Day one. Importing your customer history without manual retyping.
Your showroom has hundreds of customer records in a CSV export from your old system or spreadsheets. IBIOS bulk import maps and loads every record in a single session. Coming soon: AI deduplication to flag likely duplicates in the data, so you start with a clean customer database rather than a copy of whatever mess existed before.
What does “we’ll migrate the data later” really cost?
The most common reason businesses delay switching from spreadsheets to a proper system is the data migration. The instinct is to start fresh and migrate records as they come up in conversation — which means the old customer who calls in six months is not in the new system, their history is not there, and staff are toggling between two places to answer a simple question.
Manual retyping of hundreds of records is not a realistic option. It takes days, introduces errors, and keeps the system in a half-live state for weeks. Businesses that go through it once do not do it again willingly.
IBIOS bulk import removes the blocker entirely. The migration is not a project; it is a task for the first day. Your team starts with the full customer history in place, the AI Receptionist (coming soon) will be able to look up any of your existing customers by name, and there is no “legacy data” problem to manage.
How do you import a customer database into IBIOS?
From your old CSV export to a live customer database in a single session (AI deduplication coming soon).
Export from the old system
Staff export their existing customer records from their spreadsheet, previous CRM, or legacy system. IBIOS accepts CSV and Excel files. A mapping template is available to align column headers with the IBIOS import format.
Upload and field mapping
The import file is uploaded to IBIOS. The mapping tool shows each column from the source file alongside the IBIOS field it will populate. Any column that cannot be auto-matched is flagged for manual assignment before the import begins.
Validation before import
IBIOS validates the mapped data: checking for missing required fields, unrecognised phone formats, and duplicate email addresses. A pre-import summary shows how many records will be created, how many need review, and how many will be skipped.
AI deduplication (coming soon)
Coming soon, not live yet: an AI deduplication step that scans the import for likely duplicates, matching on name, address, phone and email, so staff can confirm merges or dismiss false positives before the import completes.
Records live in IBIOS
Approved records are created in IBIOS with auto-generated customer reference numbers. Every imported record is searchable, linkable to jobs and quotes, and will be visible to the AI Receptionist (coming soon) once it launches.
The outcome
Imported
your existing customer records, loaded in a single session
Coming soon
likely duplicates flagged by AI for staff to confirm or dismiss
No retyping
needed for structured CSV data
Cleaning out duplicates is often the most valuable part of the process, and the AI deduplication step is coming soon. Many businesses discover they have been maintaining duplicate customer records for years without realising it. Starting with a clean dataset means your reporting, your future AI Receptionist lookups (coming soon), and your marketing contacts are all working from accurate data from day one.
Questions about customer database import
What file formats does IBIOS accept for customer import — CSV, Excel, vCard?
IBIOS accepts CSV and Excel (.xlsx) files for bulk customer import. vCard files (.vcf) can be imported individually or in batches. For more complex migrations from older ERP or CRM systems, the IBIOS onboarding team provides a mapping template that converts most common export formats into the import-ready structure.
What happens to records that have missing required fields?
Records with missing required fields — most commonly a name or at least one contact method — are placed in a separate review list rather than imported. IBIOS shows you the incomplete records with the specific missing field highlighted. You can edit them in the review list and import them individually, or exclude them from the batch and handle them separately.
Can I import job history and quote history alongside customer contact data?
Yes. The IBIOS import format supports job history notes and basic quote reference data in additional columns alongside the customer record. Full historical quote documents cannot be imported automatically, but job notes, dates, and values can be mapped from your export file so your team has context on each customer from day one.
What if the old system exported phone numbers in inconsistent formats?
IBIOS normalises UK phone numbers on import: it strips spaces, parentheses, and leading zeros to create a consistent format across all records. Numbers that cannot be parsed as valid UK phone numbers are flagged for review rather than imported incorrectly. This means your contact data is clean and consistently formatted from the first day.
Can I undo a bulk import if something went wrong?
Yes. Every bulk import creates a named import session in IBIOS, and the session can be rolled back, removing the records created in that batch. Individual records can also be deleted, and any records that were updated rather than created can be reverted using the audit log.
Related features
Don’t let data migration delay your switch.
IBIOS imports your customer records in a single session; AI deduplication is coming soon. Book a demo to see the import.