Development

Digital Transformation

January 23, 2025

CRM Software development Guide: How to Build a Custom CRM in 2025

Companies seeking to maintain strong customer relationships in a competitive marketplace should realize that a well-designed CRM development system will help them to make better business decisions. Customer Relationship Management is a software whose primary purpose is to manage business relationships with customers, manage sales processes, and migrate critical internal data.

According to Statista, CRM systems are forecast to reach USD 98.84 billion in revenue by 2025. This indicates significant potential in many niches of the modern sales process.

At the same time, this demand is accompanied by a demand to build a custom CRM platforms because a custom solution will fully implement all business operations without unnecessary adaptation to ready-made CRM platforms.

Why Custom CRM Excels Over Off-the-Shelf Solutions

When you choose between implementing and building a custom CRM software development or off-the-shelf solutions, you should first think again and assess the risks. In any case, an off-the-shelf Customer Relationship Management solution will have a clearly defined set of functions and will not be fully adapted to your business needs.

Below are some of the features and benefits of custom CRM development.

Integration - The main advantage of integration in custom CRM development, as opposed to off-the-shelf solutions, is that it is made possible through API-first architecture. Therefore, it will allow synchronization with existing corporate systems, such as ERP, financial software, etc. High-quality integration will eliminate the need for complex middleware solutions and reduce synchronization errors.
Convenience - Another advantage of building a custom CRM is that it can be tailored to your company's business needs. Off-the-shelf systems may have an interface with unnecessary functions that are not appropriate for your business. A custom CRM development with low-friction navigation, drag-and-drop mechanisms, and intuitive dashboards will provide practicality and faster work within teams. That's why customized workflow automation with actual user flows and RBAC is created for this purpose.
Cost-effectiveness - Customized customer relationship management software involves high initial development costs. However, in the long run, it will provide a TCO that is comparable to SaaS solutions. Similarly, the modular architecture of custom CRM will be easy to scale as your business grows and eliminate the need to overpay for extra modules.
Adaptability - To ensure high ROI and efficient operations, custom CRM is built on the principle of domain-driven design. This will help implement the specifics of business processes without overloading them with unnecessary modules. In addition, a custom CRM development system will integrate with existing systems through, for example, GraphQL APIs or RESTful services. This will result in an optimized exchange of customer data without high integration costs.
Scalability - Scalability should be relevant for constantly evolving businesses, so a high-quality Custom CRM should consider the scalability-first principle. This will significantly contribute to the processing of data volumes that will increase by adding new microservices or instances without losing the quality of work. To implement scalability, you can use cloud-native infrastructures and auto-scaling mechanisms.
Full control - CRM software allows you to fully control the code base and the entire infrastructure without dependence on an external supplier and its updates, giving you complete freedom to manage your business. This is a significant advantage for the rapid implementation of new features, system scaling, and architecture changes. You can also control backups, update policies, various encryption mechanisms, and access data management. As a result, custom CRM can provide many additional benefits not only for the internal part of the business but also for the external one:
High-quality customer relations - It is worth building a highly customer-oriented service to better understand the client and build personalized cooperation, and custom CRM can completely cover this need. CRM development provides centralized customer data and interaction with them.
Increased sales - To a greater extent, the development and implementation of custom Relationship Management will result in optimized sales processes and increased revenues. This is because it will create tools for analyzing the sales process or tracking new opportunities and aspects of finding new customers.
Streamlined operations - If a CRM system is well designed, it should automate manual tasks, eliminate duplicate data entries, and ensure that routine processes are completed quickly. For example, streamlined operations can reduce the administrative burden, which can significantly save employees' time. This time can be spent on more valuable processes, such as strategic decisions and customer engagement.

The essence of custom CRM software is that it will bring the company to a new level with automated processes and streamlined internal and external work.

The process of developing a high-quality CRM should be adapted to the company's goals, such as optimizing internal workflows or attracting new collaborators and customers.

The Artkai team has many years of experience developing enterprise software solutions for various businesses, which allowed us to apply our knowledge of CRM development. Through discovery and design, we made a customer- and user-centric CRM. We have described this in detail in the Top 20 Diverse Enterprise and Business Solutions Developed by Artkai Team.

So, what should a quality Custom CRM development process include

Qualitatively selected technical team

CRM development is a rather complex system that requires many integrations and an understanding of the enterprise's individual intricacies. You should hire a team to create this process from scratch.

If you compare freelancing, a built-in internal team, and outsourcing to a supplier, the latter option is preferable, and this can be explained for a number of reasons.

Although freelancing is fairly popular and inexpensive, CRM requires long-term and systematic development and implementation. Therefore, it is common for freelancers not to complete projects or meet deadlines.

An in-house team will allow you to control the development process and communication, but this option is the most expensive. IIn addition to development, there will also be costs for software, services, and hardware.

Many companies find outsourcing the team the most profitable option because it offers fairly affordable rates and high product quality.

Gathering requirements & Consulting

At this stage, it is necessary to determine whether building a custom CRM is the best solution for a particular enterprise. If so, it is necessary to create a Software Requirement Specification with the main aspects, such as an architectural approach and a recommended technology stack, taking into account the structure and potential load.

Business requirements analysis

Once a CRM vendor has been found and several key stages have been discussed, it's time to analyze the client's business requirements and their main essence. For example, you should be involved in the part of the workshop where business analysts identify your business needs and possible related problems that custom CRM software development will solve.

Basic architecture and design

The detailed system architecture should include the main components and their interaction with the design of software architecture patterns that will guarantee scalability, maintainability, and fault tolerance.

The architecture should be adaptable to requirements and future scaling, have defined design patterns with efficient load balancing, and include seamless integration with enterprise systems using GraphQL or RESTful API, for example.

A top-notch design team's main aspect at this stage should be a focus on UCD to ensure that workflows are fast, convenient, and adaptable. They also research users and their requirements and design the information architecture in the form of navigation sections and panels. Next, designers do highly detailed designs in Figma, Adobe XD, or Sketch for prototypes and optimize the interaction logic.

Comprehensive development

On the technical side, this includes backend and frontend parts with APIs for data exchange with other internal platforms.

Back-end development in a CRM software development system ensures data processing, business logic, and integration with other services. It includes selecting the technology stack, building the architecture, designing the database, and creating APIs for interaction with the front end and other services. Key aspects include security, access control, scalability, and integration with external systems such as payment gateways, marketing tools, and ERP solutions. Optimized algorithms and efficient database management enable fast processing of large amounts of information, which is critical for CRM systems.

Front-end CRM software development is responsible for creating a user-friendly, adaptive, and intuitive interface. It involves developing a dynamic UI/UX that simplifies system interaction and enhances workflow efficiency. Using modern frameworks such as React or Vue.js ensures fast performance, interactivity, and smooth data exchange with the back end via APIs. Essential aspects include performance optimization, accessibility, responsive design, and real-time support for effective customer data management and business process automation.

Testing and quality assurance

To make the testing process successful, you need to use four components of this stage:

Unit testing aims to identify and eliminate errors in the code and individual CRM components and modules.

Another important part is integration testing, which should guarantee the correct interaction between modules and external APIs. This is critical for CRM development that integrates with financial systems, analytical platforms, business tools, and ERP.

Functional testing aims to verify that the technical solution is suitable for the required business operations. This testing should also cover the correctness of data migration and processing, user scenarios, security of access, and design with their compliance with UX/UI.

Performance testing should assess the CRM's overall speed under different loads and its ability to scale with business progress.

Deployment and Implementation

After testing, the full-fledged CRM software moves to the deployment and implementation stage. Before it becomes available to the end user, you need to consider such aspects as the choice of hosting infrastructure, which can be a local server or a cloud platform like AWS or Azure. However, it should be appropriate for a specific industry for correct operation. Also, backups should be set up to save information in case of problems or errors.

Another important part of this stage is configuring access and security. Here, you should apply user access rights and roles, use multi-factor authentication to increase security, and encrypt data to ensure confidentiality.

Maintenance and support

CRM is a rather complex system with integrations, so its maintenance requires support in certain aspects, such as code optimization, bug fixes, improving system stability and performance, adding new features, and updating the latest versions.

Additional service level agreements (SLAs) are usually created to implement and support this process.

However, customized CRM solutions may also be required for full compliance with business processes, which we will discuss below.

CRM Consulting. This part of consulting is essential when you need to analyze your business processes, find problems and new ideas in cooperation with customers, or determine whether there is a CRM software development solution that suits you.
Custom CRM Development. This allows you to create solutions tailored to your organization.
CRM Integration. Connecting CRM software to tools such as ERP systems, marketing automation platforms, and customer service software to provide a unique view of customer data and increase efficiency.
CRM Customisation. Off-the-shelf CRM solutions may not meet all business needs.
Legacy CRM upgrade and migration. As technology and business needs change, you must stay up-to-date with the latest versions of custom CRM development.
CRM Reporting and Analytics. For high-quality reporting and analytics in the CRM ecosystem, you can also use the point services of a third-party provider.

Successful practices of using specialized CRM services not only simplify unique business processes but also give companies the maximum potential for long-term growth and interaction with customers, employees, and partners.

The aspects you need to keep in mind

Successful custom CRM development and implementation should include not only a qualitatively written process but also, above all, successfully applied in practice, in compliance with the parties' consent, and relevant technical aspects.

For example, if your company's goal is not only to create a CRM for convenience but also to create an application that will represent the company's values and expertise and emphasize competitive advantages, then it is worth evaluating it and building a strategy for development.

For this process to be smooth, engaging, and bring positive results, the Artkai team has created a roadmap for developing a top-notch business application in 2025 so that your application meets expectations and goals.

To implement this process, you must understand which modules your customer relationship management needs to meet relevant needs.

What modules to integrate into your CRM software

Promotion module

This is typically achieved by streamlining sales processes, centralizing operations, improving customer data accuracy, identifying pain points in the sales process, and shortening the overall sales cycle.

Typical sales features that help you accomplish these tasks include:

The dashboard lets you quickly view your company's monthly sales results.
The content can include lists, graphs, charts, and more. You can choose which metrics to track.
The dashboard helps you understand the various sections and features of the CRM.

Marketing Module

A marketing custom CRM development helps you track, optimize, and automate your marketing efforts across multiple audiences and channels.

Standard marketing functions include:

The campaign management feature helps you predict sales results by tracking your current and potential customers and their position in the marketing pipeline.
Social media integration lets you plan and organize your work and automate blog posts and community engagement.
Analytics, also called data management in some CRMs, helps you organize your incoming marketing data so that it's easy to access and interpret.

Customer Support Module

Customer support CRM platforms often include business intelligence and automation tools.

Typical support features may include:

The agent dashboard interface allows customer service representatives to view requests, assign tickets, prioritize and route tasks, and more.
The knowledge base provides a single place to find all the information about your company, processes, products, and services, helping you resolve issues faster.
Case reports allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of your support efforts by recording statistics about customer requests, resolution times, customer satisfaction levels, and more.

Project and Task Management Module

Custom CRM development today is not only about communicating and managing customers but also about organized teamwork, task planning, and project tracking.

Therefore, the main functions of such a module can be:

Calendar integration for scheduling meetings and reminders about deadlines.
Automation of the work environment with customized automatic reminders, generated checklists, and task templates.
Distribution of tasks between employees with the ability to delegate tasks and set deadlines while tracking their implementation.

Finance and accounts module

It is worth using an integrated financial module in your work to reduce routine operations and expedite financial accounting, which automates essential processes.

The main functions of this module include:

Integration with payment gateways and monitoring of subscription plans with automatic debiting of funds for the extension of certain services. Such as connecting to Stripe, PayPal, or Square.
Generated financial reports that analyze income, expenses, possible overdue payments, and other economic aspects.
Automatic invoicing, which involves creating, sending, and monitoring payments on invoices.

These are some of the most common modules. However, depending on the business's needs, an experienced team—a CRM development service provider, depending on your request—may recommend creating mixed modules to adapt to your business processes.

To qualitatively implement the necessary in custom CRM solutions, you need to determine what should be included in the technological stack so that the entire set of functions is successfully implemented.

What tech stack to choose

Of course, the vendor's technical team will suggest a specific stack with its arguments, but it's worth analyzing to assess the benefits and risks.

Choosing the right technology stack is essential to the development process and to custom CRM solutions. This stack contains the components, frameworks, programming languages, and tools that form the foundation of your CRM. A wise choice ensures your system will be maintainable, scalable, and efficient.

You can do this by:

Identify project requirements: Start by assessing the specific requirements of your CRM software. Consider the following questions: What functionality do we need? How many users will be able to use the system simultaneously? Understanding these requirements helps choose technologies that handle the expected load and complexity.

Frontend: Users interact directly with the interface.

Popular options include React, well-known for its flexibility and strong community support and ideal for dynamic user interfaces.
Angular: Provides a complex framework for building feature-rich single-page applications.
Vue.js is a simple alternative that combines advanced features with ease of use.

Backend: This part is responsible for data management, business logic, and server-side operations.

Node.js is a popular option that provides asynchronous processing, making it suitable for handling multiple requests simultaneously.
Python is well-known for its readability and large library base, making it ideal for frequently used data applications.
C# and .NET: This stack offers a robust platform for building enterprise-grade solutions with many security features.

Choose a database system because it allows you to organize and store your CRM data.

Consider relational databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL, known for their reliability and performance. MongoDB is a NoSQL database that provides flexibility for processing unstructured data.

Choosing the right technical tools makes building functional custom CRM solutions adaptable to future needs easier. Similarly, with a relevantly selected technology stack, development modules, and an adapted process, it is worth outlining potential risks that may arise either at the initial stages, during work, or at the finish line.

CRM development challenges to avoid

Now that you know how to build a CRM from scratch, you may have noticed that these projects have some challenges.

Unclear business goals - Understanding the reasons for building a CRM is essential. Without clear goals, it's challenging to determine what functionality you need, and your CRM may not meet your business needs, rendering it useless. Identify a specific goal for your CRM, such as increasing revenue, reducing operating costs, or providing data to help improve your business plan.
Don't create individual users - Different user personalities can make adapting a CRM to their needs difficult. This can lead to poor user experience, feedback, and security risks due to inadequate access control. Divide each intended CRM user into role groups (marketing, sales, or support) to determine what functions are required for each group.
Assessing the success of a CRM system - Evaluating the effectiveness of a CRM system can be difficult because it is highly subjective. Additionally, there is no clear timeline for when you can expect success or failure, and users are likely to resist change.To make this easier, focus on essential aspects during development, such as speed, security, analytics, integration, and standards compliance.

Our experience in building CRM systems

One of the specializations of the Artkai team is CRM development, which will be adapted to unique business processes. Thanks to our many years of experience, we successfully implement scalable solutions based on customer behavior and business data.

In this part, we will discuss two of our cases, which demonstrate our approaches to customer relationship management from development to the final stages.

A multifunctional CRM system

The Artkai team successfully managed to create a multifunctional cloud solution that helps to store all sales and work information in one convenient and secure place. This CRM system connected contractors and professionals and helped them complete more tasks without obstacles. More about the project: A multifunctional CRM system for real estate.

The project's main idea was to develop software to help contractors and experts automate routine processes. Therefore, to successfully implement this process, our team proposed creating a universal CRM system that could be used for sales, marketing, and management.

We created a set of professional features for CRM users - the system, which included tools for creating timelines, adjustable dashboards for reporting, and automated processes for creating documentation.Planning tools for sales and marketing and internal cost control were also included.

As a result of 9 months of cooperation, a high-class custom CRM system with a visually pleasing and intuitive interface was created.

Results:

5M jobs completed and managed in the custom CRM system.
$36 B total sales achieved in less than 12 months.
24K active CRM system users and the number keeps growing.

AI-powered sales platform

Our client, an American technology company, requested the creation of AI-based software. The idea of the future development was to create a smart platform for automating and building relationships between various sales solutions.

Our team first proposed and helped collect all the necessary business requirements, then created an MVP, which we turned into a full-fledged product. We described this in detail in the material AI-powered sales platform.

We added a set of additional features so that all the necessary information was in one place.

This included:

CRM for managing all customer information.
AI Helpdesk to automate customer response
Workflow builder with customizable workflow and online task management.
AI knowledge base with organized business knowledge and Q&A
Advanced analytics with access and tracking of all critical metrics.

As a result, the MVP was successfully launched with a hybrid mobile application and showed high performance and positive financial resources. In particular, there are 3.5 thousand active MVP users, and their number continues to grow.

The client company's personnel number was 3X increased, and customer service and request management were 2X faster and better. Our team continues to collaborate with the client to actively scale the MVP.

Wrapping up

A high-quality custom CRM will become the organic center of your business, improve its efficiency, and automate and speed up work. For this process to be successful, it is worth clearly defining the goal and choosing a company — a supplier that will help you turn your idea into a working product.

At Artkai, we provide services for the full cycle of CRM development and individual services for custom CRM systems. We help our clients with a full range of services and issues and directly translate development plans into reality.