Assessment report · sample data
Replacing a legacy CRM. 40 seats, UK-based team selling into EU enterprises. Must keep customer data in the EU, integrate with our existing support desk, and be live within 8 weeks.
Budget: Up to £30,000 / year
Five CRMs were assessed against your six requirements. Three clear the EU data residency bar without an enterprise upgrade: Northwind, Pipeline Works and (on the top tier only) Cadence Cloud. Atlas Revenue is the strongest product but is roughly £11,000 over budget and cannot realistically be live in eight weeks. Verdant Sales fails the residency requirement outright.
Shortlist Northwind CRM and Cadence Cloud, with Pipeline Works as the budget option. Northwind is the best overall fit: EU-hosted by default, forecasting included, £24,000 all-in, and a 4-6 week migration. Take Cadence Cloud to a demo only if the depth of the helpdesk integration is worth the residency uplift.
Cadence Cloud EU residency pricing is not published - confirm it in writing before comparing totals. Pipeline Works one-way helpdesk sync would mean manual reconciliation, and its forecasting add-on erases most of the price advantage.
Northwind CRM
£24,000/yr at 40 seats
Cadence Cloud
£28,800/yr at 40 seats
Pipeline Works
£19,200/yr at 40 seats
| Requirement | Northwind CRMshortlist | Cadence Cloudshortlist | Pipeline Worksshortlist | Atlas Revenue | Verdant Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU data residencyweight 5/5 Customer data stored and processed in the EU only | Met | Partly met | Met | Not met | Not met |
| Total cost at 40 seatsweight 5/5 All-in annual cost including onboarding | Met | Partly met | Met | Not met | Met |
| Support desk integrationweight 4/5 Native two-way sync with our helpdesk | Met | Met | Partly met | Met | Partly met |
| Reporting & forecastingweight 3/5 Pipeline forecasting without a paid add-on | Met | Met | Not met | Met | Partly met |
| Implementation timeweight 4/5 Live within 8 weeks with our data migrated | Met | Met | Partly met | Partly met | Partly met |
| Security postureweight 4/5 SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001, SSO included | Met | Met | Met | Met | Partly met |
| Overall | 4.5/5 | 4.1/5 | 3.6/5 | 3.2/5 | 2.4/5 |
Mid-market CRM with EU-only hosting as the default. Strong on pipeline forecasting, lighter on marketing automation.
EU data residency — Met (5/5)
All customer data hosted in Dublin and Frankfurt; no US sub-processors listed for core storage.
Source: https://example.com/northwind/security
Total cost at 40 seats — Met (4/5)
£50/seat/month on the Growth plan, onboarding quoted at £2,400 one-off. £24,000 first-year total.
Source: https://example.com/northwind/pricing
Support desk integration — Met (4/5)
Native two-way sync listed in the integrations directory, including ticket-to-contact linking.
Source: https://example.com/northwind/integrations
Reporting & forecasting — Met (5/5)
Weighted pipeline forecasting included on Growth, no add-on required.
Source: https://example.com/northwind/features
Implementation time — Met (4/5)
Standard migration quoted at 4-6 weeks with a dedicated onboarding engineer.
Source: https://example.com/northwind/onboarding
Security posture — Met (5/5)
ISO 27001 certified, SAML SSO included on all paid plans.
Source: https://example.com/northwind/trust
Sales-first CRM with a deep helpdesk integration. EU residency available on the higher tier only.
EU data residency — Partly met (3/5)
EU region available, but only on the Enterprise tier - adds roughly £6,000/yr.
Source: https://example.com/cadence/pricing
Total cost at 40 seats — Partly met (3/5)
£60/seat/month plus the EU residency uplift takes it close to the budget ceiling.
Source: https://example.com/cadence/pricing
Support desk integration — Met (5/5)
Deepest helpdesk integration reviewed: shared timeline, bi-directional notes and SLA fields.
Source: https://example.com/cadence/integrations
Reporting & forecasting — Met (4/5)
Forecasting included; custom report builder limited to 25 saved reports.
Source: https://example.com/cadence/features
Implementation time — Met (5/5)
Published 3-week guided migration with a template importer for legacy CRMs.
Source: https://example.com/cadence/onboarding
Security posture — Met (5/5)
SOC 2 Type II report available under NDA; SSO on all tiers.
Source: https://example.com/cadence/trust
Lowest cost of the shortlist and EU-hosted, but forecasting requires a paid add-on and implementation partners are scarce.
EU data residency — Met (5/5)
German-hosted by default, DPA lists EU-only sub-processors.
Source: https://example.com/pipelineworks/dpa
Total cost at 40 seats — Met (5/5)
EUR 46/seat/month, no mandatory onboarding fee. Cheapest of the shortlist.
Source: https://example.com/pipelineworks/pricing
Support desk integration — Partly met (3/5)
Integration exists but is one-way; ticket updates do not write back to the CRM.
Source: https://example.com/pipelineworks/integrations
Reporting & forecasting — Not met (2/5)
Forecasting sits behind a paid Insights add-on at EUR 12/seat/month.
Source: https://example.com/pipelineworks/pricing
Implementation time — Partly met (3/5)
Self-serve migration tooling only; no published guided onboarding.
Source: https://example.com/pipelineworks/docs
Security posture — Met (4/5)
ISO 27001 certified; SSO available on the mid tier.
Source: https://example.com/pipelineworks/trust
Powerful reporting and forecasting, but priced above the stated budget and EU residency is an enterprise add-on.
EU data residency — Not met (2/5)
EU residency described as an enterprise add-on with no published price.
Source: https://example.com/atlas/security
Total cost at 40 seats — Not met (1/5)
List price of $110/seat/month puts the annual cost around £41,000, well over budget.
Source: https://example.com/atlas/pricing
Support desk integration — Met (4/5)
Certified integration available for the incumbent helpdesk.
Source: https://example.com/atlas/integrations
Reporting & forecasting — Met (5/5)
Best-in-class forecasting and revenue analytics in the review set.
Source: https://example.com/atlas/features
Implementation time — Partly met (3/5)
Typical implementation quoted at 10-12 weeks, longer than the 8-week deadline.
Source: https://example.com/atlas/onboarding
Security posture — Met (5/5)
SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, SSO and SCIM included.
Source: https://example.com/atlas/trust
Good value, but no EU data region and support hours do not overlap well with a UK team.
EU data residency — Not met (1/5)
Only US and APAC regions listed; no EU option on the roadmap page.
Source: https://example.com/verdant/security
Total cost at 40 seats — Met (4/5)
AU$85/seat/month converts to roughly £22,400 a year.
Source: https://example.com/verdant/pricing
Support desk integration — Partly met (3/5)
Integration available through a third-party connector, not natively supported.
Source: https://example.com/verdant/integrations
Reporting & forecasting — Partly met (3/5)
Forecasting included but limited to a single pipeline.
Source: https://example.com/verdant/features
Implementation time — Partly met (3/5)
Onboarding is self-serve with email support in AEST hours.
Source: https://example.com/verdant/onboarding
Security posture — Partly met (3/5)
SOC 2 Type I only; SSO is an enterprise add-on.
Source: https://example.com/verdant/trust