Open Source CRM: SugarCRM vs. Concursive vs. SplendidCRM

Please note it is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, opinion or advice contained in the content below.

With all the focus on the mega-giant CRM companies like Salesforce.com, it’s refreshing to see a new crop of Open Source CRM packages available. I always mention SugarCRM or vTiger when talking about Open Source CRM, but there are a few bridesmaid that are worth mentioning.

In this article from ostatic.com, they highlight the features of Concursive and SplendidCRM.

I haven’t had a chance to evaluate these 2 products, as my Web Hosting company comes with SugarCRM and vTiger part of their “Easy Apps” one-click install software library.

A word of warning to anyone who wants to install an Open Source CRM: know thy difference between configure and customize!

---

Open Source CRM Comes of Age

Few categories of open source software have seen so much solid teamwork and rapid development as customer relationship software (CRM) projects. As evidenced by huge proprietary players such as Salesforce.com, CRM implemented on the web as an on-demand tool for teams of co-workers also creates substantial business efficiencies. If you have a business and haven’t looked into some of the top open source CRM offerings lately, here’s a look at what you can start doing.

Concursive is now offering a completely free, open source 100-user CRM system to everyone. The company’s ConcourseSuite 5.0 ConcourseSuite is notable in that it offers flexible deployment options. You can have it implemented as a hosted traditional SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) application, where it works on the web for mobile employees and office employees alike. (This is similar to how Salesforce works.) Or, alternatively, you can implement it as a standalone, in-office installation, where a team can use it as central database-driven application.

If you’re interested in Concursive’s offering, you can sign up for it here. You can also find a PDF case study on a business that uses the suite midway down the page here. The company gets revenues from supporting CRM solutions in businesses with more than 100 employees, but the open source, 100-worker offer is free.

Of course, no discussion of open source CRM offerings would be complete without mentioning SugarCRM. SugarCRM is for businesses of all sizes. It supports sales force automation, marketing campaigns, support cases, project management, calendaring and more. It also supports MySQL and SQL Server. Sugar CRM was also recently named best open source CRM technology by CRM Magazine.

Looking for another choice? I’ve used SplendidCRM extensively. It’s free and open source, and is particularly good at producing snazzy charts that you can add annotations and business logic to. Take a look at the home page for the many recent additions made to it by its community, and many screenshots. It also generates PDFs of customer orders, invoices and more, and is available in many languages.

For many types of businesses, there is no need to front up the substantial fees required for proprietary CRM applications such as Salesforce. Give some of these open source alternatives a try.

Related Articles on CRM Help Desk Software.com

• SplendidCRM Software Releases Enterprise 3.0 with a New Workflow Engine
• SplendidCRM Announces Version 6.5 With Social Media Libraries
• On-Demand SaaS or On-site CRM? Commercial or Open-Source Software?
• Don’t Lay-off Employees for SaaS – Go Open Source
• Open-Source SplendidCRM v2.1 includes Silverlight, AJAX and PDF Invoices

Recent Articles on CRM Help Desk Software.com

• Salesforce.com Delivers Real-Time Communication for the Social Enterprise with Chatter Messenger and Chatter Screensharing
• Salesforce.com Sees Tremendous Growth Across Europe, Increases Local Investment
• Watch Cloudforce London 2012 Live!
• Worldwide Study Shows Global Business Anti-Social in a Social Media Age
• SplendidCRM Announces Version 6.5 With Social Media Libraries
• NetSuite Announces Commerce as a Service (CaaS)
• Veeva Systems Announces Dramatic Growth in Europe
• Dell Cloud Business Applications Portfolio Expands with Integration Packs
• Zoho Support Integrates Facebook, Twitter
• LANDesk Software Finds IT Managers Not Yet Equipped to Handle Consumerization of the Workforce