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10 October 2023

Custom CRM Development Cost for Your Business

CRM systems have long been the main tool for automating most of the business processes related to sales, marketing, and customer support. They are used by 7 out of 10 enterprises, with the rest of the companies ready to integrate CRM, but they can't find a solution that fully meets their needs. Next, we'll tell you how to get around this problem by creating your own CRM system that is grounded in your enterprise's business processes.

1. When you need a CRM system


Any software for enterprises is created to improve business processes and, of course, its creation costs money. So before spending your money, you need to understand if CRM is going to raise the effectiveness of your business enough to offset the cost of development, integration, training of staff, the work of the support service, and the updating of the CRM system.

2. Why custom CRM is the best option


By making sure that your enterprise needs a CRM system, you also need to understand whether this is a ready (template) solution, or you need software tailored to the business processes and needs of your business. The reasons why many companies invest in developing their own CRM systems, despite the abundance of ready-made solutions in the market, there are two - the complexity of implementation and the low economic feasibility of finished products in the medium and long term perspective.

As far as economic viability is concerned, the problem here is that ready CRM systems can have many functions, but not all of them your business will need. In addition, finished products are distributed on subscription - between 50 and $10,000 per month. Then, how to develop your CRM system is a one-time investment that will pay off in 1-3 years.

Here are some more of the custom CRM system advantages:

3. What is needed to be done before creating CRM


So, you've decided that you need a CRM system, and it should be a custom development. What's next? Before starting to develop software, you need to decide which CRM you want (type, function, design) and who will develop it. Here is a small manual that will help you to identify these and other important issues.

3.1. Set your business goals



What benefits does a business get from the CRM integration? Source


As with the launch of any business project or startup, the establishment of the CRM system begins with the definition of goals. Before moving on, you need to clearly understand what business targets you want to solve using this tool.

For example, if you're selling, the CRM system can make your sales department more efficient, which will make it possible to make more deals and/or increase the average check. In addition, through CRM, you can engage effectively between sales and marketing departments to know which Leads are becoming clients and which channels of attraction are most effective. To achieve these goals CRM is needed with sales and marketing modules.

If you work in the health sector, perhaps your business targets will be attracting new clients, retaining existing ones, and managing referrals to specialists. In addition, you may need a database of patients (demographic and health records), their contacts, and financial reporting. To do this, CRM needs to include a patient management module, an aim management module, a patient management module, and a report module.

3.2. Analyze Your Working Processes



Traditional CRM modules and their core functions. Source


When you define your business targets, you will immediately understand what business processes you need to analyze to determine what you can improve and/or automate using CRM. Study each stage of interaction with clients in detail to understand what kind of functions you need in CRM. In addition, you will also need to select the user roles in CRM and identify their rights, which will simplify the training of staff and distinguish access to confidential data.

For example, your junior managers can only have access to the contacts, while experienced managers can manage them (add, modify, delete) and display accounts. In addition, you may want to have a deep analysis of the department's work is available only to you.

Such issues should be considered in advance.

3.3. Select the optimum type of CRM system


All CRM systems are divided into 4 standard types depending on how they are designed. See what type of CRM fits you best if possible after you decide on your business targets.

 Here are their list and a brief description:

Another pro of custom development is that you can combine different types of CRM systems,planning/interactions to create a unique product for your business that will be tailored to your business processes and will contain only the modules and functions you need.

3.4. Define CRM functions



The most important functions of CRM systems. Source


After you have made a list of what operations you need to optimize and what business goals you want to achieve, and chose the type of CRM you need, you can start describing its functionality. According to studies, this list usually includes the following items:

3.5. Select a technical partner


The best way to create your own system is to use the CRM development services of a company developer that has experience in developing similar solutions. Only so doing, you can be sure that you will eventually receive the software that meets your requirements and has a high level of safety.

Here, we will highlight only the main points:

3.6. Select a technological stack











4. Custom CRM system development process


Here is a description of the software development stages that will help you understand what you will face when creating a CRM system for your business.

Drafting of requirements. Programmers have a saying: "Without requirements and design, programming is the art of adding errors to an empty text file" (in reality it is Louis Sriggley's words). It should be remembered by anyone who wants to build quality software. In practice, this means that before proceeding to design and coding, the business analyst or project manager must develop a clear technical task (Sow) to develop a CRM system.

This process is important because the clearer the concept, functionality, and design requirements are described, the easier the team of developers to create the software you need, and the less time they spend on it.

Developing the CRM system design. This stage usually includes the development CRM systems, of technical design (system architecture) and UI / UX. The technical design of CRM implies the design of the logic of the user interface with the product, as well as the design of the relationship between all elements of the CRM system.


Example of CRM system architecture. Source


UI / UX-Design is the navigation and appearance of the software interface. When designing complex solutions such as CRM-systems for business, UI / UX is of particular importance, because the easier and comprehensible the user interface will be, the more effective your enterprise's employees will perform their duties. Design is also important for CRM-system reports and analytics, since good visualization of data in the form of understandable tables, graphs and diagrams, improves the quality of information perception.

Software development process. Once a team of developers receives a technical task and a model or a prototype interface, they can start coding. Depending on the niche, the platform, and the specific business, this process can look different and may involve various specialists (front-, back- or mobile developers)

If a specific design methodology is important to you, and you are comfortable working on a certain algorithm, discuss this with the team in advance to make the process as comfortable to you as possible.

Testing and support. The code testing process usually starts immediately after the coding begins. QA-professionals check the new code to find errors and correct them in the early stages of development. This approach saves time and improves the effectiveness of testing. The testing of a finished product is also necessary. It usually includes testing the functionality, design, usability, and reliability of the system under different scenarios of its use.

Cost of CRM development



The cost of CRM development depends on what features, integrations and technologies you want to add to the project. The most popular type of CRM includes components such as profiling, commenting, and customer segmentation. The more components in your CRM, the higher its cost.

Based on our experience in creating CRM systems, we understand that the reason for the success of any development is attention to detail and consistency. This approach will give you the opportunity to monitor the process, and will also save time and money. Let's look at several CRM options and their costs.

The most common type of CRM system includes a minimum set of functions, such as receiving leads and their further processing. This solution is suitable for companies with up to 20 employees. The cost of development is from $20,000 to $40,000, the time frame is from 2 to 3 months. Statistically, about 80% of our clients choose this option, so we use previous developments and overlay them with the specifics of your business.

There is another type of CRM system that includes functions such as IP telephony, file uploading, and analytics. Such CRMs are suitable for companies in the field of logistics, medicine, or other industries that require processing a lot of data. The cost of such a CRM is from $60,000 to $80,000, development time is 2-4 months.

Features of the development of corporate solutions include integration with third-party services, assignment of roles, and the ability to make calls. If you have more than 100 employees and want to integrate HRM or ERP, developing a similar CRM system is your best solution. Cost - from $120,000 to $150,000, terms - from 4 to 6 months.

For 6 years, our team has been creating solutions of any scale and budget. If you have something to tell us about your idea, tell us about it now. After the conversation, you will find out the cost of implementing a CRM system, the timing, as well as the advantages of working with Merehead.

Our CRM experience



Having started our activities in 2017 as a startup, today our specialists help businesses in Europe and the USA. More than 83% of our clients become regulars. Why? Because by choosing Merehead you will get:

- Service. We carry out the full cycle of project management: goal setting, development, reporting, testing, support.
- Speed. Ready-made developments, as well as a well-established project management methodology, allow you to create a CRM within 2-3 months.
- Individual approach. We create personalized solutions based on the direction and functionality of the platform.

Merehead has more than 97 employees, specialists in areas such as blockchain, AI, web design, etc. If you think that your idea is impossible, contact us and you will see otherwise! Below you can see an example of a CRM we developed for one of our clients.
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