Interspan Motors CRM

Overview

Interspan Motors, a division of Interspan Canada Inc., is a global vehicle exporter serving clients across multiple international markets. To support its growth, the company required a customer relationship management (CRM) system that not only delivered enhanced functionality but also retained the core features of its existing SaaS platform. The limitations of the previous CRM—primarily its manual workflows and time-consuming processes—were creating administrative bottlenecks that prevented sales staff from maximizing their productivity.

The new Auto CRM was designed and developed specifically to meet Interspan Motors’ operational needs. By streamlining data entry, automating key processes, and integrating advanced tools tailored to the automotive export business, the solution provided an immediate performance improvement. From a financial perspective, the system’s cost was fully recoverable within two to three years, making the investment strategically sound. More importantly, by reducing administrative overhead, the Auto CRM enabled sales teams to dedicate more time to revenue-generating activities, ultimately boosting sales productivity by an estimated 30%.

Key Features

• Clients & Contacts – Centralized records of customers, suppliers, and partners, with complete interaction histories.
• Vehicles – End-to-end vehicle management, including specifications, documentation, compliance details, and resale tracking.
• Vehicle-Related Merchandise – Unified tracking of accessories, spare parts, and other vehicle-related items alongside primary vehicle exports.
• Shipping Management – Tracking of shipping details, documentation, and logistics to ensure smooth delivery of vehicles worldwide.
• Vehicle Image Records – Storage of images taken at acquisition for resale, and again before shipment, ensuring accuracy, accountability, and quality assurance.
• Follow-Up – Automated reminders, scheduled activities, and task management for timely customer engagement and deal progression.
• Financials – Integrated tools for managing payments, expenses, and reconciliations linked directly to vehicle and merchandise sales.
• Reports – Customizable reporting and analytics for performance monitoring, operational efficiency, and sales insights.
• Notifications – Real-time alerts for critical events, deadlines, and workflow updates, helping staff stay proactive.

Technology

The Auto CRM for Interspan Motors was developed on a robust LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), leveraging the CodeIgniter framework for rapid development, scalability, and maintainability. The system makes extensive use of AJAX to deliver a smooth, responsive user experience, ensuring that staff can manage vehicles, clients, and workflows without unnecessary page reloads.

For file and image storage, the CRM is integrated with an S3-compatible bucket at Linode, providing secure and scalable storage for vehicle documentation and image records. To ensure reliability and data protection, the solution also utilizes Linode’s managed backups, giving the client confidence in disaster recovery and business continuity.

Although the project began with only loose requirements, the system was designed iteratively and with flexibility in mind. This approach allowed us to address emerging needs as they became clear, ultimately delivering a solution that not only met but exceeded client expectations. The client expressed complete satisfaction with the results, highlighting both the performance and the tailored fit of the system to their operations.

Website

Alongside the development of the Auto CRM, we also built the official Interspan Motors website, designed to showcase the company’s global vehicle export services. The site was recently enhanced with localization support, making it accessible in English, Spanish, and Russian to better serve international clients and expand reach across key markets.