Open Source CRM UI Comparison
Just like in the real world, first impression can mean everything. Traditionally, business applications were more focused on providing a robust,trusted and feature-full application, while the user experience was sometimes neglected. But with the explosion in the usage of the web and the development of user friendly web applications, business application developers could not ignore the user’s experience any more.
This post will compare the UI’s of open source CRM solutions SugarCRM, Vtiger and Concursive.
Comparing the different open source CRM applications UI is easy. One of the things I found common to almost all open source business applications is that they offer online demos. These can be very useful - get a first impression of the look and feel of the software without having to go through downloads and installations. I will provide links to the demo systems of the CRM solutions we will examine.
SugarCRM
SuagrCRM Demo systems.
SugarCRM’s UI has be constantly evolving, becoming smoother, faster and more customizable. Sugar keeps adding Ajax functionality into its application, improving usability and performance.
Some of the cool things you can do using Sugar’s Ajax is open and close the Left sidebar, drag-and-drop the different ‘widgets’ (Sugar calls them ‘deshlets’) found on each of Suagr’s screen and dynamically edit widgets. All this is done very smoothly and in intuitive fashion. The whole idea of using Ajax is that the user does not have to reload the entire page in order to fetch and display new data on the screen and Sugar’s implementation is right on target - you can juts refresh any deshlet you want-new data will be displayed but the entire page will remain unchanged.
Vtiger
Vtiger’s Demo System - English
Vtiger is a SuagrCRM fork. You get that feeling the moment you log on to the Vtiger demo. Since my experience with open source CRM started with Sugar, working with Vtiget was very intuitive. Vtiger’s applications screen are less cluttered than Sugar. They offer a similar widget drag-and-drop.
Vtiger added several useful shortcut buttons which are available throughout the application - calender,world clock, calculator and a chat window. Chat within your CRM application is cool, and I am not sure if Sugar are offering built-in chat.
Concursive
Concursive Demo-Requires Registration
Concursive, unlike the two other PHP applications, is a Java application. The front-end is written in JSP. Java business applications are usually robust and highly performing. The UI is not as sexy as the other solutions, though. Ajax is not used and the charts are pretty basic.
Whenever you navigate to a new module, you get a help screen, providing you with a module overview. This is very useful for anyone who is new to CRM and want to get an idea of the things he can do with this application. You can, of course, ask Concursive to not show the help the next time you go to a module.
A bar with some frequently used shortcuts is located in the right hand side of the screen.
Working with Concusrive, you get a strong feeling of the robustness of the application, despite the fact that it lack the bells and whistles found in other CRM solutions.
SugarCRM,Vtiger, Concursive UI Comparison - Recorded Flash Demo
*Click image to play flash demo. Zoom-in to view demo in highest quality.
SugarCRM, Concursive And Vtiger Open Source CRM Overview
Sourceforge.net is the most popular open source project hosting site today. Searching the term ‘CRM’ on sourceforge yields more than 400 results. Obviously, many of this projects there are dead, but you will find about 30 active projects. Some of the projects offer more than CRM-mostly a bundled ERP+CRM offering.
Open Source CRM Guru will focus on 3 ‘pure’ CRM solutions. CRM applications have evolved dramatically in the past few years. In the past, some of the CRM functionality was embedded into ERP systems. But with the increasing competition on smart, informed customers, the demand for business applications, dedicated to managing the customer life cycle, increased exponentially. Stand-alone CRM appreciations became a competitive edge for many organizations.Soon, open source CRM solutions began to emerge.3 of them will be covered here.
SugarCRM
SugarCRM is currently the most popular open source CRM application. I tried out Sugar several years ago, when it was still a completely free,non-commercial,no-support CRM solution. And right off the gate, it was a great business application. It was very simple to setup and you could get your company running on Sugar within a couple of weeks. The UI was intuitive and Sugar has a robust sense to it.
One of the reasons for the huge success of SugarCRM is the decision to write it for the LAMP platform (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). The LAMP platform is so popular and there are so many people that feel comfortable around it that SugarCRM installation began poping all over. Not only that, the entire platform is free to download and use, and has evolved as a viable alternative to commercial platforms.
Another advantage SugarCREM initially had wast that it was web-enabled by definition. Running the SugrCRM software from a web browser made it easy for new users to learn and feel comfortable with. The fact that Sugar can be offered in a SaaS (Software as a Service) model also contribute to its commercial success.
SugarCRM is now a commercial open source CRM, offering paid subscriptions for its software, along with a free, community edition. Its a full featured CRM solution, easily competing with commercial CRM solutions.
We will provide extensive coverage of SugarCRM.
Concursive
As oppose to the PHP-based SugarCRM, Concursive is a Java application. The Java platform is very common in enterprise business applications. Most large companies use Java applications to some extent and employ skilled personal that knows how deploy,customize and implement Java applications. That makes Concursive a very strong offering for the Enterprise.
Concursive was formally called Centric CRM, and was re-branded earlier this year to emphasis it is not only an open source CRM application but a complete front-office solution. Concursive offers several collaboration tools in conjunction with it’s CRM functionality and pride itself with the high level of performance and scalability demonstrated by some of it production customers.
Concursive offers a very flexible deployment model -SasS, Managed and On-Premise, allowing its customers to go from SaaS CRM deployments to On-Premise and Vice-Versa.
Vtiger
Vtiger is the ‘purest’ open source CRM offering of the three. They also develop their CRM application in PHP running on a LAMP platform, although it is possible to replace Apache with IIS. Using LAMP means easier development,customization and software deployments on customers sites or in a CRM SaaS model.
They have an impressive list of partners, and for open source business software vendors, expanding the partners channel is the most important aspect of business development. The strength of the partners ecosystem will be the main factor in the success of Vtiger and other open source business solutions.
Vtiger is a traditional open source company, offering its entire CRM suite completely for free to download and use. They do offer paid support and migration services. Vtiger is a privately held company and never raised funding.
What Is Open Source CRM Guru?
Open Source CRM Guru is a blog covering commercial open source CRM solutions. We will cover SugarCRM, Concursive and Vtiger CRM.
Open Source CRM Guru is the younger brother of Open Source ERP Guru. If you want to get an idea of what this blog will become, just take a look at the ERP Guru. We will provide industry news and analysis, installation and user guides, recorded flash demos and useful links to related information from around the web.
Our goal is to provide a professional, independent insight into the constantly evolving and exciting world of open source CRM. CRM applications are in huge demand by businesses of all sizes. In parallel, Open source business applications are becoming mainstream in both the enterprise as well as for small-medium businesses. That is what makes open source CRM solutions so important in the current business software market.
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