CRM

[W3LCOM]

What do you think about a CRM sofware open source?
Does anyone use one?

 

[Rienne]

Not used it myself, but people tell me Sugar is good.

 

[W3LCOM]

And Does SUGAR an open software?

 

[RedEvo]

And Does SUGAR an open software?

Yes. Here it is.

d

 

[dagr]

I use VTiger (v5.0.3). It's a branch off from SugarCRM. However, while it is totally "free" and very powerful, I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a minimum of PHP/SQL knowledge as it is still a bit quirky. You also have to find the right website host, as some hosting solutions are not compatible.

 

[Darren Falkingham]

Hi,

There are three important things about any open source product: you have to develop it, you have to host it, and you have to support it.

Sugar has got a very good reputation from people I've spoken to, though I've never used it myself (we have Salesforce.com).

However, a business in our group is trialling Sugar at the minute, but it's too early to tell what the results are! If I can find out any more, I'll post back...

 

[Rienne]

As it happens, we are having a run through of Netsuite for ourselves tomorrow.

 

[barry.hynd]

I use sugar with a few different things that I do. One in particular where it's actually hosted on the site. It did have teething problems with hosting initially but they were quickly resolved. I cant speak highly enough of it and it does exactly what I need it to do. It does need a bit of setting up initally to get it the way you want but I find it quite powerful in a number of areas.

The way it links emails to contacts is great and allows you one area for all correspondence. It also disciplines you to file emails so that you're only working with outstanding issues. We developed our sales pipeline through it also and we also use it to a certain extent to measure our marketing activites. It's also great for document storage etc.

I hope this post is of some help.

 

[cjd]

I'm posting here more to mark it as a topic I want to follow than something I feel qualified to add to. [Maybe there's a config for doing this that I've missed?]

However, I'm very intersted in how Voipfone can integrate with CRM software and even build some simple CRM software of our own - it seems to me that this is an area where simple CRM stuff could be provided for micro businesses quite cheaply and effectively.

We already have a free TAPI for integration into Outlook, Act!, Sage etc and any CRM product that uses the TAPI standard should screen pop - but there's much more that's possible.

I did ask on these forums a while ago - 'what sort of things do you need?' - but got zero response.

My feeling is that people don't know how useful CRM is, don't understand what it can do and are put off by the complexity of the products that are out there.

 

[W3LCOM]

Thank you for your help everyone!

 

[Interconnect IT]

We've trialled SugarCRM here at Interconnect IT and it's very good as a pure CRM package. It's also pretty heavyweight and I wouldn't recommend it for all business.

How big are you? What do you do? How many salespeople do you have? Is CRM really a good fit for your requirements?

My own semi-personal view is that the problem with a lot of this type of software is getting interoperability and functionality just right. For example, invoicing in SugarCRM Community isn't possible unless you pay or develop your own billing module. I feel CRM and Billing should go together and be well integrated. The downside is that you then need to get these invoices correctly into your accounts system *and* everything needs to be correctly set - invoice fraud is a difficult one for many SMEs.

What you may also find is that although there's no licence fee to worry about your costs may well be significant on a lifetime basis. I wouldn't bother for a team under 5 and would pay for a hosted solution. We specialise in web enabled applications from small through to huge (10 years of PeopleSoft implementations behind us) and one thing we often see if poor requirements and business benefit analysis, leading to a poor return on investment, escalating costs, and lost data.

If you have any further questions you can call us on 0151 709 7977, but the meter starts running after 20 minutes - sorry! We may make a feature about these systems on our website, but not long joined so can't link to it... yet!

Dave

 

[KM-Tiger]

However, I'm very intersted in how Voipfone can integrate with CRM software and even build some simple CRM software of our own - it seems to me that this is an area where simple CRM stuff could be provided for micro businesses quite cheaply and effectively.

Not something I've ever wanted to pursue for myself. At any one moment I've only got a handful of clients to deal with, so no need for elaborate CRM.

But as a buyer I'm becoming increasingly conscious that the better suppliers are hooking CLI into their CRM systems. With a lot of them, our details are up on their screens before they answer the phone. It means questions like "Can I have two more of those widgets I ordered last week", or "How much did I pay last week for that material" get fast answers. That sort of service is worth something in a busy world, and those suppliers are winning orders.

Not sure what you would be able to do, other than send the CLI. There is no universal API to pull data from CRM, and there are a lot of different systems. But it would be a USP for your own CRM system. Would appeal to those that sell in response to telephone enquiry.

 

[dagr]

Someone has done "something" (that's the extent of my technical knowledge here) to interface VTiger CRM with some telephone thingy. Not sure what it does exactly, but it's briefly described here: http://forums.vtiger.com/viewtopic.php?t=14314

 

[creospace]

Most businesses don't even know that such a thing as CRM exists, that's half our battle in trying to raise awareness. Not that we're doing much about it but at least we know what lies before us.

 

[cjd]

Someone has done "something" (that's the extent of my technical knowledge here) to interface VTiger CRM with some telephone thingy. Not sure what it does exactly, but it's briefly described here: http://forums.vtiger.com/viewtopic.php?t=14314

Yes, that's the idea........hohum; so much to do, so little time.

 

[W3LCOM]

I can see many poeple know Sugar... But nobody know other ones?

 

[KM-Tiger]

Depends what you mean by 'know'! Everyday I use Opengroupware, but that is groupware rather than CRM, nearest I can find to Exchange Server but Opensource.

For a new project I'm just starting to look at XRMS, but I've not got further than looking. I'm slightly biased as I happen to know one of the XRMS developers.

 

[W3LCOM]

Thank you kent

 

[Hawkes1971]

Lumison have used Vtiger and have helped resolved some of the bugs. It is very adaptable and has some good reporting tools - but some of the add ons and plug ins need tweaking (eg email integration). Vtiger will also need hosting, but this is helpful if you are on the road a lot. Hosting also means you can get it backed up by your ISP - which is very important for business continuity.

We have used it for over a year now and it is getting better - worth a look as the download is free and includes LAMP to get you going.

Cheers

Adam

 

[W3LCOM]

Ok thank you!

Lumison have used Vtiger and have helped resolved some of the bugs. It is very adaptable and has some good reporting tools - but some of the add ons and plug ins need tweaking (eg email integration). Vtiger will also need hosting, but this is helpful if you are on the road a lot. Hosting also means you can get it backed up by your ISP - which is very important for business continuity.

We have used it for over a year now and it is getting better - worth a look as the download is free and includes LAMP to get you going.

Cheers

Adam