NisargaIndia, the Eco-tourism organization that Karthik runs, is in need of a system that would help them handle and manage their customers better. If I understand their requirements right, what they want is a CRM system in place. Being responsible for IT-Ops around at Nisarga, I decided I’ll give them just that.
I felt that instead of trying to sit, play around and come up with a crappy system that would hinder them more than help., I decided to use an existing Open-Source CRM System that would run off the webspace that Nisarga has on the internet. A LAMP based system.
But I was in for a surprise when I found out that the Systems that were available online were suited more for a products based environment than for a service based organization like Nisarga. I tried two of the most famous CRM systems online. One being SugarCRM and the other being vTiger. And I was in for a rude shock.
The following is my analysis of the two systems:
- vTiger version 4.2.4 is SLOW. It timed out quite a bit. The configuration interface is way too complex. And is quite rigid. If you want help, Pay for it!!!! A sweet $500 odd, and you get trained and supported…
- If you want help, you need to go and rummage through the community forums on their website. Finding things of help there is not pretty easy either!!! I dont know why… Maybe i dont have the time or it’s really ‘coz there’s not much help that I can get. Running the CRM in service-segment organization mode is kinda difficult. I dunno where I gotta tweak what. If ayone using it runs across my site, please leave a comment on how I do it.
- Their latest version 5.0.2 runs on Apache 2.x. This is not supported by about 98% of the web-hosting solutions providers worldwide. Their reasons are simple: “We tried running cPanel, their Web-host Control Panel solution…. and it dint run properly. So, lets say we dont move to Apache 2.x for quite sometime now.” << Excerpts from conversation with live support of BlueHost, my web-host.
- SugarCRM has it’s own bunch of problems. Quite a bit of bugs. Javascript kept popping off the hook. And, again, I couldnt make out anything from the configuration interface.
From the outlook of the two systems that I have reviewed for use there, there is something that is obvious:
- Either I’vent been able to understand the CRM processes right or
- I’vent been able to configure it right coz the system is too complex or
- I’m looking at the wrong solution altogether…
Someone help me on this. I know this is something needed. And I’m ready to burn my midnight oil to see it through. I just need a li’l help somewhere…
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Andy Dreisch