Artificial intelligence in the CRM

The CRM’s AI saves sales representatives time without ever acting in their place. It summarises an account or an opportunity, prepares a meeting, drafts the follow-up email, estimates a deal’s chances and turns an incoming email into draft records. Nothing is created or sent without you: each suggestion is reviewed, corrected, then confirmed or copied. This article describes each use, what is sent to the AI and what never is, and how to switch it on. It is intended for sales representatives, their managers and CRM administrators.

Before you start #

• The CRM module must be enabled for your workspace and open to you (see Enabling and administering the CRM module).
• AI must be enabled for your company. An administrator who manages the subscription does this on the subscription page, Monthly usage tab, Artificial intelligence block: they accept usage-based billing, then click Enable AI (see Invoices, payment, usage and workspace ownership).
• The CRM’s AI must also be switched on in the module’s settings. It is off by default (see below).
• Each use follows the read permission of its record, within your scope: “CRM accounts — View” for an account summary; “Opportunities — View” for an opportunity’s summary and score; “CRM activities — View” for preparing a meeting and its follow-up email. Preparing records from an email also requires “CRM accounts — Create” and “CRM contacts — Create”.
• The use of AI is governed by Illizeo’s AI terms and conditions.

Switching on the CRM’s AI #

1. Open Settings › CRM › CRM settings.
2. In the CRM AI card, turn the switch on. The message “The CRM’s AI is switched on.” confirms the setting.

The switch requires the “CRM settings — Edit” permission. With “CRM settings — View”, you see it but cannot change it. Switching it off immediately removes the AI buttons from every record, for everyone.

With the switch on, the card says in orange what still keeps AI closed:

Message in the card	What to do
“AI is not enabled for your company. An administrator can enable it in Subscription › AI usage.”	Have AI enabled on the subscription page, Monthly usage tab.
“The AI cap has been reached: the CRM’s AI features resume with the next period, or as soon as an administrator raises the cap.”, followed by the date it resumes	Wait for the next period, or raise the Monthly cap on the subscription page.
“No CRM AI feature is open on the platform for now.”	Nothing: Illizeo has not yet opened any CRM AI feature. The buttons will appear once it has.

When usage reaches 80% of the cap, the card says so: “The AI cap will soon be reached.”

On records, an AI button only exists when everything is open. Otherwise nothing is shown, except when the cap has been reached: the cap message then takes the button’s place.

Summarising an account or an opportunity #

On the Overview tab of an account or an opportunity, the Summary block offers Summarise with AI. The AI writes a few lines for whoever reopens the record: where the relationship stands, what has happened recently, what remains to be done, then key points. The Based on line says what it relied on: the number of activities, emails, quotes and opportunities read. Summarise again writes it again.

• An account summary reads its contacts, opportunities, quotes, activities and logged emails, including those of accounts merged into it.
• An opportunity summary reads the deal, its account if you can read it, its contacts, quotes and activities, and the logged emails of its contacts.
• A record with no activity, email, quote or opportunity that you can read is not sent: the screen says “Nothing to summarise” and states that no AI request was made. Nothing is billed.
• The summary is stored nowhere. It disappears when you leave the page.

Estimating an opportunity’s chances #

On the overview of an open opportunity in a sales pipeline, the Deal chances block offers Estimate with AI. This block does not exist on a won or lost deal, nor on a follow-up case.

Illizeo first calculates four signals. The AI explains them; it does not make them up:

Signal	What Illizeo measures
Recent activity	The number of days since the last activity done on the deal, and the number of activities still to do.
Stage	The stage’s rank in the pipeline, its probability and the number of days spent in the stage.
Signing date	The expected signing date and any delay.
Deal size	The amount, compared with the average of the open deals in the same currency that you can read.

The result is a score from 0 to 100 and, for each signal, a sentence and a direction: favourable, unfavourable or neutral. It is an indicative score, not a forecast: it is stored nowhere, sorts no list and changes neither the stage probability nor the pipeline totals. Estimate again runs it again.

Preparing a meeting or a call #

On the record of a meeting or a call, or of an activity type that behaves like them, the With AI block offers Prepare with AI, before or after the date. The AI returns three lists:

• Open points: based on the activities still to do on the same account;
• Recent exchanges: based on the activities already done on the account and the logged emails of the contacts;
• To prepare: what you should bring or check.

The Participants line names the meeting’s contacts and colleagues: it comes from Illizeo, not from the AI. When the records you can read give nothing to prepare, the screen says so.

Drafting the follow-up email #

Once the meeting or call has taken place (done, or past its start time), the With AI block also offers Draft the follow-up with AI. The AI writes a brief thank-you, what was decided, the next steps and who owns them.

1. Click Draft the follow-up with AI.
2. Check the To line: the meeting’s contacts who can receive the email, with their address. The others are listed as Left out, with the reason: has objected, does not want e-mails, or no e-mail address.
3. Adjust the Subject and the Text.
4. Click Copy the addresses, Copy the subject and Copy the text, paste them into your mailbox and send the email yourself.

Nothing is sent from Illizeo: the draft is neither sent nor stored. It is written in the language of the first recipient whose record states one, otherwise in the language of your screen. If no contact can receive the email, the screen says so.

Preparing records from an email #

A contact or business location enquiry arrives by email? The AI reads the email and its attachments and prepares the records: the organisation, the contact, the opportunity or follow-up case, the tasks and a draft reply. These drafts only become records once you confirm them.

The email must be in your E-mails to handle queue, on the CRM › Microsoft 365 page: an email from the Outlook folder you chose, or an email you forwarded to the workspace forwarding address. Only you can see this queue.

1. In E-mails to handle, click Prepare the records next to the email. The Prepare the records with AI window opens and the analysis starts.
2. Check the list of attachments: each is shown as read, partly read or not read, with the reason.
3. Review each card and tick what you keep: Keep the organisation, Keep the contact, Create this record, and each task. Correct the values if needed.
4. If the Proposed reply is useful, adjust it and copy it with Copy the subject and Copy the text.
5. Click Create the records.

What each card shows #

• Organisation: “New organisation and its account.” when nothing resembles it; “Existing organisation without a CRM account: an account will be opened”; or “Update of …” when a record you can read matches it. An update is shown in a Field, Current, Proposed, Kept table: an empty field is filled automatically, an existing value is only replaced if you tick it. Similar records flags possible duplicates. If an organisation outside your scope already has the same legal identifier, creation is blocked and the card asks you to contact its owner.
• Contact: a new contact, attached to the account, or an update of an existing contact, on the same model. A new address or number is added to the contact’s, without replacing them. A contact who has objected is flagged: do not write to them.
• Opportunity or Follow-up case: the chosen pipeline and stage, the name and, for an opportunity, the amount, currency and expected signing. The “Required by the stage and still empty” line lists the required fields that are missing. It is recalculated with each correction.
• Tasks: what needs doing, assigned to you. If the email gives no due date, the task is suggested one week ahead.
• Proposed reply: a draft reply in the sender’s language, asking for the information the pipeline requires and the email does not give. It never leaves Illizeo: copy it into your mailbox.

A card you are not allowed to write is disabled: “You are not allowed to create an opportunity.” (“Opportunities — Create” permission) or “You are not allowed to create a task.” (“CRM activities — Create” permission). An existing record that you cannot edit will stay as it is.

Creating, saving, analysing again or discarding #

• Create the records writes everything or nothing, with the same checks, permissions, log and notices as the CRM screens. An error is shown on the card concerned, and nothing is created. When it succeeds, the screen says “Records created. The e-mail is marked as handled.” and gives a link to each record. The proposed reply stays on screen, ready to copy.
• Save the corrections keeps your corrections without creating anything. The proposal then reopens with Review the prepared records, with no new AI request.
• Analyse again has the AI read the email again, after confirmation: your corrections are lost, and the new analysis counts as an AI use.
• Discard drops the proposal. The email stays in the queue.

If your workspace submits to a validation the creations by AI, or a field that the proposal changes (for example a contact’s phone numbers), Create the records writes nothing: the whole proposal becomes a single validation request, the email shows “Records awaiting validation”, and the records are only created after the decision. If it is declined, the proposal comes back for review: you correct it or discard it. See Getting records and sendings approved.

What is sent to the AI, and what never is #

The AI only reads what you can already read in the CRM, with your permissions and your scope. A record outside your scope is neither named nor counted, so a summary cannot mention it.

Use	What is sent to the AI
Summary	The record and its notes, the contacts (name, job title, role), the opportunities and quotes (status, amount), the last 30 activities (shortened text) and the last 20 logged emails (subject and excerpt).
Preparation and follow-up email	The meeting and its report, its account and opportunity if you can read them, its participants (name, job title, role), the account’s activities and the logged emails of its contacts (subject and excerpt).
Score	The four calculated signals, and nothing else: no name, no text.
Preparing records	The email (subject, sender, recipients, date, text), the text of its PDF and Word attachments, the CRM records you can read that the sender’s address points to, and the active pipelines with their required fields.

Never sent:

• your colleagues’ private activities;
• private emails: a private email is never logged, and an email marked private or confidential in Outlook is refused when preparing records: “This e-mail is marked private or confidential in Outlook: it is not sent to the AI.”;
• the full text of logged emails: a summary or a preparation only receives their subject and excerpt;
• contacts’ details (email addresses, phone numbers) in a summary, a preparation or a follow-up email: the addresses on the To line come from Illizeo, not from the AI;
• the attachments of activities and accounts.

What the AI writes is not kept: the summary, the preparation, the follow-up draft and the score only last as long as the screen. The drafts prepared from an email are kept until they are confirmed or discarded; once the records are created, only the proposed reply remains.

Billing, cap and log #

• Each use is billed according to actual consumption, within the monthly cap set on the subscription page. During the trial, usage is measured and capped, but not billed.
• Cap reached: the CRM’s AI buttons give way to the cap message. The features resume with the next period, or as soon as an administrator raises the cap. The people who manage the subscription are alerted at 80% of the cap, then when it is reached.
• During a request, the button spins and cannot be clicked again: a double click does not make two requests. After too many requests in a short time, the screen says “Too many AI requests in a short time.” and how long to wait.
• The CRM log records each use: the type of use, the record concerned and the consumption, never the text produced or what was sent. These uses do not appear in the records’ timelines.

Good to know #

• Every text written by the AI carries the “Suggested by AI” label. Review it: the AI only knows the data it received, and it can be wrong.
• The summary, the preparation and the score are written in the language of your screen (French, English, German or Italian).
• An opportunity, case or task kept without the organisation is refused: “Keep the organisation: this draft needs an account.”
• Attachments read: PDF, DOC and DOCX, five at most, 10 MB at most each. Beyond 20,000 characters, an attachment is partly read. A scanned PDF with no text is shown as “no readable text”.
• With the CRM’s AI switched off or the cap reached, a proposal already prepared can still be reopened with Review the prepared records. Reviewing it costs no request.

FAQ #

I cannot see any AI button on my records. #

The CRM’s AI is switched off, AI is not enabled for your company, or no CRM AI feature is open yet. A CRM administrator can see the reason in the CRM AI card of the settings. If the cap has been reached, the record says so in place of the button.

Can a summary mention a colleague’s deal that I cannot see? #

No. The AI only receives the records within your scope, without other people’s private activities. A colleague who can read more will get a fuller summary.