Top 10 Open Source CRM Systems

A Buyer's Report on the Market of Open Source CRM Software

Open Source Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) have much going for them:

1. they are less expensive
2. they are easily modifiable, if you have a team adept at computing on open source and if it does,
3. can find designers who are willing
4. And often at lower than commercial applications or proprietary CRM cost.

 Open Source CRM is not for everyone, but if your business or nonprofit entity has an urgent need to test the software before purchasing it, or make some specific modifications to meet some inert to the company requirements. They should be consider open source enterprise software systems.

It is very probable that open source systems can be a good option for you if you were using the social CRM.

Because data can add links to social media channels as soon as they appear-and can mix and match to adapt to their customers, rather than waiting for a proprietary vendor comes close.

That said, there are suppliers of open source CRM in all forms, scopes and business simulations.

To help thin your search, widely reviewed the market and select those they believe are the 10 most important providers of open source CRM.

By its nature, this is a rapidly evolving market so we can say that the top 10 could change in a short period.

In this review we examine CRM software utility, business models, designers communities and history, and that has led us to form the list of providers of open source CRM have deserved the awards.

01. SugarCRMz

Founded in 2004 by the trio of John Roberts, Clint Oram and Jacob Taylor, SugarCRM has become a standard deliverer for open source solutions for managing the customer's relationship.

At first, the primary sale of the company was the foundations of open source; the application is written in PHP and works with database MySQL and SQL Server from Microsoft.

However, recently the company message has been refined to the point of becoming not only a competitor in the field of open source but also in the broader software industry CRM business.

The new improvements made to the user interface, the mobile support, knowledge base, self-service portal, updated analysis and control boxes, and various aspects of sales show how SugarCRM Enterprise Edition has focused on dramatical competition with aggressively patent applications, while leveraging open technology as a secret weapon that could tip the balance with buyer’s code.

The last effort of the leaders of open source leads to the idea of social, more specific media or social CRM.

"Due to the fact that they are flexible and responsive, it becomes easier to integrate social media sources and quickly, says Martin Schneider, director of product marketing at SugarCRM.

”Rather than having rigid and predefined connections, we give the possibility of incorporating data from social media and use them when you deem appropriate.”

The ability to build connections to form the channels of social media can provide the competitive advantage to those companies that recognize first of these channels, he says.

This is not to say that Sugar is becoming a business proprietary software -is away from that approach.

The company cultivates a vibrant community of designers, which now exceeds the figure of over 22 000, the free version has been downloaded more than 7 million times.

Put simply, SugarCRM is the market leader in CRM systems by a wide margin open today code.

02. vTiger

vTiger is an Open source CRM system, which has given vTiger an opportunity to build a significant community of users in the seven years since it was founded - and is attracting customers from developed countries, such as Nokia and Aegon USA, to increase their clientele.

The software development company with headquarters in India boasts 1.5 million downloads of its product based on LAMP / WAMP, which comes with Automation Sales Force (SFA , for its acronym in English), marketing automation, customer service, inventory management, calendar and email integration unconventional and virtual, to complement available for Microsoft Office Outlook, Thunderbird a customer self-service portal and web forms.

"We have found that many customers accounts cannot wait for the new versions of the software to meet their specific company needs for certain functions," said Sreenivas Kanumuru, vice president of product development for vTiger. "Open source allows them to get a fully functional product, you can then customize as needed".

A new version of software in the cloud came in late July, which reinforces the same customization capabilities that ordinary vTiger solution, which does not share many hosted multi-user products which impose limitations on customization, Kanumuru said. "It has full options -can use it as is or you can make customizations you want and if you want, you can move then to a local server."

03. SplendidCRM

Not all CRM systems are based on Linux. Case in point is SplendidCRM, which is built on the platform of Microsoft (SQL Server, Windows Server, IIS, .NET C # and ASP.NET) and is directed to an indirect channel of consultants, value-added resellers (VARs, for its acronym in English) and system integrators.

Paul Rony, who helped found the company in 2003, states that the idea is to offer a competitor to Microsoft Dynamics CRM for companies that still want to use the underlying technology of Microsoft.

"Most of the people with whom we chat know what they are getting into," said Rony. "Most open source products tend to be Linux-style software, but our customers know what they want-the Microsoft platform, but with access to the source code."

In April, the company launched version 4.4 of its product, which tightly integrates with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, and incorporates features of formation of reports of Visual Studio 2010.

The SplendidCRM not only goes to the retail market, but it is also of the view that the market should be educated to get to cultivate powerful partners; a philosophy that brings your CRM software comes preloaded with access to designers, who are prepared to handle customizations on the implementation of the system, only to the business of user’s needs.

A Rony would also like to emphasize the advantages of open source as a business benefit. "For example, solutions to technical issues can be a problem with proprietary software," he says.

"Having access to the code allows people to rebuild parts of the code in a matter of hours, not weeks." However, Rony said, that does not mean that the design community is responsive company.

They are not required to partners who have to return the code to the community, but can be used as competitive products. "We have the equivalent of SourceForge, but we have no conflicts you can see a more open situation," said Rony.

04. XTuple

Another open source player that offers the free version and an enterprise edition surcharge, xTuple to calm tempers also offer versions of ERP accounting system (Resource Planning Company, for its acronym in English) and industry designed for distribution, retail sales, professional services and manufacturing.

Some might argue that this approach gets into the traditional role of value-added partners xTuple open source, but the wisest thinkers appreciate the inclusion of these general foundations vertical market as a way to attract customers from several levels sophistication.

Moreover, this entails greater participation by users who face the real-world business problems, which means that software customizations have greater value, said Ned Lilly, president and CEO of xTuple.

"A significant percentage of our users are involved in the operating system-not to do so are thinking when they register, but then when they have a particular need," he posed.

"We had a couple of clients who have improved the operating system for its internal projects, then come to us and ask us if they can be shown as consultants’ xTuple".

Although sold as a software vendor Resource Planning Enterprise (ERP), CRM is an essential subset of the suite of business software, making it an option for companies starting from scratch with its ecosystem of software internal office management and open data, or looking to move to a more integrated set of business applications. The various versions of xTuple all are built with PostgreSQL database and Qt GUI client structure.

05. Concursive

Founded in 2000 as CRM Central, Concursive , as more in their space, it is trying to expand its reach beyond CRM to other business applications.

The four key modules in ConcourseSuite are CRM, Web, Content and Team (which is about collaboration), and can be implemented individually or as an integrated whole, whether in the software as a service (SaaS) or as versions local implementation.

The central product operated under license Centric Public property, but as the company changed its name in 2007, also changed the way they view the open source license and currently uses both the old licenses, such as those approved by the consortium Open Source Initiative.

The company develops software development with Java / J2EE and community of designers Concursive currently holds more than 15,000 registered members.

06. Compiere

Acquired by Consona in June this year, Compiere provides a combined suite of CRM / ERP in three different flavours-a community edition, which is free, and the Standard, Professional and Enterprise editions costing $ 300, $ 750 and $ 995 a year respectively.

The company suffered a setback by disgruntled users in 2006 called Compiere, which was beaten by the belief of some users that the company had ignored the contributions of the community and address bearing the product was handled primarily by investors of the company.

The application was initially written in Java, and more than 1.8 million users have downloaded the software from the foundation of the company in 1999.

However, the focus of the company has always been in the ERP, the CRM as a component of larger system.

If you are satisfied with your ERP solution, it may not be worth that risk with Compiere because much of the potential of the application fails to be used.

However, if you are looking widely used enterprise systems and tilts the open source Compiere must be in the first line of your list.

07. Opentaps

As another CRM / ERP package, Opentaps is aimed at small and medium businesses (SMBs, for its acronym in English) and was built on Apache Open for Business.

The implementation of the management of the relationship with the customer provides basic functions for sales, marketing and service.

It also provides default business intelligence tools and mobile integration, including synchronization with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar and mobile phones.

In July he was released version 1.5 M1, which gives us easier to import data, such as a user interface for importing data forms.

Again, if you are looking for a CRM solution Opentaps may not be the one for you, but if your company is small or medium and are looking to automate business processes CRM and ERP, it could be a good choice.

08. CentraView

Aimed at small organizations, CentraView is built on Apache Tomcat, JBoss, MySQL, Windows, Linux (Fedora, RedHat and others) and is developed in Java (J2EE) and JSP.

The CRM application is very strong in the fundamental functions of CRM, such as contact management and activity. Other functions, such as Human Resources (HR), project management and customer service are simplified and may not provide the full capacity they need many organizations.

The application made its debut in 2004 and is available in versions hosted and installed locally.

09. XRMS

A suite available through SourForge.com, XRMS includes CRM, HR management and the SFA functionality under one roof, with some additional aspects of business intelligence and integration of computer telephony (CTI, for their acronym in English).

Aimed at small and medium organizations, the application is developed in PHP and is compatible with a group of databases, including ADOdg, Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL.

Perhaps the application on this list with the business model that most closely matches the ideal open source XRMS is backed mainly by its community of users, making it ideal for companies that already have the technical resources and know open source, or who they wish to invest in that knowledge promptly.

10. CiviCRM

Addressed to the public sector, businesses, non-profit, support groups and political campaigns-all organizations with budgetary constraints and frequent needs of the functionality of a single software - CiviCRM particularly exploits the benefits of CRM in the public sector.

The application is under the GNU license, and integrates with content management systems Drupal and Joomla! The application gives the network is free and its development is coordinated by the non-profit Foundation Social Resources, in conjunction with the implementation of the Community Advisory Board.

"The open source route found it ideal for what we were trying to do," said Dave Greenberg, one of the designers of the application. "We are covering a rather small sector, but has a wide variety of cases over the use to include".

The lower cost of open source is also a factor in the widespread adoption of the application, but "always some expenses incurred to improve a project." Greenberg said. "There must be a system administrator or an external pay to do it."

That will not affect the popularity of the product; the software was downloaded 210,000 times in 2009, and community forum has 11,500 members. "They are growing tremendously," said Greenberg.

Matrix Functions Open Source CRM

In developing our list of functions for software evaluation, we analyzed the capacity for all categories of software selection to which commonly are referred.

The complete circle indicates the presence of a fully functional feature; the hole in the center indicates the sets of functions that are partially developed or available only as tertiary additions. The empty circle indicates a lack of functionality.