How Much Does It Cost
to Build Custom CRM?

Every company is unique, so the same service is delivered differently globally, leading to varied results. One of the most significant factors driving this is the choice of tools. Custom CRM systems empower businesses to elevate service delivery, optimizing every interaction cycle.

This article will focus on the economic aspects of CRM development, including costs, time to market, and cost optimization strategies.

How much does it cost to develop a CRM system?

The global market for customer relationship management software is growing:

Until recently, CRMs were just tools for managing sales funnels. Today, they’re evolving into comprehensive business tools. Off-the-shelf solution providers offer additional features, which can make these systems overly complex and less suitable for specific businesses, mainly when tech support is unavailable. That’s why growing companies often opt for custom software tailored to their business needs.

The cost of developing a custom CRM system hinges on the number of person-hours needed. In IT, everything is about time and is tied to complexity. The project scope, design intricacy, features, integrations, testing cycles, and team choice all play a role. The cost of developing a CRM system varies by country: in the US or Western Europe, it ranges from $70 to $100 per hour, while in Ukraine, it ranges from $25 to $60 per hour. This makes attracting global talent worthwhile, as companies like Asabix offer top-notch IT skills at a lower cost.

When you partner with us, we ensure transparency about the cost of developing a CRM system right from the start. Our straightforward approach lets us quickly determine costs and document every step with clear timelines. In our experience, CRM development takes at least three months, with timelines extending based on complexity. To learn what factors can slow down or speed up the process, keep reading.

What drives CRM development costs and timelines?

The right approach, the best technologies, and working with an experienced team that provides ongoing support can lead to cost optimization.

Methodology & preparation (impact +/- 30%)

Our professional approach starts with thoroughly analyzing the project’s requirements. It includes crafting a development roadmap and pulling together all the necessary documentation. By clearly defining the project’s scope and documenting all requirements upfront, we prevent scope creep during implementation, which helps save money. This analysis ensures that only minimal changes are needed as the project progresses.

Our flexible development methodologies are designed to help you adapt to potential changes, reducing the risk of unexpected costs. During preparation, we’ll prioritize and organize essential tasks using Jira (a project management tool). We’ll combine development tasks and run some parallels to speed up processes. By the way, involving the team and asking the right questions are crucial for accurately determining the project’s structure, timeline, and budget.

Thanks to our thorough planning, our clients gain a clear understanding of the project’s complexity and the resources needed at this stage. Meanwhile, the development team receives a detailed sequence of tasks and their timelines, ensuring a smooth execution.

Core functionality (+/- 50% impact)

The time required to develop a CRM system, the cost of implementation, and the resources needed depend heavily on the planned functionality.

While CRMs were once primarily associated with sales funnels, their functionality has significantly expanded. Modern CRMs now include a wide range of modules, such as:

• A centralized customer database consolidates customer information from various sources into a single profile, complete with interaction history, which is crucial for quick problem-solving.
• The inventory management module tracks item availability, manages stock, and oversees supply chains. Retailers also benefit from warehouse and logistics modules that handle inventory, stock, order processing, and delivery management.
• The partner relationship management module tracks contacts and transactions, while a similar supplier management module stores details on counterparties, contracts, orders, and payments.
• The human resources module serves as a centralized database for employee information and provides tools for training, support, and career development.
• The order management module reduces overhead costs, optimizes order routes, and efficiently distributes goods across warehouses.
• The marketing module captures leads from various campaigns and consolidates their data, status, and activity to identify regular customers. It also automates personalized email campaigns and social media management and sends instant notifications about brand mentions.
• This support management module, implemented through ticket systems, knowledge bases, online chats, and GPT chatbots, ensures quality customer service.
• The project management module includes task planning and delegation, tracks deadlines, monitors progress, and analyzes productivity.
• The workflow management module handles contracts, reports, and other documents, with creation, approval, storage, and access features.
• The work time tracking module analyzes and optimizes work processes by monitoring time spent on tasks.
• The analytics module effortlessly tracks conversion rates, marketing campaigns, and other business processes.
• The accounting module records financial transactions, generates reports, and manages budgets and payroll. It also includes a financial module for overseeing company accounts and identifying potential risks.
• The knowledge base module is a go-to resource for employees and customers, offering access to essential materials, video tutorials, and questionnaires.
• The loyalty program support module facilitates gamification, points accrual, and bonus distribution.
• The recruiting module handles job postings and gathers applications from different sources, integrating everything into the candidate database.
• Specialized modules cover event organization, customer service, and more. Our expert team can develop and support any custom module you need.

With new and expanded modules, CRMs impact nearly every aspect of a company’s operations. Investing in a custom system pays off quickly, enhancing operations, integrating front and back offices, and refining marketing campaigns. In the long run, it saves costs by providing a deeper understanding of your business processes and more precise customer targeting.

By leveraging these modules, you can personalize customer engagement, optimizing every interaction and support point for maximum satisfaction. However, unlike off-the-shelf solutions, a custom CRM ensures seamless functionality at the code level. High technical expertise ensures all components work smoothly as an ecosystem. That’s why choosing the right IT partner for custom development lets you implement unique features and introduce cutting-edge services to the market.

To determine what features your product needs, we’ll work with you to map out a “happy customer” journey — from first contact to closing the deal and ongoing support. We’ll pinpoint business bottlenecks and how the new system can improve them, decide on the initial functionality, and plan what can be developed over time.

Integrations (+/- 20% impact)

CRMs often integrate with various business tools, from payment systems and warehouse management to accounting, telephony, delivery services, marketplaces, and social networks — basically, any service with an open API. Our solutions fit right into your existing infrastructure, allowing your company to scale without getting bogged down by compatibility issues.

Another game-changer is integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the development process. AI and machine learning are getting baked into CRMs everywhere. They can analyze customer sentiment, spot productivity issues, and find patterns. For instance, AI can determine how many touchpoints a customer needs and which messages seal the deal. In marketing, AI is incredible for sending error-free emails in different languages and delivering spot-on online support. By using AI, CRMs are getting a lot smarter.

Digital equipment (+/- 50% Impact)

Integrating digital equipment is a standalone service. We connect devices that transmit real-time data directly to your CRM. In retail, this means hooking up POS systems; in medicine, it's about linking specialized devices; in logistics, it’s GPS cargo tracking and monitoring warehouse cameras. All these elements feed data into the CRM, making it the digital hub of your operations.

Development approach (+/- 70% Impact)

We’ll provide a detailed estimate for developing your CRM system and explain the different approaches we recommend.

Our team of experts brings years of experience developing and supporting unique custom solutions. When we take on a CRM project, here’s what we do:

1. Develop and document the concept of your future system, grounded in your business processes. We assess potential risks and plan strategies to mitigate them while clearly defining the project scope.
2. Create an intuitive UX/UI design so your team can navigate the system easily without wasting time on a learning curve.
3. Define the code architecture and plan integrations with the necessary services, keeping future scaling in mind.
4. Develop the core components using the latest security practices, then add new features incrementally.
5. Conduct thorough testing at multiple stages — checking the user interface, data accuracy, and integrations to ensure everything works smoothly.
6. Provide comprehensive training and documentation for your team.
7. Deploy the system on your server and gather feedback from the first users to fine-tune the experience.
8. Offer technical support if needed.

We offer two approaches: developing a fully functional CRM according to the terms of reference (TOR), broken down into clear stages, or creating an MVP — a minimum viable product.

MVP: Minimum Viable Product

An MVP is developing and launching a minimum viable product with the most essential features but with further expansion. This cost-effective approach allows you to solve the first basic tasks and adjust the project based on user feedback.

An MVP lets you quickly launch and test your idea in the market, assess the value of each feature, and decide if it requires more support. New features are gradually added in waves, each time improving the CRM.

FVP: Fully Functional System

The CRM is built immediately with all the necessary features in this format. We do deep analytics, plan phased development, design, and test. Once launched, users get a complete system with a full range of services — ready to compete in the market from day one. Developing this model takes more time and resources than an MVP, but it’s the way to go if you have enough resources and a clear vision of future functionality.

The stages in the table each have their timelines, but we don’t just add them up to calculate the total time. Some processes run parallel to optimize resources, so it typically takes around 3 months to develop an MVP for a CRM and 6 months for an FVP.

Team expertise (influence +/- 100%)

Many people don’t realize how much the IT team’s experience affects development speed and cost. CRM systems aren’t just websites but complex solutions that need profound expertise. Skilled developers move fast because they’ve got their tricks and know the market inside out. Their know-how helps tackle challenges and keeps things efficient.

With a custom CRM, you can roll out innovative features that give you a competitive edge. Reach out today to stay ahead of the game!