Do we need a custom CRM or will an off-the-shelf one do?
Start with off-the-shelf. Zoho, HubSpot or Salesforce cover standard sales pipelines at a fraction of custom development cost, and they are maintained for you. Custom CRM earns its cost when your process genuinely does not fit those tools, when licence costs at your user count exceed building, or when deep integration with in-house systems is the point.
