Importer and distributor Synergy Audio Visual has ditched its manual CRM reporting database for an off-the-shelf CRM to centralize the data of more than 300 suppliers and customers.

The Melbourne based company imports and distributes audio and video equipment including Cambridge Audio, Rega, Primare and Elac loudspeakers to authorised retailers.

It has 14 staff and works with more than 300 businesses across Australia, delivering them imported products from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany and Sweden.

Managing director Philip Sawyer said its Microsoft Outlook data repository was labour intensive and was wasting resources.

"We were relying on Outlook and paper diaries for managing contacts and correspondence and we got to the point where we realized we needed a centralised repository for all our contact information," Sawyer said.

"We wanted a centralised knowledge base for the entire company [and] to be able to manage all information and contact between ourselves, our suppliers and our customers.

"We [initially] had about 120 companies doing business with us, and today we manage nine separate product lines and have more than 300 customers."

Synergy replaced its manual system with the premium edition of FrontRange GoldMine after evaluating vendors including ACT and Tracker CRM last year.

Sawyer said the new solution gives staff better visibility into data from suppliers in the US and Europe, and has improved logging, reporting and compliance.

"We can service or support issues more efficiently and staff in the field can access information on their laptops and PDAs," he said.