CRM Consulting Services

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Open Source CRM The Other Side of CRM
applications
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(No Transcript)
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We recently evaluated CRM software applications
for a client who wanted to avoid incurring user
license costs and has a team of in-house
developers that he wanted to utilize for CRM
configuration, customization and day-to-day
management of the application. With the
requirement set, we started evaluating Open
Source CRMs as an option. The following piece
throws light on open-source CRMs as an
alternative to proprietary licensed CRM
applications and lists down options that are
available in the market.
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What is an Open Source CRM An Open Source CRM
software is a business application whose source
code is available for change or customization.
The free version is available without any user
license restriction and can accommodate unlimited
users. However, some well-known open-source CRMs
have licensed versions as well. A community
edition, as it is generally called, is available
for developers and coders to alter.  What Does
Open Source CRM Offer An open-source CRM offers
all the basic functionalities that a licensed CRM
offers including lead management, sales pipeline,
customer service, marketing automation contact
management.
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Open Source CRM Vs Proprietary CRM Proprietary
CRM applications are fully developed, closed CRM
applications. These applications do not allow any
change at the code level and offer greater
functionalities out of the box, which is complete
and does not require any code-level changes.
Implementation partners configure/ customize the
software within the available framework. Open
Source CRMs provide a basic template of all
functionalities mentioned above. Developers can
completely change/customize and build new
functionalities and modules on top of the
template. Implementation companies also build new
products and offer custom integrations which can
be sold as off-the-shelf products by these
companies.  Proprietary CRMs also have a cost
associated with a user. Most proprietary CRMs are
priced on a per-user per-month model with an
upfront annual commitment or are discounted when
the subscription is annual. Open-source CRMs do
not attract a licence cost/product cost. Having
said this, popular open-source CRMs do offer
licensed versions of their applications.
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Open Source CRM Vs Proprietary CRM Proprietary
CRM applications are fully developed, closed CRM
applications. These applications do not allow any
change at the code level and offer greater
functionalities out of the box, which is complete
and does not require any code-level changes.
Implementation partners configure/ customize the
software within the available framework. Open
Source CRMs provide a basic template of all
functionalities mentioned above. Developers can
completely change/customize and build new
functionalities and modules on top of the
template. Implementation companies also build new
products and offer custom integrations which can
be sold as off-the-shelf products by these
companies.  Proprietary CRMs also have a cost
associated with a user. Most proprietary CRMs are
priced on a per-user per-month model with an
upfront annual commitment or are discounted when
the subscription is annual. Open-source CRMs do
not attract a licence cost/product cost. Having
said this, popular open-source CRMs do offer
licensed versions of their applications.
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• Open Source CRMs
• You Can Evaluate
• Odoo
• Odoo is a suite of open-source business apps that
  cover company needs CRM, eCommerce, accounting,
  inventory, point of sale, project management,
  etc. Odoo CRM comes with the following features
• Leads
• Opportunities
• Contact and Customer management
• Communication (Email marketing and communication)
• Reporting

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Odoo also offers a proprietary (Enterprise
version) of its software. Suite CRM SuiteCRM is
an open-source Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) software solution that provides a
360-degree view of customers and business. Making
it easy for Sales, Marketing and Customer Service
departments to discover key information that will
help you grow, retain and delight customers.
Features include           Sales          
Marketing           Activity Management        
  Case Management           Dashboards        
  Reports           Workflow          
Configuration Studio
All information above has been compiled from the
respective websites.
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As part of our CRM Consulting Services assignment,
we evaluated the 2 products mentioned above.
Other popular open-source CRM software options
include Vtiger, OroCRM, CiviCRM and more To
conclude as a CRM advisory services firm we
suggest if CRM software licence cost is the only
concern, one should also evaluate the free or the
lower grade versions of the proprietary/licensed
CRMs as well and do a thorough comparison against
the business needs and available budget to
spend.