FSP built a custom CRM with Greenstep – from zero to production in few months

Surface Protection (FSP) is an industrial surface treatment group with over 60 years’ experience, operating in Finland, Estonia, Poland and Sweden. At the start of 2026, when the company began building a new sales organisation and recruiting new salespeople, CEO Juha Ranta wanted to have the right tools in place from day one. The solution came from Greenstep and Lovable.

A good partnership carries over from one company to the next

Ranta’s collaboration with Greenstep began years ago with the development of BI reporting. Since then, the partnership has continued to evolve, expanding into various business environments and industries. Ranta has developed reporting and data-driven management alongside Greenstep throughout this journey. Business intelligence (BI) has remained at the heart of the work, and the partnership has broadened over the years to encompass other areas.

FSP’s relationship with Greenstep also began at Ranta’s initiative when FSP needed to update its reporting system. Greenstep now handles FSP’s financial management and group consolidation, as well as developing data-driven management and BI reporting.

In spring 2026, the process of building the sales organisation revealed a new requirement: the company needed a CRM system, and one that wouldn’t be heavy or expensive to implement.

“We were building a new sales organisation and needed tools that the team could quickly adopt. We didn’t want to embark on a lengthy systems project. We were looking for an agile solution that could be built around our specific needs and developed alongside the business,” says Ranta.

It all started at Greenstep’s Hackathon event in March

Greenstep presented three potential solutions to the FSP: an Excel spreadsheet, a lightweight off-the-shelf solution, or a fully bespoke system. The decision was made at the Finance Hackathon event, which was hosted by Greenstep in March and involved participants using Lovable to code solutions to real business challenges. By the end of the day, the first working version of a CRM system tailored to FSP’s needs had already been developed.

Lovable is an AI-powered development tool that enables so-called vibe coding: functionality can be built in rapid iterations without the bottlenecks of traditional software development. The system was built in FSP’s own Azure environment, with Greenstep’s App Factory being used for the release process.

App Factory automates the entire CI/CD pipeline for Lovable applications, handling development, staging, production environments and deployment with just a few clicks. In practice, this solves the most common issues with vibe development, such as getting to production, managing security and integrating with a company’s existing IT infrastructure.

From zero to production in under three months

After the Hackathon, Greenstep’s experts worked on the system together with FSP in agile sprints: sparring sessions, development, reviews and iterations. The pilot version was up and running by 29 April, just over a month after the Hackathon. The official rollout followed in June 2026.

“I’ve never been involved in a project that has moved this fast. Going from nothing to completion in just a few months is a remarkable achievement,” says Ville Tuominen, FSP’s Commercial Director.

Having used more traditional CRM systems at previous companies, Tuominen has a point of comparison close to hand: “With a lot of off-the-shelf systems, it’s really difficult if you need to change or adjust anything. We’re talking months, or even years. Compared with that, Lovable CRM is incredibly fast. If something needs changing, we’re talking hours, not days.”

The result: a fully fledged CRM, free from the constraints of legacy systems

FSP’s CRM was comprehensive from the outset. It covers leads, customers, contacts, opportunity management, the sales pipeline, reporting, tasks and notes. A tailored sales process has been developed for each of FSP’s three business models.

“It was designed in-house and is genuinely tailored to FSP’s needs. It guides the way we work. If we recruit new salespeople, for instance, they can get started much more easily with a self-directing system supporting them,” Tuominen explains.

The most tangible change to day-to-day work is that PowerPoint presentations are no longer prepared for sales meetings. The pipeline is now reviewed directly in the CRM, saving days of work. “I’d say that creating presentations for larger meetings usually took days. Time down the drain,” Tuominen laughs.

Security questions were resolved before going into production

There is an active and much-needed public debate around vibe coding, particularly with regard to security. FSP took the matter seriously, resolving any security issues in collaboration with their security partner and the Greenstep team before the system went into production.

“When people talk about vibe coding, the conversation often becomes polarised: either the technology is seen as the answer to everything, or it’s considered too risky for business use. Our experience has been much more practical. AI can speed up development enormously, but in an enterprise environment, proper architecture, security, and a controlled move to production are still needed. Greenstep has brought us significant added value in this area,” says Ranta.

The system runs in FSP’s own Azure environment, and App Factory ensures that security practices remain in place as development continues.

The infrastructure is in place and development continues

FSP’s Lovable-built CRM is designed to grow. The infrastructure is up and running, and new applications can be added flexibly. Plans include integrating AI into the system, creating a customer portal and connecting CRM data directly to the BI Book, which is used for all other management reporting. “Signal intelligence” is also on the agenda: a tool that would automatically identify potential customers, eliminating the need for manual research.

“We now have a CRM system and a technical foundation on which we can quickly build new applications as business needs arise. I believe this kind of development capability could give us a significant competitive advantage,” says Ranta, adding: “This project has changed the way I think about software development. Coding is no longer the real bottleneck. Our competitive advantage comes from our ability to identify the right ideas and implement them quickly.”

Greenstep frees up time for the core business

anta wholeheartedly recommends Greenstep as a partner to other companies and has done so several times before. He has experience of both the CRM project and financial management, both of which have lived up to expectations.

“Our experience of Greenstep isn’t based only on this CRM project. We’ve also collaborated on financial management, business intelligence solutions, and data-driven management development. Taking everything into account, I can strongly recommend Greenstep as a long-term business development partner.” Tuominen agrees, saying, “I’d give this a 10/10 as well. I’m very happy to recommend it to anyone who needs this type of system.”