Which CRM for your Business?

CRM or customer relationship management plays an important role in the

success of any business. In simple terms, the area of CRM focuses on helping an

organization create and maintain long lasting relationships with its customers.

In order to make it successful, you need a good CRM application. There are many

commercial and open-source CRM solutions available around the globe. What we've

checked out this time is a mix of various types, and for businesses of all

sizes, be it large enterprises or SMBs. Most of the solutions we've checked

out ca run on Windows and Linux, and are freely downloadable. We've given most

of them on this month's CD as well for you to try out. Since most of these

packages can work with Apache web server and MySQL database, you don't end up

spending extra for those components. The only exception is Compiere, which

requires Oracle. Before we look at the individual CRM packages, let's

understand a little more about choosing and deploying a CRM solution.

Key Elements of CRM



You need three elements to run a CRM solution. One, a Web or application server
to host your CRM solution. This could be Apache, IIS, JBoss or Tomcat. Two, you

need a centralized RDBMS to store data. These days most CRM solutions support

all major RDBMSs such as Oracle, MySQL, Postgres and MS SQL Server. Three, at

the clients-end you need a Web browser to access and use the CRM software.

Apart from these three, you should have technical skills to implement and

maintain CRM solution.

How to choose



The most important thing to remember about deploying a CRM solution is that you
have to get your users to use it. You might deploy a very feature rich package,

with all the bells and whistels, but at the end of the day (literally), if your

sales team doesn't log in their daily sales reports, client information, etc

into it, then it's a waste. The first thing therefore is to muster up support

both from the users (your sales team), and the management (both top as well as

sales head). Only after that should you get into studying each CRM option.

All CRM solutions these days are very modular, giving you a choice of what to

install. Further still, each module has a host of features. For instance, all

CRM software we tested had modules for contact management, sales-force

automation, customer service, and inventory management. You need to drill down

further into each module and check how well have they implemeted the features

'you' need. Next, check its integration and communication capabilities with

other applications. Will its contact management module for instance, import

contact information from Excel, email address books, etc? Some CRM solutions

extend beyond their basic function to provide ERP, HR, document and project

management, etc. Do you really need all those functions? Or will that be excess

baggage?

How we tested



We checked for a number of things in the CRM solutions this time. We looked for
the databases and platforms supported, mail-client integration, contact

management, data synchronization with mobile devices like PDAs and cellphones.

We also tried going through each package's report generation capabilities,

wherein we checked how good were they, whether they were customizable, or

various modules, and ease of installation.

Performance



On the performance front, we checked how easy or difficult it was to set up each
CRM solution. We also looked into how intuitive the user interface of each CRM

package was. In this, we noted how quickly the interface responded, how easy or

difficult it was for a user to find his/her way around it, how cluttered or

uncluttered it was, etc. We also checked whether it gave maintenance options

like re-indexing the database, and the kind of security features that were

available.

Our test bed



Out of the five CRM software we tested, only one (Compiere) used Oracle 9i and
the rest used MySQL or Postgres as the database. On the test bed, we used a Win

XP machine running Apache with PHP and MySQL. For CRM solutions that needed an

application server, we configured Tomcat or JBoss. While testing we observed

that installing a CRM is pretty easy, but configuring its pre-requisites takes a

considerable amount of time. For instance, Compiere runs on Tomcat application

server, and to configure a database with the application server needs the

correct JDBC drivers. In addition, you need to edit the configuration file so

that the application server can communicate with the database seamlessly. In the

configuration file, you have to mention the host name where the database is

running, database name, login username and the password.

System requirements

Meant for: Enterprise OS: Windows, Linux Database supported: MySQL Quality of reports: 5 Sync with PocketPC or Palm: Yes Ease of installation: 5 Usability: Neat interface

CentraView 



www.centraview.com

CentraView is an Open Source CBM (Centralized Business Management) solution,

which combines contact management, SFA (Sales force Automation), and CRM

(Customer Relationship Management) under one roof. It also has a groupware

module, which allows you to do calendaring and file sharing across workspaces.

In addition, it has a human-resource module for expense forms, time-sheet

submission and more. You can even synchronize the application with MS Outlook,

Outlook Express, Palm, Pocket PC and Blackberry through the Companion Link

conduit. This synchronizes all activity and other important data like all

contacts, calendar items, activities and notes on your mobile devices.

CentraView has fifteen modules, but here we will talk about the Contact

Management module. This module lets you to keep all the business contacts at a

centralized place and anyone can search for any contact from his own desktop.

The contacts are kept in three sections (entitles, individuals and groups). You

can access this by clicking on the Contact tab. On the left, you will see the

above-mentioned section while the right side shows details of selected sections.

Here you can also search for contacts. To add new contacts, click on New on the

Web page and it will lead you to the data-entry screen, where you can add

contact details.

To add more additional fields or modify the existing fields, you can

customize the module by clicking on Administration button given on the top left

of the Web page. This administrative module lets you configure the software for

your specific requirements.

System requirements

Meant for: EnterpriseOS: Windows, LinuxDatabase supported: OracleQuality of reports: 3Sync with PocketPC or Palm: NoEase of installation: 1Usability: Cluttered interface

Compiere



www.compiere.com 

Compiere is an Open Source ERP application with integrated CRM functionality.

It can be installed in just about an hour. However, you will have to shell out

money for buying an Oracle database and recruiting an ERP and Oracle expert to

implement it.

The core ERP modules include General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts

Receivable, Inventory, Order Entry and Job Cost. It also has a Customer Account

module to maintain your customer details along with the feedback. This

simplifies your order processing and POS (Point-of-Sales) customer commerce and

care, manage your inventory, automate accounting and provide customer service.

To implement it, give a demo username GardenUser and password GardenUser and

click on the Tick button. By default this demo user is authorized to HQ (Head

Quarters) and store only. You can add more users and assign them roles or

departments. Click on the Tick and you will get Java-based interface running the

Compiere ERP & CRM solution. On left, you will see all the defined automated

business process modules. As an an example, if you want to create an invoice for

a customer, from Compiere's interface, select 'Quote-to-Invoice'. Under

this you will see number of invoice modules.

Double-click on Invoice Customer to get the performa of a customer invoice.

Here fill in the details and the transaction will be automatically percolated in

the sales book. Apart from demo, you can create your own workflow and business

rules, and use the same as an ERP & CRM solution for your small to mid-sized

businesses.

System requirements

Meant for: Small businessesOS: Windows, LinuxDatabase supported: MySQLQuality of reports: 2Sync with PocketPC or Palm: NoEase of installation: 2Usability: Improved contacts view with expandable event lists

BrowserCRM



www.browsercrm.com

BrowserCRM is a Web-based CRM, groupware and e-mail solution. It's meant for

small to medium businesses and integrates CRM, e-mail, task scheduling,

calendaring, online group discussions and invoicing.

The CRM modules include a full fledged contact-management system. This can

import data from most of your existing CRM applications including ACT!,

Goldmine, Maximiser, Outlook, SalesForce and SugarCRM. You can even export the

contact data to other applications in multiple file formats including CSV, TXT,

HTML, DHTML and XML. You can store data in hierarchical format. It also lets you

track and evaluate sales opportunities. 

To install, you just need to configure Apache with PHP and MySQL and the rest

can be done from its Web interface. On the flip side, it has no reporting

toolsunlike others we have evaluated. You can access it from a Web browser by

entering the default username and password that you have set during the set-up

process. The admin homepage has links for creating contacts, appointments,

tasks, opportunities, mail, memo and documents on its leftand links for creating

new admin and normal users on the right. You can set the company preferences

like time zone, default rights for groups and users, etc from here. BrowerCRM

has a comprehensive search feature, wherein you can find contacts by company

name, by designation and by phone number. You can allow different departments to

search for contact information from within or outside the groups.



Apart from contacts, you can search through appointments, tasks, memos as well
as documents.

System requirements

Meant for: EnterpriseOS: Windows, Linux, MacDatabase supported: MySQLQuality of reports: 3Sync with PocketPC or Palm: NoEase of installation: 2Usability: Neat interface

SugarCRM



www.suagrcrm.com 

SugarCRM has both commercial as well as Open Source solutions available. The

Open Source version is called Suger Open Source, whereas the licensed versios

are called Sugar Professional and Enterprise. The licensed versions are

available as both hosted and onsite solutios. The software is meant for

companies of all sizes. It provides integrated management of corporate

information on contacts and accounts, sales leads and opportunities, plus

activities such as phone calls, meetings and assignments.

The Sugar suite offers point-and-click capabilities for user-interface

customization.This allows you to change the CRM according to your requirements.

It is very easy to install. When you open the SugarCRM interface from a Web

browser for the first time, it takes you to the process of installing and

configuring the solution for you.

For testing, it also provides you with the demo data so that you can play

around with it before actually implementing it. We used its Windows version.

While using this CRM, we observed that it takes some time to open its Web page

for the first time and after that it refreshes fast.

SugarCRM's main interface is quite neat and easy to use. There are eight

links on it--Home, Activities, Contacts, Accounts, Leads, Opportunities, Cases

and Dashboard. Here, the Home tab provides a general overview of current

appointments, top opportunities, pending tasks, open cases, open leads and sales

pipeline graph. It also includes shortcuts to enter data such as contacts,

accounts and task. Overall, we found this package pretty easy to install.

System requirements

Meant for: Small and Medium businessesOS: Windows, Linux, MacDatabase supported: MySQLQuality of reports: 5Sync with PocketPC or Palm: YesEase of installation: 5Usability: Very easy to navigate

vtiger CRM 5



www.vtiger.com 

vtiger CRM is an Open Source CRM solution meant for small and medium

businesses. Its features include Lead Management, Opportunity Management,

Account & Contact Management, and Reports & Dashboards specifically

useful for your organization's sales team. You can also use other sales force

automation related modules, such as Activity Management (including Calendaring),

Product Management, Inventory Management, File Attachments and others.

Being a module-based CRM, you can designate each module to a specific group.

For example, a salesperson will only be able to access the SFA module while rest

of the modules will be hidden. It also has add-on, for Outlook users, which

enhances the user experience by reducing the unnecessary duplication of work

while communicating with customers. This is the only CRM that we have evaluated

that has Apache with PHP and MySQL in its installer. While installing this

solution, you will be asked to use your existing Apache or its built-in Apache

setup to configure the Apache Web server. Overall the installation is very seasy.

It has very good GUI reporting tool, which analyzes the data in the database

and shows you the projection in graphs. For example, if you want to know the

account-wise sales, it will show you a bar chart with account-wise sales

figures.

To use vtiger, open a Web browser and type in the IP address of CRM machine

with port 81. On its interface, give the admin as the username as admin as the

password. It will open the interface with dashboard key notes of your pending

events, upcoming events, top accounts etc. It keeps you updated about your

overall CRM activities.