CRM systems are essential for customer relationship management, thanks to their numerous functionalities. However, these can be limited depending on the company’s real needs. So you need to find a way to customize features to suit users’ needs. For this, you’ll need an open source CRM. Here again, the choices are numerous. If you have no idea which open source CRM to choose, here are a few possibilities.
Open source CRM: what’s it all about?
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. In French, we speak of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. CRM is software designed to optimize the sales of an agency or organization. These tools are designed to help companies grow through their various functionalities.
Such a program will enable the company to acquire prospects and turn them into permanent customers. However, this result, taken in isolation, is only the end result of automating a series of tasks. And while these advantages are well known to proprietary CRMs, open source models don’t work any differently. If they both work in the same way, why is it necessary to opt for one or the other? This is a perfectly legitimate question that users may be asking.
It’s important to remember that proprietary CRM is software whose code cannot be modified. If this were to be done, it would entail more or less substantial costs. The companies that can use a CRM do not necessarily offer the same services or products, and are certainly not of the same size. It may therefore be useful to modify the code of the management tool to adapt it to the real needs of the structure, a possibility offered by open source CRM.
This overcomes the limitations imposed by proprietary software. Likewise, you can avoid the mistakes that can result from tools that are not adapted to your business.
Which open source CRM to choose? Top 5 list
Open source CRMs can be chosen according to the type of business. Depending on your field of activity, some software may be more suitable than others.
1. SuiteCRM
SuiteCRM is a new tool compared to other open source models. Users who make use of it are sure to better manage their customer relationships. If you particularly like Salesforce, SuiteCRM is the perfect alternative.
The software is of the highest quality, which is why it has been adopted by one of the UK’s largest organizations, the National Health Service. Between contact rental, mass mailing and lead management, you won’t be limited in the possibilities available to you.
2. CiviCRM
CiviCRM is particularly useful for non-profit organizations. It will enable better management of both members and donations. Although it is open source, CiviCRM cannot stand alone like any other CRM. It needs to be linked to a CMS.
Preferably, structures can combine it with Joomla, WordPress or Drupal. As you can see, CiviCRM won’t be useful if you need to manage customer relations within your organization. However, the management of benefactors can be perfectly assured.
And it’s not impossible to use this software as part of your sales strategy. The downside, however, is the repetitive bugs you’ll encounter.
3. EspoCRM
Small and medium-sized businesses looking for efficient open source tools can turn to EspoCRM. It’s easy to use, requires no special training and offers an ergonomic interface. This makes it easier to navigate between the various tabs. The software is useful for customer relationship management and automates many of the agency’s inherent tasks.
With automatic messaging supported by a chatbot, you’re sure to contact every prospect and convert them. This is because chatbots understand customer queries, enabling them to chat with customers. However, this understanding can be limited as soon as requests become more complex.
That’s why it’s a good idea to use an intelligent chatbot. Such a tool bases its operation on artificial intelligence. As a result, it can decode any query, no matter how complex. If you have to opt for such a conversational robot, you’ll be well advised to turn to Botnation. It’s a platform that offers you conversational robots to boost your contacts. The great thing about Botnation is that you can fully configure your chatbot without any coding knowledge, and for free.
EspoCRM also enables sales metrics to be tracked, so that marketing campaigns can be readjusted if necessary.
4. Dolibarr
Dolibarr is without doubt one of the best open source CRMs on the market. It’s ideal for self-employed entrepreneurs and associations, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. In addition to the classic benefits of CRM and customer relationship management, Dolibarr is also an ERP.
As a result, it enables you to better manage your project, invoices, inventory, marketing development and human relations. Although there is a paid version of Dolibarr, its free plan offers over fifty features, enough to easily meet your needs.
5. Vtiger
Vtiger is a CRM created from SugarCRM code. This open source tool is particularly effective for small and medium-sized businesses. Vtiger’s features include contact management and sales pipeline management. Inventory management is another of Vtiger’s interesting features, as in the case of ERP systems.
If you need to improve your marketing strategy, Vtiger’s dashboard lets you view current sales metrics. Should you require even more advanced functionality, you can opt for the cloud-based version, which unlike the basic plan is not free.
Open source CRM software is available in 25 languages, and has a strong community of developers who can help you upgrade the tool as needed.
