

What happens if the AI mistakes a record create?

Pilot runs actions on your schema; you see the result in the thread and on the record. An error is fixed like any other update: rephrase, edit the field, or undo the action. The AI is not an uncontrolled black box — it is an interface over real records.

Can we keep our ERP / business management software?

Yes. OSTRATA does not require replacing your business management stack. API and webhooks can sync quotes, orders, or customers with the existing tool. Many SMBs keep the ERP for billing and use OSTRATA for pipeline and follow-ups.

How much does a conversational CRM cost for an SMB?

With OSTRATA, a single plan is billed per seat, from €17.10 / seat / month on annual billing (excl. tax), with an annual option cheaper than monthly, plus a trial. Total cost for an SMB is mostly adoption time — kept low here because there are no forms to force on the team.

Can it be used offline / from the field?

The product is a web app; a connection is required to sync. From the field, salespeople access it on phone or laptop. Telegram can complement for quick workspace-linked actions, depending on configuration.

How does it differ from HubSpot or Salesforce for an SMB?

HubSpot and Salesforce excel when you need marketing automation factories, an app ecosystem, and a team to administer them. For an industrial SMB with a few salespeople and no CRM admin, adoption cost is often the real price. OSTRATA targets that ground: flexible schema, natural-language entry, EU hosting, native French registry enrichment.

CRM conversationnel pour PME — le guide complet

01

What a conversational CRM is

A conversational CRM is not a support chatbot bolted onto a classic CRM. It is a CRM you drive in natural language: your salespeople create, search, and update customer records by writing a sentence, with no forms and no forced schema.

The term covers two distinct realities today. The first, common in vendor catalogs, means messaging and support CRMs: Zendesk, Aircall, Intercom and peers. There, “conversational” means the customer channel (chat, phone, email) is central, and the ticket or call is the unit of work. That is a legitimate use — especially for customer service.

The second reality, the one this guide covers, is different: it is not the customer talking to the tool, it is the salesperson talking to their CRM. Creating a record, finding prospects overdue for follow-up, preparing a quote review — all in plain language, in a thread, with concrete actions on data. OSTRATA belongs to this second definition.

Both can coexist. An SMB may need a conversational support tool and a conversational CRM for the sales team. What matters is not confusing them when you buy.

02

Why SMBs in particular

In an industrial SMB of 20 to 80 people, there is almost never an IT team dedicated to the CRM, nor an admin who will spend afternoons configuring fields. The sales director owns the file, the salespeople own their routes, and the rest lives in Excel, inboxes, and memory.

Classic CRMs ask for three things this organization does not have: time to fill forms after every call, someone to maintain the data model, and a team willing to accept the vendor schema instead of how they actually sell. Result: the CRM is purchased, lightly used, then abandoned for the historical customer file.

A conversational CRM flips that constraint. Your salespeople write what they would write anyway (“Polyfont, prospect, foundry in Hoymille”) and the record is created. The data model is not forced upfront: it fits your objects (customers, quotes, routes, machines, jobs) without a six-month configuration project. That is the “no forced schema” argument — not a slogan, an adoption condition for an SMB without a CRM admin.

03

Conversational CRM in practice

Three real exchanges with Pilot, OSTRATA’s assistant in Operations. Pick a query, or let the demo play once.

Pilot · Operations

You

04

Classic CRM vs conversational CRM

An honest comparison on the criteria that matter for an SMB. A classic CRM remains the better choice if you already need heavy marketing automation today.

Criterion	Classic CRM	Conversational CRM
Data entry	Forms and required fields	Natural-language sentence
Team adoption	Low without admin and discipline	High: people write what they already do
Data model customization	Long setup, often rigid	Schema fitted to how you sell
Time to go live	Weeks to months	Days, with or without accompanied setup
Learning curve	Menus, objects, views, rights	Write a sentence; the rest is optional
Cost	Seats + modules + admin	Seats; less hidden admin cost

If your immediate priority is email automation factories, multi-channel marketing scoring, and a RevOps team already in place, a classic CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce) remains a better fit. Conversational CRM serves first the sales team that must keep the customer file current every day.

05

Migrate from Excel

The typical situation: a shared customer file, columns that drifted over the years, tabs per salesperson or per year, and a fair fear of breaking everything by changing tools.

With OSTRATA, the Excel or CSV file is imported into your schema — not the other way around. You define (or have defined) the objects and fields that match your business, map columns, validate duplicates, then import. Your salespeople do not relearn a data-entry screen: they keep describing customers and follow-ups in plain language.

Realistic timeline for an SMB with 3 to 10 salespeople: a few days to a usable first workspace, longer if the file is fragmented or if you want accompanied setup (modeling, import, training). The goal is not digitization for its own sake — it is replacing the customer file with a single source the team will actually keep feeding.

See Excel and CSV data import in OSTRATA

06

Pricing and sovereignty

Transparent pricing, the same as on the pricing page: one plan, billed per seat.

From €17.10 / seat / month on annual billing (excl. tax). Trial available. Each seat unlocks the full product.

View OSTRATA pricing

Hosting and compliance

Workspace data is hosted in the European Union. OSTRATA is built and operated from Paris by Sublime Traders SAS under French law, with GDPR-aligned practices.

French company registry enrichment is native: look up a French company and apply official fields from Operations, without bolting on a third-party tool.

Data residency details

French company registry enrichment

07

Frequently asked questions

Two ways to start

Self-serve if you want to try now. Accompanied setup if you want schema modeling, Excel import, and team training done for you.

Try OSTRATA

Create your workspace, import a sample of your customer file, and let Pilot work on your own data.

Try OSTRATA

Have your CRM installed

ASC.digital models your schema, imports your Excel file, and trains your sales team. No pure-SaaS competitor offers this path.

Have your CRM installed