The fastest way to build a CRM from scratch

Syxtus

July 8th, 2019 • Software development

Why build a CRM system from scratch?

Every successful business needs loyal customers. It does not matter if you are just starting or have been in the game for a long time. For your business to be successful, you need a platform where you will manage the customers. This is where customer relationship management (CRM) comes in.

You will be able to offer better customization services, build personal relationships with your customers, and increase client loyalty using an effective CRM pipeline. All modern entrepreneurs or business owners who need to follow up on the progress of their business need to have a good CRM system.

One of the first questions you should be asking yourself is why do you need to build a CRM from scratch when there are tons of ready-made ones you can start using right now? The answer to this question is easy: customization for your specific needs, business processes improvements and scalability.

Customized for your specific needs

Have you ever tried to use a teaspoon to eat soup? Well, it works for some time after which you begin to notice how uncomfortable it is. That’s the same with the ready-made CRMs in the market today. They will work for things your business has in common with others but when it comes to taking care of specific and unique needs, they fall short. You need a CRM system that is tailored to the needs of your business. This will make it cheaper and easier to master for your staff.

Business processes improvements

Ready-made CRM systems are usually designed for sales department, but if you build your CRM from scratch, you will have the opportunity to integrate the platform with different departments. This will keep all the departments in your business informed on current changes. You will also be able to add features to the CRM that are unique for your company. It is often difficult to integrate the ready-made CRM with the software you were using previously, but when building your CRM from scratch the transition is very smooth and saves you lots of time.

Scalability

Building a custom CRM gives you the flexibility to add, remove or modify features as you see fit. This comes in handy when your business is growing and needs other CRM features to manage it properly.

Applications of a Custom CRM

Let us give you some real-life examples of why you need to get a custom CRM:

As you must have noticed, most CRM systems are built for acquiring new customers or clients. Note that acquiring a new customer costs 4 to 10 times more than keeping a new one. Why go through all the trouble and expenses of acquiring a new customer who is likely to make one or no purchase at all when it is cheaper and more profitable for most businesses to keep existing customers who make purchases from you regularly? Not that acquiring new customers is not important. Existing customers were also at some point new. We are just emphasizing on the fact that you need a CRM software that can handle the acquisition of new customers and more importantly, can help to keep the existing ones because they bring in more profit.

Example

Company X sells office inventories to individuals and local offices in the city. For this, they used the standard CRM which served most of their needs and the sales process moved smoothly. As time passes, the company decides to expand the business and starts acquiring bigger customers or clients from other cities and even internationally. The question now arises, how does the basic CRM deal with those changes? The sales funnel for individual and local customers is completely different from larger and international clients. Larger customers require specific and unique steps in the sales process that cannot be handled by basic CRM software. For such a change, you need a custom CRM. You need a CRM software that can adjust to the sale needs of your company.

Let’s continue with the scenario from above. Company X now has clients and customers from different cities and abroad. They need to be able to transport their products to different cities and abroad, and store them in a warehouse for distribution to customers. With this, you will need an enterprise resource planning system, warehouse management software, and logistics management software. The CRM should be able to integrate all these systems and function as a single unit to provide the company with enough information to make important business decisions. This is a feature that you will not find in the ready-made CRM.

Also, in recent times, most successful businesses have a huge online presence. To be able to manage all services and the customers you acquire from the online platform, your CRM software should be able to integrate social networks and third-party apps.

How to build a crm system from scratch

One of the biggest problems when it comes to implementing a CRM system is that the customer finds it difficult to use. The good CRM software should be able to gather and manage all business projects and most of all easy to use by the team members. With Codejig, you can decide to build the CRM system yourself from scratch or using templates. You can also consult developers from our team if you have any trouble while building the software. Building a CRM with Codejig can take from 5 mins up to 2 weeks depending on the size of your project. Note that you can keep on building and adding features that are unique to your business. Let’s walk you through some of the steps to build the most basic CRM:

Building phase

Once the planning phase is over, you need to start implementing the ideas and the plan and build the CRM software. For this, there are 2 ways:

1. The classical way - Contact software developing companies or create your own software development department (for large businesses):
   CRM software development is independent of end-users when using software developing companies. End-users may only be present at the planning phase where the features needed in the software are discussed. They do not have the opportunity to review or see the software during the developmental phase. Large software developing companies have the resources and may be able to develop a good CRM software fast. It is also important to note that the services of a large software developing company do not come cheap. You will have to spend lots of money to create your CRM. Also, even after all that money is spent, not all of the features you want may be implemented.


2. The fastest way - Using a RAD tools: rapid application development tools provide users to build an application from scratch or using a template. You have the possibility to implement all the features needed for your business. Customers have full control of the development process and can make changes to the CRM software when necessary. It is possible to turn employees of your company with little or no programming background into citizen developers within a short period of time with the help of a low-code programming platform. They better understand the needs of your business and can implement specific features that the company needs. This method presents a cheap and fast way to develop your CRM software. Codejig is one of such platforms that provide end-users with rapid application development tools to build apps.

If you decide to use the Codejig App Builder, you will be able to build the CRM software from scratch or start with a CRM template which already has some basic features. All you need is to customize it to your business needs. The team members of your company can suggest features to be added to the app that will solve a particular problem. This does not only close the skill gap in your company but also encourages creative thinking among the employees and turns their ideas into working solutions.

The Using phase

Once the CRM software has been developed, it is time to start using it. With the new way, it will be very easy to teach your employees or team members how to use the software because you were involved in its development. Also, the business processes of your company may change and you need to modify the CRM to solve a particular problem. This will not be an issue, all you need to do is go back to the Codejig App Builder and make the changes. You can also decide to integrate it with other apps such as enterprise resource planning, warehouse management software, logistics management software, social media, etc. This way, your CRM software will be able to manage all the needs of your business.

With the classical way, you and your team members will have to start learning how to use the CRM. It will take a while for you to fully understand all the features of the CRM which is a waste of valuable time. Making changes and updates to the CRM can be a burden because you will have to contact the software developing company and wait for some time for the changes to be implemented.

Remember that the CRM software is an integral and important part of any company. You should be careful when creating it because a poorly created CRM software will affect the success of your business.