Custom CRM
A CRM shaped by your process, not the other way round
When your work does not look like a pipeline of deals, we build a CRM around the records you really keep: properties, policies, cases, sites, patients, projects. It runs on a database you own and connects to the software you already use.
Clients · custom CRM
- MMarina AdriaThree berths · contract renews in springActive
- YYacht Club KvarnerService request open · technician assignedIn work
- CCharter Plavi ValQuote sent · follow-up dueQuote
- NNautika SjeverWinter storage · invoice issuedInvoiced
What it is
Your own records, stages and rules
A platform gives you contacts, companies and deals, and lets you bend them. That works until the thing you manage is something else: a property with several owners, a case with deadlines, a machine with a service history. Then every screen is a workaround. A custom CRM starts from your records and builds only the screens your people need, which is also why it is the slower and more deliberate route.
- A data model that matches your business, not contacts and deals renamed
- Screens for each role, with only the fields that role uses
- Permissions and approvals that follow your own rules
- Built in or next to the software you already run, with one login
Service request
- PortalClient reports a fault
- CRMRequest linked to berth and contract
- RuleCovered by the contract?No: quote prepared for approval
- TeamTechnician assigned
- BillingWork passed to invoicing
What we deliver
A working system, and everything needed to keep it
Data model
Your records and how they relate, designed with the people who work with them and written down.
Web application
Lists, record pages, search and filters that open quickly and work on a phone as well as a desk.
Roles and audit trail
Who may see and change what, and a history of changes on each record.
Integrations
Email, calendar, invoicing, ERP and your website connected, so data is entered once.
Migration
Existing data from spreadsheets or an old system cleaned, mapped and imported, with a sample checked by you.
Code and documentation
The code in your repository, the database in your account and documentation another developer could work from.
How a project runs
A first usable version early, then in steps
- 01
Model the records
We sit with the people who do the work and draw what they keep track of and how it moves.
- 02
Build the core
The main records, their lists and pages, and logins. The team sees it on real data before more is added.
- 03
Add workflows and connections
Reminders, approvals, documents and integrations are added one at a time, in the order you choose.
- 04
Migrate and go live
Data is imported, the team is trained, and the old spreadsheets are retired once everyone works in the new system.
What we build with
- Application
- Next.js, React, TypeScript, Payload CMS
- Data
- PostgreSQL, File storage in your cloud account
- Connected to
- Gmail and Outlook, Calendars, Invoicing, ERP, n8n, AI models
We start from what you already have. The list shows what we reach for when something is missing, not tools you must adopt.
Is a custom CRM the right route?
A good fit when…
- What you manage is not a contact or a deal
- You have tried a platform and worked around it ever since
- The CRM has to live inside software you already run
- Rules about who sees what are specific to your business
Probably not for you when…
- A standard sales pipeline describes your work well
- You need it in use within a few weeks
- You want built-in marketing email and campaign tools
- Nobody on your side can give time to shaping it
Use cases
What a CRM takes care of
The same problems, solved in a system built for you.
Every enquiry in the CRM, without retyping
Enquiries from forms, email and chat become contacts and deals in your CRM, with the right person notified.
Open use case SalesBusiness automationCRM implementationQuotes drafted from your price list
A quote is drafted from the deal, your price list and current stock, and waits for a salesperson to approve it.
Open use case SalesCRM implementationBusiness automationNo open quote left without a follow-up
The CRM reminds the owner, drafts the follow-up and shows which deals have gone quiet.
Open use case SalesCRM implementationBusiness automationA sales report nobody has to build
Pipeline, won and lost deals and activity, delivered on a schedule straight from the CRM.
Open use caseQuestions about a custom CRM
When does custom beat a platform?
When the platform’s idea of a record does not match yours and every screen needs a workaround, when the CRM must be part of an existing system, or when your rules for access and approval are unusual. If Pipedrive or HubSpot fits, we say so, because it is quicker to adopt.
Who owns the code and the data?
You do. The code is in your repository, the database in your cloud account and the documentation is written to be handed over. You are not tied to us.
Does it take much longer than setting up a platform?
Yes, and we would not pretend otherwise. We reduce the wait by delivering a usable core first and adding the rest in steps, so the team works in it while it grows.
What happens after it goes live?
Software needs looking after: updates, backups, small changes as the business changes. We offer that under a care agreement, or your own developer can take it over from the documentation.
Can it include AI features?
Yes. Typical additions are summaries of a long record history, drafted replies and reading of incoming documents into the right fields, each with a person confirming the result.
Can we start on a platform and move to custom later?
Yes, and it is often the sensible order. A period on a platform shows which parts of the process are standard and which are yours, which makes the custom build smaller and better aimed.
Show us one process. We will show you what it could look like.
The analysis is free, takes about an hour of your time, and ends with a written summary you keep.
Prefer to read first? See examples