Chose a niche agency over a big name for our CRM setup, still unpacking that decision

Last spring we needed a CRM overhaul for our 12 person sales team. I got quotes from one of those huge firms and a smaller shop that only does construction industry software. The big name wanted $18k upfront and a 6 month timeline. The niche outfit quoted $9k and said they could have us running in 3 weeks. I went with the smaller crew because they actually knew our project bidding process. The first 2 weeks were rough, their project manager missed two calls and our rep had to chase her down. But once we got into the build, the templates they had for contractors saved us a ton of setup time. We went live on day 19 and honestly the handoff docs were better than anything I've seen from a big vendor. My only worry now is if they go under, we're stuck with custom code nobody else can touch. Has anyone else gambled on a specialist firm and regretted it later, or am I just overthinking the risk?

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skylerg171mo ago

Buddy picked a tiny shop for his payroll system and the guy vanished six months later, total mess.