It's not just about saving money-whether open-source CRM is worth using

Article Title: It's not just about saving money-whether open-source CRM is worth using. Linux is a technology channel of the IT lab in China. Includes basic categories such as desktop applications, Linux system management, kernel research, embedded systems, and open source.

From the edge of the initial application to the selection of mainstream users, the success of Linux and other products has given everyone the hope of open source software. Nowadays, more and more enterprises are applying open-source software, including open-source CRM.

According to a recent survey of 328 IT leaders, 45% of them are using open-source desktop applications, and 29% are using open-source enterprise applications, collaboration software, CRM and ERP software are the most popular among these applications.

Of course, open-source CRM products are just a new force. in the market share analysis reports prepared by Gartner and other industry research institutions, open-source CRM is hardly worth mentioning. Some analysts said that the current open-source CRM environment is like Linux five years ago.

Like early Linux users, users who are the first to use open-source enterprise application software are not representative in the industry, they are usually medium-sized companies that are often involved in B2B businesses and have good internal development skills. H & RBlock is such an enterprise. it is a tax service provider headquartered in Silicon Valley, Missouri. it uses SugarCRM products.

But in fact, there are still a few cases like H & RBlock, and most enterprises are not interested in open-source CRM. On the one hand, most companies have invested a lot in the existing commercial CRM software. In addition, business-intensive and consumer-oriented companies often need CRM products with a large number of different features, while open-source products cannot provide as diverse functional options as their competitors do.

Of course, the advantages of open-source CRM products are also obvious. The cost of open-source CRM software packages (including support and billing for advanced versions) is only about 20% of the cost of similar commercial solutions. Because most of the code is open, open-source CRM software is often very easy to customize and can be run on any platform. H & RBlock's IT engineers are quite satisfied with the mobile functions added by SugarCRM. "Not only are the functions more comprehensive, but also can provide more functions than many commercial CRM engineers ."

　　Trust is a big problem

No CIOs don't want to save money, but some people worry that open-source software is too cheap, so the product quality is also affected. Jennifer encountered this problem when trying to obtain approval from the group's management to deploy open source CRM. She said: "We regard software developers as long-term partners, but they were worried that they might suddenly disappear at some point. However, the management team eventually recognized open-source software because they later understood that even if Concursive went bankrupt, open-source code would still belong to IMA and the open-source community would continue to provide support ."

However, it is inevitable for open-source software companies to worry about making profits. CEORonBongo, a system integrator specializing in the open-source field, said: "CIOs that consider using open-source products to address major business needs will consider the market viability of open-source products. Because open-source CRM providers are basically private companies, it is not easy to survive in the market ."

InterAct Public security systems in North Carolina lacks a central database for storing customer information. each sales representative stores different contact information and workbooks that record potential transactions, all this information is stored in an independent system, which is irrelevant.

InterAct company CIOEvansWroten said, "from the IT perspective, the company has been acting by feeling. The lack of sales contact information in the system organization is too bad, and it is too difficult to make accurate financial forecasts on this basis. When the sales staff held a meeting, they all held the yellow Post filled with estimated numbers, and they could not be included in the company's financial statement ."

Wroten has deployed open source CRM when serving in other companies. Therefore, when InterAct selects CRM vendors, Wrtoen's requirements are very clear: "First, the software must have the necessary functions, secondly, it can integrate with existing infrastructure." They finally chose SugarCRM.

 

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