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When your company needs to sync CRM data with other business systems, you face a pivotal decision: develop custom code in-house or implement a dedicated synchronization platform. This choice impacts not just your immediate budget, but long-term engineering resources, data reliability, and business agility.
Most companies initially lean toward building custom integrations, attracted by perceived cost savings and greater control. Yet many later regret this decision when maintenance costs mount and business requirements evolve.
This analysis examines the true costs, benefits, and risks of both approaches to help you make an informed decision for your specific situation.
Building your own integration solution requires a clear understanding of both initial and ongoing costs:
Custom CRM integration typically requires:
A mid-market company typically invests 500-800 engineering hours in the initial build of a robust CRM integration. At an average fully-loaded cost of $125/hour for engineering talent, this represents a $62,500-$100,000 initial investment.
The less visible but larger cost comes from ongoing maintenance:
Most companies find they need 15-20 hours per week of engineering time (0.4-0.5 FTE) to maintain custom integrations, equating to $120,000-$150,000 annually in engineering costs.
Dedicated CRM synchronization platforms offer an alternative approach with different economics:
Platform implementations typically involve:
The entire process usually completes in 2-3 weeks versus 4-7 months for custom development.
Platform costs follow a different model:
This model shifts expenses from capital expenditure (engineering time) to operational expenditure (subscription), often resulting in 70-80% lower total cost over three years compared to custom development.
Platform approaches offer distinct advantages:
However, they also come with constraints:
The right choice depends on specific business factors. Use this framework to evaluate your situation:
Consider building when:
Example: A healthcare technology company with proprietary clinical systems and strict HIPAA requirements might need custom integration if commercial platforms lack specific healthcare connectors or compliance features.
Consider buying when:
Example: A SaaS company connecting Salesforce with marketing automation and customer support systems would benefit from a platform solution that handles standard synchronization patterns without diverting engineering resources.
Ask these specific questions when making your assessment:
To illustrate the financial difference, consider a typical scenario of synchronizing CRM data with marketing automation and internal databases:
Beyond direct costs, custom integrations typically experience:
These incidents create substantial business impact through lost productivity, missed sales opportunities, and damaged customer relationships.
An e-commerce platform with 350 employees initially built custom integrations to sync Salesforce CRM with their order management system, HubSpot marketing platform, and customer support tool.
Custom approach results (first 18 months):
After switching to Stacksync:
The company's CTO reflected, "We initially saw integration as something we should control in-house, but it became clear this wasn't our core competency. The platform approach freed our team to focus on features that actually differentiate our business."
Organizations frequently make these mistakes when deciding between building and buying:
Some organizations successfully implement a hybrid strategy:
This approach delivers the best of both worlds: rapid implementation of standard synchronization patterns plus the flexibility to address unique requirements.
While many integration options exist, Stacksync stands out for specifically solving CRM synchronization challenges:
Unlike general-purpose iPaaS tools that require extensive configuration for CRM synchronization, Stacksync is purpose-built for this specific need, dramatically reducing implementation time and ongoing management overhead.
The build vs. buy decision for CRM synchronization isn't universal, it depends on your specific situation. However, most mid-market organizations find that:
The key is conducting an honest assessment that looks beyond initial development costs to consider the full lifecycle of your integration strategy.
For most organizations, the platform approach delivers substantially better ROI, higher reliability, and greater business agility while freeing engineering talent to focus on truly differentiating work.
If you're evaluating build vs. buy for CRM synchronization:
By taking these steps, you'll develop clarity on which approach best supports your specific business needs and technical environment.
See how Stacksync can eliminate your CRM integration challenges with a personalized demo.
