十大开源CRM

Thenamesyouneedtoknowforacustomizable,scalableandaffordableopen-sourcesolution.

ByDavidHakalaonDecember13,2007

Open-sourcesoftwareisnotforbusinesseswhowantout-of-the-boxcompleteapplications,butitmakessenseforcompaniesthatwanttotailoreveryaspectoftheCRMexperiencefromthegroundup.

Webinar:SalesRepsDon'tUseYourCRM:ShowthemWhyTheyShould

Hostedvs.In-HouseCRM

TheCaseforOpenSource

TopCRMProvidersCompared

CRMbuyersmighthaveveryfewchoiceswereitnotforopen-sourceapplications.TheCRMfieldisdominatedbyhugeplayerssuchasOracleCorp.andSAP,andtheopen-sourcemodelisperhapstheeasiestwayintotheCRMmarketfornewcompanies.Open-sourceCRMprojectshavebeenproliferating;SourceForgeInc.lists369activeopen-sourceCRMprojects.Thefollowing10open-sourceCRMsolutionshaverisentothetopofthelist.

1.SugarCRMInc.isthe800-poundgorillaintheopen-sourceCRMcategory.Foundedin2004byJohnRoberts,ClintOramandJacobTaylor,theSugaropen-sourcecodehasbeendownloadedmorethan3milliontimes.Thecompanyhasreceived$26millioninventurefinancingandemploysmorethan100people.Morethan12,000companiesuseSugarCRMincludingHoneywellInternational,StarbucksCorp.,FirstFederalBankandBDOSeidmanLLP.SugarCRMiswritteninPHPandiscompatiblewiththeMySQLdatabase.

2.SplendidCRMSoftwareInc.'sdevelopmentteamformedinNovember2005.TheapplicationisbuiltontheMicrosoftplatform(Windows,ISS,SQLServer,C#andASP).Designedforsystemintegrators,SplendidCRMallowsadministratorstoadduser-customizablefeaturessuchas.NET2.0’sThemes,WebPartsandAJAX.SplendidCRMispositionedasacompetitortoSugarCRM,asthetwoapplicationssharemanyofthesamefeatures.Forinstance,bothofferanOutlookplug-inandtheabilitytoaddcustomfields.

3.CentricCRMhasbeenaroundforsevenyearsandhasachievedagreatdealofstabilityandrobustness.InJune2007,CentricCRM(renamedConcursiveasofDecember2007)receivedinvestmentfundingfromIntelCapital,theventurecapitalarmofIntelCorp.CentricCRMisaimedatthesmall-businessmarket,althoughithasscaledupwithinFortune500companies.Itsmorecomplexfeaturescanbeturnedoffiftheyarenotneeded,andtheadministrativeconsoleallowsforagreatdealofcustomization.Thefreeversioncomeswithfiveuserlicenses.CentricCRMiswritteninJavaandiscompatiblewithMySQLdatabases.

4.Hipergatebillsitselfas“themostcompleteopen-sourceJavaCRMandgroupware.”That’salottopackintoasinglepackage,butthisenterprise-classapplicationseemstohaveitall.Itsfunctionalmodulesincludecollaborationandgroupware;contactmanagement;projectmanagementandsupport-issuestracking;ane-shoppingmodulewithmultiplecatalogsandpaymentprocessing;acontent-managementmodule;massemaildistributionandtracking;acorporatelibrary;roles-basedsecurity;queriesandreports;andmore.WritteninJavaandJSP,hipergateisoperatingsystem-independent.DatabaseswithwhichitiscompatibleincludeMicrosoftSQLServer,MySQL,OracleandPostgreSQL.

5.CompiereInc.offersacompleteERP(EnterpriseResourcePlanning)andCRMapplicationwithsupportformarketingandsales,humanresources,inventorycontrolandmore.Thereisevenafullbusiness-accountingpackage,somethingoftenseeninopen-sourcesoftware.Compierereceiveda$6millioninjectionofventurecapitalinJune2006.CompiereiswritteninJava,JavaScriptandPL/SQL,anditiscompatiblewithJDBCandOracledatabases.

6.VtigerCRMisbuiltupontheLAMP/WAMP(Linux/Windows,Apache,MySQLandPHP)architecture,withthemaindevelopmentteambasedinChennai,India.VtigerCRMincludesSFA(SalesForceAutomation),customer-supportand-service,marketing-automation,inventory-management,multipledatabasesupport,security-management,product-customization,calendaringandemail-integrationfeatures.Italsooffersadd-ons(OutlookPlug-in,OfficePlug-in,ThunderbirdExtension,CustomerSelf-servicePortalandWebForms)andsupportforotheradd-ons.VtigeriswritteninJavaScript,PHPandVisualBasic.ItiscompatiblewithADOdb,MySQLandPostgreSQLdatabases.

7.CentraViewInc.'sofferingisacombinationofcontactmanagement,SFAandCRMfunctions.ItssourcecodeisJ2EE-basedandbuildsontheMySQLdatabase.ThefirstversionofCentraViewwasreleasedinNovember2004,fortheLinuxandWindows2000/XPplatforms.Today,thesoftwareisofferedinbothhostedanddownloadableforms.CentraviewCRMiswritteninJavaandJSPandiscompatiblewithMySQLdatabases.

8.XRMSCRMisaWeb-basedapplicationsuitethatincorporateshuman-resourcesmanagement,SFAandCRM.Itisanon-premisesolutionforthesmalltomidsizecompany.XRMSCRMincludescomputertelephonyintegrationandtheabilitytoaddplug-insforprogramssuchasOutlook.XRMSCRMisoperating-systemindependent,anditiswritteninaninterpretedlanguage(PHP).CompatibledatabasesincludeADOdb,SQL-based,MicrosoftSQLServer,MySQLandothernetwork-basedDBMS.

9.CreamCRMisamultilingualapplicationdesignedformediaorganizations.Theapplicationtrackssalesorders,payments,shipments,services,onlineandprintsubscriptions,andtheeffectivenessofpromotionalcampaigns.Modulesallowcommunicationwithcustomersvianewsletters,emailandaWebinterface.CreamCRMisaninitiativeoftheMediaDevelopmentLoanFund'sCenterforAdvancedMediainPrague,Czechoslovakia.CreamCRMrunsonFreeDSB,LinuxandWindows2000/XP.ItiswritteninJavaandJavaScript.

10.TustenaCRMisaMicrosoft-centricapplicationwrittenforenterprise-classorganizations.Itcomesinthreesolutions:OnDemand,BusinessandOpenSource.OnDemandisthehostedversion,whiletheBusinessversionisinstalledonclients'siteandfeaturestechsupport.UserswhooptfortheOpenSourceversiongetthesourcecodeandcanmodifyitastheywish,relyingonthecommunityforsupport.TustenaCRMiswritteninC#,ASP.NETandJavaScript.ItiscompatiblewithMicrosoftSQLServer.