Technology Software

Implementing Open Source CRM Solutions: The Best Practices

Open Sourc CRM Solutions are a popular choice for many businesses for whom the budget is a key consideration. If you are planning to invest in such a system, you are obviously grappling with several questions. For example, how will this differ from other CRM implementations in your business? Will it be a liability? What will be the functionality like? What will it cost the business?
What areas will you need to invest in so as to ensure a successful rollout of the customer relations management tools for the benefit for your business? Business owners will generally grapple with these and other key questions which seemingly make open ource CRM solutions implementation a little daunting.
When it comes to technology implementation for business however, you will always find yourself on the safe side by sticking to the fundamentals or in business or project parlance, the best practices. These are basically the gold standard in implementation practices whose incorporation in the implementation process will lead to success in the rollout most of the time. The businesses that adhere to the best practices always get it right when it comes to technology implementation or systems integration.
When it comes to the CRM solutions, these fundamentals or the best practices will remain the same whether you will be working with the open source or non-open source CRM software. But what are these best practices when it comes to the open source customer relations management software implementation? Here is a brief overview that will help you get it right most of the time when you are implementing your CRM solution:-
Identify Your Needs
While open source seems like an attractive option for most businesses due to the relative low cost of implementation, be warned that you may not get the full-featured functionality and all the modules that you need like in the premium CRM software solutions.
When mapping out your CRM software needs, it is therefore important to clearly identify your needs and then match it against the functionality that is available in the open source software. Does it make the cut? If it doesn't then you might need to invest a little bit in the development process to have this fully customized for your unique business needs
Get the right opn source CRM solutions implementation partner
Choosing the right partner for the open surce CRM solutions implementation is as important as choosing the software tool itself. Do the legwork and ensure that you have the right partner with the right experience in CRM software implementation. Do they have proven expertise? This is what will guarantee the success of your own CRM implementation.
This is particularly the case with the open souce software which is generally adopted by smaller businesses with smaller budgets and thus may not attract the large players with deep expertise and resources. That means you will have to carry proper due diligence in order to find the right implementation partner that is capable of delivering a great and professional services even with lower margins associated with the open source software implementations.
Budget accordingly
The fact that open source software is free does not mean that you should expect free or ultra-low implementation costs. There is a lot involved in customizing the open source CRM solutions and implementing it to suit your business needs. Your implementation partner will most likely tailor it to meet your specific business requirements based on your needs assessment.
These may involve procedures such as requirements gathering, data migration, software customizations, systems integration, project management and many other tasks. It is therefore important to set a realistic budget for the Open Source CRM solutions implementation.
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