Off-the-shelf CRM or custom CRM? A guide to making the right decision

As your customer base grows, spreadsheets, WhatsApp chats and notebooks stop being enough. Which customer was offered what, who is waiting for a call back, where each sale stands: none of it is visible in one place. The obvious solution at this point is a CRM. But the real decision comes after that: should you use an off-the-shelf package, or have a system built specifically for your company?

What is a CRM?

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the name for a system that brings together all of a business's customer information and processes in one place. A typical CRM includes:

• Customer records: Company and contact details, history of conversations, notes and files.
• Quote management: Preparing, sending and following up on quotes.
• Sales process: A sales pipeline where opportunities are tracked stage by stage.
• Tasks and reminders: Call-backs, meetings and follow-up tasks.
• Reports: Sales, quote conversion and team performance.

When do you need a CRM?

If any of these sound familiar, it's time for a CRM:

• Two different people give the same customer different information.
• Nobody can track what happened to the quotes that were sent.
• When an employee leaves, customer knowledge leaves with them.
• Managers have to ask people one by one to see where sales and the team stand.

Off-the-shelf CRM packages

Off-the-shelf CRMs are a good option for getting started quickly. You can sign up and start using one within a few days. But they have some limits:

• They expect your business to fit their mould. If your processes differ from the flow the package assumes, you either change how you work or keep working outside the system.
• Dozens of features you don't use clutter the screens, and the team struggles to adopt the system.
• Monthly per-user fees keep pushing up the total cost as the team grows.
• Your data sits on the vendor's infrastructure; options for exporting it and connecting it to other systems can be limited depending on the package.

A custom CRM

A custom CRM is written to mirror your sales and service process exactly. Screens, fields, stages and reports are designed around your business.

• Only the screens you need, so the team adopts the system more easily.
• No per-user licence fees, so costs don't multiply as the team grows.
• Integration with your existing systems (website forms, accounting, e-invoicing, SMS) is set up as needed.
• The database and source code can be handed over to you on request.

The drawback is the initial cost and time. That's why it makes sense to build a custom CRM module by module rather than all at once: first launch the module you need most (for example customer and quote tracking), then add the others while the team is already using the system.

Questions to ask when deciding

• Is your sales and service process specific to your industry, or standard?
• How many people will use it, and will that number grow in the coming years?
• Do you need to exchange data with accounting, e-invoicing or your website?
• How important is it to you where your customer data is stored?

If your process is standard and your team is small, starting with an off-the-shelf package can make sense. If your process is unique, your team is growing or you need to connect your systems to each other, a custom CRM is more efficient and more predictable in the long run.

On our custom CRM software service page we explain how we build systems tailored to each company. Tell us how your business runs today, and let's work out together which module makes sense to start with.

We also explain what a CRM is and who needs one from the ground up in what is CRM software and how do you choose one?

We cover the same comparison beyond CRM in general in what is custom software development and when do you need it?