Why Build Your Own Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software?

In business today, there are thousands of moving parts that can either lead to the success or failure of an enterprise. To help you stay on top of your work and give you the time you need to accomplish your goals, it’s important to automate everything that can be automated. With technological improvements and more advanced software development, automation is everywhere. One of the best ways to make sure that you’re managing your business in a way that benefits you and furthers your profits is through the utilization of customer relationship management software. Your customer relationships are some of the most important aspects of your business. Strong customer relationships help to boost loyalty, encourage sales, and give your brand a respectable, trusting image. However, not all customer relationship management (CRM) software are created equally. While there are some great options on the market, sometimes you need a system that allows more personalization. In this article, we’ll go over a few reasons as to why you should build your own CRM (customer relationship management) software.

What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?

In the past, all customer relationships used to be handled either face-to-face or over the phone. Interactions weren’t done online, and text messaging took far too much effort and seemed unprofessional. Now, as we’ve become more dependable on the Internet and the online world, customer relationships can be managed using far less effort. By using a strong customer relationship management (CRM) software, you can improve your business relationships without any added effort.

But what is CRM software, exactly?

CRM software is a type of software that’s designed to effectively manage customer relationships using a centralized database of prospects, leads, and customers. The database helps to keep track of each person’s engagement in your business so that you can improve your business efforts in moving people through the sales funnel. The overarching goal of CRM software is to help manage relationships and ensure that customer experience is improved.

Signs You Need Custom CRM Development

While there are plenty of CRM platforms available to choose from, most of them don’t offer enough customization options. You might find that one CRM platform offers you certain benefits you need, and another allows you to perform desired actions. Some CRM platforms are extremely basic, and others are so complex that it can be difficult to understand how to properly use them. When you have an overwhelming number of features, it can seem great in theory, but it often becomes too difficult and leads to abandoning the CRM platform altogether. If your business needs or wants any of the following, it’s a good sign that you should get custom CRM development software:

• Specific integrations that work with your database or call systems.
• Money that would otherwise be spent on unnecessary functions or complex systems.
• Less confusing features or a simpler, more personalized interface.
• More time to focus on your business goals.
• A CRM that reflects your business’identity and your specific business needs.
• Improve overall user experience and user interface.
• Unique communication with customers.
• To stand out from your competition and avoid using cookie-cutter communication.

Benefits of Using Custom CRM Software

When you opt for custom CRM software, you’ll receive all of the basics of traditional CRM software along with a number of unique benefits. Using any type of CRM software will help you improve lead management, give you better access to opportunity management, provide analytics and reporting, allow for marketing automation, improve your customer service, track customer activities or leads, manage and deploy successful campaigns, and provide you with reminders or important task updates.

Most of the popular pre-designed CRM software will allow you to achieve all of this in some way or another, however it doesn’t necessarily translate to effective solutions. For the best results, custom CRM software is recommended. With a custom customer relationship management system, you’ll benefit from the following:

Create Software Based on Your Needs

One of the best advantages of using custom CRM software is the ability to develop software based on your needs. CRMs are built to support a variety of different types of industries, making it difficult for one pre-built system to successfully meet industry-specific needs. With a custom solution, you will be able to choose which features are essential, which features are unnecessary, and which features will help improve your functionality and ease of use. Remember, CRM systems can get confusing, so it’s beneficial to keep it simple and focus on your basic needs first. With a custom solution, you can always adapt and add features later.

Connect Systems

Custom CRM software gives you an opportunity to connect multiple systems that are used in your business. This is beneficial if you need API integration and are looking to merge functionality with data. With custom solutions, you can add multiple different platforms to your CRM software so everything you need is in one placed. It allows you to create a centralized, master data base of information that can improve your efficiency, help your business grow, and give you the flexibility you want and need on a daily basis.

Manage and Track Customer Data

While almost every CRM system is designed to manage and track customer data, customization allows you to choose what you need and build a solution based on your business analysis. You can have new customer information coincide with old information, or you can opt for improved scalability so that all of the data is easily stored and accessible whenever you need it.

Improve Scalability

Certain CRM software only allow you to store a limited amount of information. However, customer relationship management requires access to hundreds, if not thousands, of individual documentation and communication. If you’re a small business, this might not be problematic. But as you start to grow, you’ll need a CRM system that grows with you. Custom CRM software solutions allow you to improve scalability without sacrificing the speed and efficiency of your system.

Provide Accurate Forecasts

If you want to be able more successful with your sales funnels, you need a CRM system that’s going to provide you with accurate forecasts. With custom CRM software, you can improve the system’s deployment so that lead status is updated based on your individual business process or progression. This allows you to better manage your relationships and get a better idea of customer experience.

Cost Effective

Most pre-built CRM systems come equipped with thousands of features that many companies never use. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to pay for them. With custom CRM software, you only pay for what you need. This makes it a far more cost-effective solution to managing your customer relationships. You can also control how many users will need to access your CRM, thus how expensive your licensing fees will be, and how many features you really need. While building a custom CRM software platform isn’t necessarily cheap, it’s a one-time fee that will be far less expensive than paying for ongoing pre-built CRM use.

Improved Data Security

Instead of storing your data on the cloud like pre-built CRM software, your custom CRM can be encrypted and stored wherever you want. This helps to improve data security and give you a peace of mind against potential hackers.

How to Build Your Own CRM Software

Before building your own CRM software, it’s important to identify some of your goals, restrictions, or requirements. This will allow you to achieve a fully customized CRM software solution that works with you, not against you.

Make sure that you understand what your commercial goals are and whether or not you face any legal restrictions in your industry. Certain privacy policies are stricter than others, but it’s important that you do not break the trust with your customers or in any relationship. Make sure that you know what your quality requirements are and what field you’ll be using it in. The main fields are operational, analytical, communitive, and strategic. While custom CRM software can encompass all four, if you need more help in one area it’s a good idea to create a sub-focus and improve the features in that area. Make sure that you understand what your functional requirements are and whether or not you have any specifications or restrictions. Finally, understand what your CRM estimate will be, how long it will take to build, and whether or not you have any restrictions on budget. You’ll then need to move forward with design and development, software launch and monitoring, and testing and analytics.

If you’re unsure as to how to build your own customer relationship management (CRM) software or are interested in learning more about Salesforce or SugarCRM, contact the professionals at Plego Technologiestoday. We’re here to help you determine what type of CRM software will work best for your business’ needs. Our team of experts are experienced in building customized CRM software to help you achieve and maintain seamless relationships with all of your customers, prospects, and leads.