Open Source CRM Solutions: CRM Benefits

Since the source code for open-source CRM products is available free, it is easy for many enterprises to integrate its business processes with these applications. Once they have access to the source code, companies can take advantage of the customizations and extensions that others have developed. For example, file formats, like OpenOffice's XML, can protect companies from a technological lockout, which is a definite advantage for sites that have standardized with any of these products.

There is no doubt that open source applications are a good fit for a company's Web infrastructure. Whether a lot of business owners know it or not, open-source applications are at the heart of many companies' Web applications. Even if a company is not using open source in its Web architecture, many of its competitors are.

Security tools are another area where business owners think that they don't have any open source applications might be surprised to learn that their security infrastructure might be based on open-source technology. There is also a good chance that the security applications and services that they are using rely on open source security tools.

SMBs say they got into open-source software because they didn't want to pay royalties to firms such as Oracle. So they went to MySQL and Jboss and have been pleased by the quality.

A second major benefit is the absence of license fees for open-source components. The Samba file sharing suite, for example, provides capabilities that can match the Windows Appliance Kit sans licenses.

Benefits to Big Business

With favorable acquisition costs and the increasing availability of open-source consultants, open-source management tools are worth consideration by large IT shops who are turning to open source solutions because it is cheaper than the commercial names and, when it comes to licensing issues, risk free.

According to a study by Forrester Research (FR), 68% of open source application buyers say that affordability is benefit number one. Up to 66% responded that savings will come from lower acquisition costs while 30% said that the savings will come from lower support and maintenance.

Obviously, cost is driving demand. Low acquisition cost coupled with high quality compels firms to consider open source, said FR. Not only is open source CRM a credible application, it's a must-have in data centers, another FR report said.

Client-side open-source applications offer many benefits to business. From top to bottom, open source software now has the capability to outfit desktops with a complete set of open-source multimedia applications, Internet, productivity, and messaging at a much lower cost than commercial vendors.

Open-source applications also enjoy a wide range of platform and internationalization support than do their commercial counterparts. The open-source suite OpenOffice offers support for Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS. The Mozilla Web browser supports these and many other platforms. Also, OpenOffice and Mozilla provide users with a common interface across these platforms.

eWeek Labs found that open-source products provide the alerts, performance information and simple diagnostics that they've seen with commercial network management tools and say that the open source products have the power to get the job done.

Many others are jumping on the open source bandwagon in the hope that it will force Microsoft to change. That in itself is a huge benefit to many companies and the industry as a whole. For example, Apple Computer, HP, IBM, Oracle, and SAP all use open source as a wedge to Microsoft's hegemony in the marketplace.

Open-source software has also opened the storage appliance world to non-Microsoft alternatives.

Highly regarded pros in the CRM industry believe in the quality of open source solutions. It is respected for a variety of reasons: it is scientifically sound and won't tolerate, or disseminate, bugs. It fixes and patches problems at the speed of light compared to the commercial software industry. Open source methods use published results, peer review, and modular development to build products that the community wants.

Open source rewards users more than vendors. The major incentive in using open source licenses is to create high-quality, freely available software another benefit for users. The official governing body of open source, the GNU, keeps Linux on track to make sure that anybody can use and redistribute the software and that all changes be given back to the community.

Many also swear that open source has great support. Programmers, advocates say, can get their questions answered in minutes using online resources (threads, newsgroups, websites, search engines, etc.) Popular open source products have access to extensive technical expertise, and this enables the software to achieve a high level of efficiency. Linux, for example, is well supported by HP, IBM, and Oracle as well as Red Hat and SuSE.

Every firm can benefit from the cost, choice, and control that open source software offers, though strategy will vary depending on your IT fingerprints. Therefore, a company, big or small, must first perform an open source software evaluation to evaluate the software to the sellers, including negotiating license and payment terms. Then set up policies for support and evaluation before implementing open source software.

The Future of Open Source CRM

Long-term benefits of open source software solutions include end users mastering open source strategy, forcing the software industry to create, in the words of our ungrammatical Constitution, a "more perfect" software. Open source also means that no upgrade is necessary. There's also apt to be more and more costs savings, even with Microsoft products.

Open Source Customer Relationship Management is more than just a better way of developing software. If programmers can improve it, adapt it, and fix the bugs, it evolves. Proprietary software development shops can also gain the benefits of the open source development process by adopting open source tools, distributed development processes, and component-oriented build methodologies into their environments.

To read about more benefits, visit www.opensource.org to read The Case for Business and The Case for Customers.

Benefits In Brief

The Market Advantage: a wider platform range for your product.

The Entrepreneurs Advantage: a way to grab mind-share.

The Investor's Advantage: Linux is a business models worth watching.

The Legal Advantage: it is free to use and copy.

The Software Makers Advantage: caring programmers work pro bono to make the software better.

The Overhead Savings Advantage: migrating to open source software reduces overhead in production costs.

Open Source CRM Solutions: CRM Benefits

Benefits to Big Business

The Future of Open Source CRM

Benefits In Brief

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