Why should you use your own CRM?

There are tons of various CRM's on the market, and it would seem reasonable to assume that you will find something for your enterprise among ready-made solutions. Definitely, you will find "something" for sure. But is it precisely what you need for your business? There are three points you need to pay attention to before starting to choose a CRM.

Just imagine you find the new software, and you sure it's great. It looks good, it working well, and it seems to be good for all your need. Here's the catch. When CRM developers plan their new out-of-the-box product, they are trying to pack them with a bunch of features you'll never use. And your employees will never use them too. It's understood why developers are doing this; they hope to cover as big an audience as possible. But it is not that piece of cake you want to feed your team. A less intuitive interface means more troubles for your staff. Is it exactly you need? The brand new, significant, and bright CRM means a lot of time to teach your staff. Otherwise, you'll be so damn busy to explain what feature they have to ignore. You'll spend a lot of time and money on customization and staff training. Who knows what the worse. Try to avoid forcing your employees to waste their mental resources in non-productive areas by learning new CRM. In other words, don't make them think about something not related directly to making a profit. So, you have to consider expenses on customization and staff training. It is the long term investments you should include in your budget and which can be useless if you will be forced to change CRM for any reason. For example, if your business will grow dramatically. From another side, the custom solution only has those features you requested in this given moment and can be scale fast and easy upon your request for your workflow. Sure, It'll cost you a pretty penny, but it is worth it. You can start from small investments adding new features as needed.

When you choose to build CRM from scratch, you are the boss. Nobody but you know your business better. Nobody will tell you that it is impossible to realize it. Because the word impossible is not in your lexicon when you starting from scratch. The main disadvantage of all universal systems is a typical design. Out-of-the-box CRM system’s developers are working for the typical specific department. It can be completely different from your department. However, even the smallest rework can mean the reworking of the entire system. Development from scratch does not have this disadvantage. You and only you decide what departments and features to focus on. Working with an Out-of-the-box CRM system can make it impossible to integrate with third-party services to which your employees are accustomed. It can be a huge problem. You can drop in the red with no hope to survive. But your custom solution can keep the pot boiling even you decide to scale the system or implement a new feature.

Anyway, the budget has the final word. You have to calculate your spendings, risks, and perspective thoroughly. At least you are the one who keeps your business working. Money doesn’t grow on trees, so spend smart.