The Reason We Developed Our Own CRM System
The most valuable asset of any company is their customers' information, which needs to be properly managed by maintaining accounting, reporting, and structure. For this reason, there are CRM systems. Ideally, they should be able to simplify managers’ work routines and optimize existing business processes.
Some time ago, our team faced the need to implement a CRM system. First, we looked at what’s already out there. However, we instantly realized that purchasing a ready-made solution had quite a list of drawbacks.
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High cost. Ready-made solutions cost over $150/month for a single user. If you have 100 users, the total price would be $15000/month. With the same amount of money, we could have had programmers develop a tailor-made solution that matched our needs and goals.
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The need for meticulous integration and adaptation. Any program would have to be adapted to our business processes down to the tiniest detail. This is a long and costly process, given that they are developed solutions that are later sold to clients.
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Sometimes, not only the program, but also the business processes need to be adapted to the CRM’s functionality. For instance, re-writing the entire trial request process on our website because it does not integrate with the CRM the way it should.
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If we wanted to make swift changes or add something, we would have to wait for several months for our turn with the developers. This is not an option for us as we value flexibility and efficiency.
Having pondered the pros and cons, we decided to develop our own CRM system. Each function of our newly developed CRM reflects our workflow and nothing more. This solution manages the entire journey of our client. We provide support, consultation, and oversee sales to our clients throughout the whole process. Moreover, the system allows us to manage subscriptions, receive data on servers’ conditions, etc.
We have also managed to avoid one of the major disadvantages of all CRM systems - the implementation, which often meets great resistance from employees. Since our development is highly integrated into all business processes, the managers’ job has been significantly simplified, and the learning curve to get used to the system has been short and painless.
Along the way, we realized we could apply the same solution to our HelpDesk - developing our own product, which would meet our needs, instead of purchasing one. I will tell you more about this in the next article.