Which CRM for your Business?

It is not an easy task to find out which CRM solution fits the needs of your organization best. We compare five of them to help you choose the best fit for your organization

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

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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.