case study: crm development

Introduction

The client approached us with a request to develop a custom CRM system for their trading platform. The main goal was to create a solution that would allow for effective lead management, sales funnel building, and flexible customization for various administrator roles.

During the requirements analysis, it became clear that the system should be integrated directly into the trading platform, as well as interact with external providers — telephony services and ERP systems. In addition, the CRM should support integration with external landing pages for automatic collection of potential customers.

Thus, we developed not just a CRM, but an advanced, deeply customized solution that combines the functionality of sales management, communications, and analytics. There are almost no similar systems on the market, so the client chose the path of creating its own software to increase the efficiency of business processes and control over all stages of sales.

Project Challenges

The main task was to deeply integrate the CRM system with the trading platform to ensure uninterrupted data transfer in real time. CRM had to not only receive information from the platform, but also automatically update user parameters with any changes, ensuring full synchronization between the systems.

An additional challenge was the integration of the telephony service to make calls directly through CRM. This required the creation of a stable communication channel between operators and platform users.

Another difficulty was setting up the access rights system. Each department had its own area of ​​responsibility and level of access to data, which guaranteed security and confidentiality. Administrators could work only within their departments, without overlapping with others.

The financial sector of CRM played a separate role - it had extended rights to perform individual operations, such as replenishing deposits or withdrawing funds, depending on the administrator's access level.

Solution Architecture

To build the CRM system, we decided to use a ready-made core with basic functionality, which allowed us to reduce development time and focus on creating custom modules. This approach saved us several months of work and provided a stable foundation for further scaling the project.

We chose a modern and proven technology stack. The backend used PHP (Laravel) — a reliable framework that provides high performance, security, and flexibility in development. JavaScript was used for the frontend, which made it possible to create a dynamic and fast user interface. Both technologies have a large community, are well documented, and do not require significant support costs, making them the optimal choice for long-term system development.

We deployed the infrastructure on a personal server to guarantee stability and security. Our DevOps engineer was responsible for setting up the environment, ensuring optimal server configuration, load balancing, and backups. For hosting, we chose Hetzner, a reliable provider with excellent value for money, ensuring high performance and system stability.

We use a similar architecture in our other projects.

Key Platform Features

The CRM system received a set of features aimed at sales automation, customer management, and business analytics.

The basic set includes the “Customers,” “Finances,” and “Tasks” modules. They allow you to track the entire user base, control their balances, create deposits or withdrawals manually, and set tasks for leads and employees, forming an effective work timeline.

One of the most interesting implementations was the integration with telephony, which made it possible to make calls directly from the CRM. Individual access rights were defined for each user, thanks to which administrators could work only with their leads without intersecting with other departments.

We also implemented deep integration with the trading platform, which ensures the receipt and updating of data in real time — from financial transactions to user activity.

For convenient monitoring of key indicators, a Dashboard was created that combines data from all departments - sales, finance and user activity. This allowed management to get a complete picture of business processes and make decisions quickly.

For the super administrator, we have provided a separate module for managing access rights: adding, deleting users, controlling their actions and setting up roles. All actions are systematically recorded in the log, which ensures transparency and security of work.

As a result, the platform has become a flexible and convenient tool that combines customer management, finance, communications and analytics in a single solution.

UI/UX and user experience

During design development, we focused on maximum convenience and ease of use. The main goal was to create an interface that does not overload the user with unnecessary elements, buttons or information, but allows you to quickly perform basic actions.

We focused on UX design — a clear structure, logical navigation, and a minimalist approach to visual solutions. The interface is built so that the user can easily navigate even without prior training.

The visual part of the system is made in calm colors and light elements to ensure comfortable work throughout the working day. This approach helped create an interface that looks restrained, but at the same time modern and functional.

Results

The development of the CRM system took about two months of intensive work. During this time, we created a full-fledged, deeply integrated CRM based on a ready-made solution, supplementing it with numerous custom modules, fully adapted to the client's business processes.

The system allowed us to effectively manage users of the trading platform, process deposits and withdrawals in a custom mode, assign roles for different departments and even internal administrators. This approach provided flexible process management within the company and significantly increased team productivity.

Thanks to the implementation of CRM, the efficiency of departments increased by approximately 50%. About 50 administrators used the system daily, and the main trading platform had over 2,000 active users per day.

Convenient management of the customer base, lead statuses, tasks, and financial transactions allowed the company to optimize internal processes, reduce manual work, and increase management transparency.

Investments in the development of a custom CRM fully paid off within a few months, confirming the high efficiency of the solution and its strategic value for the business.

Lessons and insights

CRM system development is a complex and multi-level process that requires a deep understanding of the client's business processes. The main challenges arose at the planning stage, when it was necessary to work out in detail each module and the logic of interaction between system elements. Every, even the smallest detail, could significantly affect the effectiveness of the entire platform — that is why careful preparation and coordination of requirements at the beginning are critically important.

A CRM system is not a universal tool for all companies, but an individually adapted solution created taking into account the specifics of the business can significantly increase productivity, transparency and control of processes within the organization.

Using a ready-made core as the basis for a custom CRM has become the optimal approach, which allowed combining the speed of development with the flexibility of customization. This method has proven its effectiveness — it reduces the cost of time and resources, while ensuring high quality and stability of the product.