THE THREE OF COMPARISON OF OPEN SOURCE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) SOFTWARE Ayuditya Annisa Edmarani (1006822694) Desi

Ratiwi (1006822744) Mochamad Luthfi Suladria (1006822952) Nikmatul Wachidah (1006822965) Putri Sidratul Muntaha (1006823002) March 2012

ABSTRACT Customer Relationship Management (CRM) softwares are very common in large companies. However, CRM softwares are not very common in small and medium company. Open source CRM softwares are often targeted to enterprises whose requirements are not covered by standard software. Similar circumstances apply to organizations that need continuous adaption of the software to changing processes and needs. Therefore a company have to start implementing Information Systems (IS) technology into their business operations in order to improve business values and gain more competitive advantage over rivals. CRM software has the potential to help improve the business value and competitive capabilities of the company. And in this paper the suitability of current open source CRM softwares for these enterprises will be examined. It provides sufficient information for a small or medium enterprise to choose a flexible and adaptable open source CRM software. Then selected open source CRM projects are reviewed and classified according to these criteria. The results are a criteria catalog and a classification of selected open source CRM softwares. Keywords: CRM, Open Source, SugarCRM, Vtiger, SplendidCRMSoftware I. INTRODUCTION In an era of financial crisis and expense reduction it is important that companies keep pace with changing technologies and markets, adopting strategies for tracking trends, but which are not expensive. Because the current economic crisis leads companies to adopt strategies in order to fight against the difficulties. Regarding the costs, the purchase of open source software is free and the hardware associated to the systems has lower costs. This is justified, taking into account that those which are looking for open source software are not available to purchase commercial software, and also usually dont have financial resources to invest in more sophisticated equipment. The open source software has a good quality, despite being developed by community. Nowadays the releases and the stable versions of software usually suffer an extended inspection and are exposed to various tests of software quality before being delivered. Often the commercial software lacks some essential functionalities for organizations. The fact of commercial software does not provide the source code, not allows adding extra features. The open source software provides its source code, enabling organizations to develop new characteristics and integrating them into their applications. The integration of other complementary software, is an additional possibility. The availability of the source code allows the integration of different tools. For example, it is

possible the integration of open source databases, open source CRM systems, open source business intelligence tools, etc. Therefore some company needs low cost CRM solutions that can easily adapt to their business model and IT structure, instead of having to adapt their business model and IT structure to the CRM software. II. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely implemented strategy for managing a companys interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processesprincipally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Customer relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including customer-interface departments as well as other departments. Measuring and valuing customer relationships is critical to implementing this strategy. There are many pieces of software available that offer customer relationship management features, but in reality, CRM goes beyond software implementation. It's a business strategy that often involves using multiple pieces of software, as well as implementing policies that promote the collection of customer information, and the use of that information by individuals throughout the company in order to maximize customer service and increase sales. PROFILES a. Vtiger CRM Vtiger CRM is an Open Source CRM software mainly for small and medium businesses. vtiger CRM is built over proven, fast, and reliable LAMP/WAMP (Linux/Windows, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) technologies and other open source projects. Vtiger CRM leverages the benefits of Open Source software and adds more value to the end-users by providing many enterprise features, such as sales force automation, customer support & service, marketing automation, inventory management, multiple database support, security management, product customization, calendaring, Email integration, add-ons, and others. Vtiger CRM software installation is very simple as all the necessary software, such as Apache, MySQL, and PHP are integrated and executables are made available both for Windows and Linux (RedHat, Debian, SuSe, Fedora, and Mandrake) operating systems in SourceForge.net. You need not concern too much about setting up database, Web server, and other software. Vtiger CRM also provides, enterprise grade business productivity enhancement addons, vtiger Customer Portal, vtiger Outlook Plug-in for Microsoft Outlook users, vtiger Office Plug-in for Microsoft Word users, and vtiger Thunderbird Extension for Mozilla/Thunderbird users. All these add-ons are part of the vtiger CRM Open Source project in SourceForge.net b. SugarCRM SugarCRM is the world's leading provider of open source customer relationship management (CRM) software. Over 7,000 customers and more than half a million users rely on SugarCRM to execute marketing programs, grow sales, retain customers and create custom business applications.

III.

Leading publications such as CRM Magazine, InfoWorld and eWeek praise SugarCRM for its ease-of-use, flexibility and open design. SugarCRM runs on the leading cloud computing platforms, including Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, Sugar On-Demand and Private Clouds, offering customers unparalleled choice and control of their data and deployments. c. SplendidCRMSoftware Inc SplendidCRM Software Inc.'s development team formed in November 2005. The application is built on the Microsoft platform (Windows, ISS, SQL Server, C# and ASP). Designed for system integrators, SplendidCRM allows administrators to add usercustomizable features such as .NET 2.0s Themes, Web Parts and AJAX. SplendidCRM is positioned as a competitor to SugarCRM, as the two applications share many of the same features. For instance, both offer an Outlook plug-in and the ability to add custom fields.development team formed in November 2005. The application is built on the Microsoft platform (Windows, ISS, SQL Server, C# and ASP). Designed for system integrators, SplendidCRM allows administrators to add user-customizable features such as .NET 2.0s Themes, Web Parts and AJAX. SplendidCRM is positioned as a competitor to SugarCRM, as the two applications share many of the same features. For instance, both offer an Outlook plug-in and the ability to add custom fields. SplendidCRM is a commercial open-source Customer Relationship Application that targets companies with an investment in Microsoft-based servers. The CRM market is mature 8-billion-dollar-per-year market with double-digit growth predicted through the year 2012. CRMs are experiencing growth because they are no longer just sales and lead-generation tools; they are, in fact, taking on a new role as a back-office platform. The CRM is becoming the unified application that tracks all interactions for all current and future customers. By providing the source code for our technology and by delivering this techology on the popular Microsoft technology stack, we believe that we can attract a small but healthy percentage of the market that wants tight integration and requires Microsoft compatibility. SplendidCRM was developed using the best development tools and using the best practices for web application development. As a result, SplendidCRM has become a highly-scalable, highly-customizable, enterprise application that can be delivered at a fraction of the cost of the major players in the CRM market space. All CRMs have a core set of features, so SplendidCRM competes on price, on performance, and on the natural technology bias of the typical IT professional. Windows and Linux have a nearly equal share of the server market, but IT professionals defend their choice with the same vigor usually reserved for religious dicussions. No product can be everything to everyone, but SplendidCRM seeks to be the best product for Windows-based servers. SplendidCRM is a web-based application, so it can be delivered as an on-site application or as an on-demand service. We will be engaging with partners that will customize SplendidCRM for highly-specialized vertical markets. SplendidCRM Software is a Microsoft Certified Partner.

IV.

COMPARE THREE OPEN SOURCE CRM APPLICATIONS Vendor name Company logo Vtiger SugarCRM SplendidCRM

Product Name

vtiger CRM On Demand vtiger CRM (Open Source) vtiger CRM Mobile vtiger CRM Exchange Connector vtiger CRM Outlook plugin vtiger Extensions Marketplace

Sugar Community Edition

(previously known as Sugar Open Source) Sugar Professional Sugar Enterprise Sugar Corporate Sugar Ultimate

SplendidCRM Community SplendidCRM Profesional SplendidCRM Enterprise

Database

MySQL, ADOdb and PostgreSQL

MySQL, MS SQL, and Oracle

Programming Language Max. users

PHP Unlimited user (depends on the servers

SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, IBM DB2 Express-C and MySQL 5. PHP In C# using the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SugarCRM is free with basic SplendidCRM has a free extendable basic functionality and comes with open source version, professional version cost 5/user code that allows developers to extend to (minimum 10) and year. system, professional version cost about SplendidCRM has the same tiers of 0/User (minimum 5) and year. editions as SugarCRM: community, professional and enterprise, but a fullfeatured edition is available under the onpremise option. The enterprise edition (SaaS) is $40.00 per user/month and the on-premise edition is $480.00 per user/year and it includes support and upgrades. A minimum of 10 users is required. The community live edition (SaaS) is $10.00 per user/month and the on-premise is free using the open-source option.

Type of CRM Detailed Functionality

Collaborative Sales force automation tools streamline the sales process by enabling managers and sales teams to organize leads, accounts and contacts; assess and prioritize opportunities; and oversee the sales pipeline and related analytics for forecasting, and much more. With vtiger CRM's marketing tools you can stay a step ahead of your marketing campaigns with improved integration and oversight. vtiger CRM has tools for campaign management, mass e-mail marketing, online lead generation and sign-up forms, and product management tools for specialized or organization-wide marketing needs. Other marketingrelated modules include calendaring, contact management, and more. Enterprise quality customer support & service require enterprise quality tools. vtiger CRM provides ticket management systems, knowledge management systems, customer self service portals, reports, support statistics and much more to enable your organization's support team to meet the needs of even the most demanding customers. vtiger CRM extends beyond traditional CRM boundaries by offering complete sales cycle

Strategic SugarCRM comes with complete marketing and sales force automation features. The CRM software closes the loop between marketing and sales; allowing users to create and execute marketing campaigns, capture leads, and measure ROI of marketing campaigns. Sugar provides CRM software that drives sales performance. By allowing sales representatives to effectively track and manage contacts and opportunities, SugarCRM allows businesses to focus their attention o the most profitable deals, and to share data across individuals and teams, while monitoring business performance. SugarCRM provides a central hub to manage and share all customer service issues to ensure that customer cases are handled efficiently and effectively. Open-Source CRM platform lets users quickly and easily customize the system to streamline business processes to match specific requirements.

Operational SplendidCRM includes an easy to use web interfaces that handles core CRM functionalities like sales, marketing, and customer support. It can maintain a record of all leads/opportunities, track the conversion of leads to customers, maintain customer profiles to recording customer issues and their resolution details, and carry out targeted marketing campaigns. SplendidCRM can handle all these activities. The effectiveness of the sales strategies and real time evaluation of performances can be analyzed through an extensive reporting mechanism. SplendidCRMs Microsoft-centric, opensource application gives companies everything they need to drive account relationships, contact management, case and project management, lead tracking, team activities and tasks and much more. Like SugarCRM, SplendidCRM supports marketing, sales and customer support, and includes tools for team collaboration, reporting, and administrative/platform management. The product has all the main components you can expect from any full-featured CRM system with its respective sales, marketing and support modules. Source code is provided with the solution and integrates with key Microsoft technologies: a. Report Design Language b. Rules Engine c. Workflow Engine

management, seamlessly integrating pre-sales and post-sales activities by linking inventory management functions (from products and price books to vendors, sales quotes, purchase orders, sales orders, and invoices) with CRM modules (leads, accounts & contacts, and opportunities).

CRM Feature

Sales Force Automation Customer Support & Service Marketing Automation Lead Management Trouble Tickets Campaign Management Account & Contact Management Knowledge Base Mass Mailing Opportunity Management Customer Self Service E-mail Templates Sales Quotes Online Knowledge Base Mail Merge Templates Inventory Management Activity Management Productivity Add-ons Products Catalog Meetings & Calls Email Client, etc

Opportunity Management Contact Management Account Management Forecasting Quotes and Contracts Multi-Channel Campaigns Email Marketing Web-to-Lead Forms Lead Management Marketing Analytics Case Management Inbound Email Knowledgebase Bug Tracking Self-Service Portal Sales Trends Case Reports Dashboards Account Mgmt Backup and Recovery Banner Tracking, etc

d. Exchange Server Synchronization e. Microsoft Outlook Add-in f. Microsoft Word Add-in Besides providing MS Exchange integration, SplendidCRM also integrates with Google Apps and Paypal. Mobile applications for the iPhone, iPad and Android are under development. The only available social CRM functionality is the ability to use Facebook Connect to login into the application. Social CRM functionalities are part of the roadmap, but SplendidCRMs customers are not asking yet for any social CRM functionality according to Rony. Account Relationships Contact Management Case Management Project Management Lead Tracking Bug Tracking Activities and Tasks Employee Directory Mobile Support Other addition include: Outlook integration Reporting Product Management Quotes, Orders and Invoices Payments and credit card Management Contracts, Workflow Forums and Threads Team Management Dynamic Target Lists Field Level Security,etc

V.

ADVANTAGEs AND DISADVANTAGES 1. Vtiger CRM vTiger CRM Advantages Being extremely easy to use is perhaps one of the most important advantages of vTiger CRM. Compared to Sugar Suite, vTiger CRM loads faster. vTiger's user interface is more intuitive and easier to use. The necessary software, such as Apache, MySQL, and PHP are integrated, and executables are made available both for Windows and Linux operating systems. The vTiger CRM software provides Open Source add-ons for Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla/Thunderbird, Microsoft Word, and Customer Portal, which add more value to the end-users by providing many enterprise features. The Software is absolutely FREE and does not require any up-front investment. It allows pre-sales and post-sales activities be integrated in a single application and provides rich userexperience with product customization and excellent customer support. vTiger CRM Disadvantages vTiger's installation is somewhat tricky, e.g. because vTiger cannot populate its database during installation, and may require additional file changes in order to be completed successfully. Another disadvantage of vTiger versions 4.x is that, similar to SugarCRM's upgrade issues, the upgrade process of vTiger also times out causing the upgrade to fail. In the new 5.x releases this problem has been fixed. 2. SugarCRM SugarCRM Advantages Sugar Suite is an excellent choice due to its advanced features, and is convenient to organizations from all sizes and industries. The installation of SugarCRM, as well as the installation of additional modules and language packs is quite easy and trouble-free, and the admin area offers a great variety of options and tools. SugarCRM is built on the pure Open Source LAMPS platform: Linux or Windows, Apache or IIS, MySQL, PHP, and SugarCRM. Its mobile solutions translate to less downtime and greater productivity. Sugar Suite integrates e-mail and calendar information with Microsoft Outlook, ensuring that company communications are centralized and coordinated. Due to the Flexible Delivery Model, there are no constraints around deployment. Moreover, the customizable User Interface and Workflow guarantee adaptation to the user, not the other way around. With Sugar Suite Modular Open Applications you will have what you need to connect across your business. The Open Source Architecture provides 100% visible source code for inexpensive customization and support. The Neutral Operation System avoids "forklift" upgrades and propriety vendor lock-in. SugarCRM Disadvantages While providing more capabilities and reliability, Sugar Suite loads slower than vTiger CRM and is not so easy to use. Problems may also arise if a user doesn't lock the Installation after finishing it. Contrary to vTiger CRM, some of its add-ons are not free for installing and should be ordered additionally. Another disadvantage of SugarCRM is the very resource-consuming upgrade process. A SugarCRM upgrade can rarely be completed successfully on a shared server because the upgrade times out.

3. Splendid CRM SugarCRM has a free open source version, so the only advantage that SplendidCRM has is the pure Microsoft stack. VI. REFERENCES SugarCRM, http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/ Vtiger, http://www.vtiger.com/products/crm/ SplendidCRM, http://www.splendidcrm.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CRM_systems http://open-source-crm.blogspot.com/2008/01/sugarcrm.html http://open-source-crm.blogspot.com/2008/01/vtiger-crm.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management http://www.focus.com/briefs/top-10-open-source-crm-solutions/ http://csharpopensource.com/splendidcrm.aspx http://nextbridge.pk/splendidcrm/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SugarCRM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SplendidCRM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vtiger_CRM http://www.offshoredotnetdevelopment.com/splendid-crm-solutions.shtml http://forums.vtiger.com/viewtopic.php?t=21482 http://www.insidecrm.com/features/top-open-source-solutions-121307/ http://www.180systems.com/crm-comparison.php http://www.crm-reviews.com/ http://www.crmsearch.com/open-source-crm.php http://www.smallbizcrm.com/open-source-crm-software-small-businesses.html