CRM - a better and cheaper way

The commonest type of CRM (customer relationship management) is an out of the box subscription service. These are either not customisable enough, or are hard to customize to your needs.

We have two alternatives that we believe is better and more cost effective.

  1. Custom CRM: if a simple off the shelf CRM will not work for you.

  2. Your own install of a CRM

Two ways to pay

Pay a subscription

We can offer a monthly subscription service - but its not a monthly subscription to a standard SaaS product. It will be a a hosted install run especially but customized for you. No need to pay for customization separately.

We can also provide a :doc:`one stop hosted service <subscription-apps>` providing multiple services: website, CRM, accounting, file storage, office software and more.

Pay for development

Our incremental development approach means that you do not make a heavy financial commitment at any stage. We will start with a low cost prototype, then add features to make create a minimal viable product, then incrementally add features to develop a complete system.

This means that you can see the project is going in the right direction at each stage. No long term contracts, no commitment to pay for anything past the next milestone. You can pull the plug at any time.

Unfortunately this is the only option we can offer for more complex systems.

More than CRM

We can provide integration with existing systems, or we can supply other systems as part of the same package: websites, accounting systems, booking systems, existing databases, document management, cloud storage... whatever you have can probably be integrated.

We can also develop systems that combine CRM with other functionality. For example, we have developed several websites with CRM like features such as booking and payment systems that will take a sale through multiple stages from enquiry to negotiation to order to payment.

Custom CRM

Easier to use, more useful, and more productive

Unlike an off the shelf CRM, the workflow does not have to fit into a predetermined pattern such as the pipelines and stages paradigm, which is some form underlies most SaaS CRMs. A custom system can deal better with workflows that extend to post sales service, or multiple actions in parallel, or storing required documentation. A good example that we have dealt with is a property rental business (in the UK) needs to both check "right to rent" documentation and carry out credit checks. If you want to do these in concurrently a system that assumes a strict sequence of actions will fail to cope.

A custom designed system will give you also give options such as allowing users to upload scans of documentation, or completely integrate a help system into the the CRM.

By adapting the system to your workflow and terminology, your staff do not need extensive training to use the system. You will have worked with us to decide how it works: what it does, and how.

Systems that pay for themselves

While cost obviously depends on your needs, and a custom system will be more expensive, our use of modern development frameworks and open source means that we are very productive. Our solutions will be affordable than you may think.

If you think in terms of RoI (return on investment) we do well. If you spend thoousand and save a hundred a month, its an excellent investment.

When you consider the savings in recurring costs, higher productivity, and lower training costs RoI is very favourable.

Bottom Line

This is an approach you have little to lose by at least considering. Look at what you want from a system, talk to us, and then decide. Can you find something a lot better than the obvious alternatives?