You can keep it.
SuiteCRM - a UK developed derivative of SugarCRM with all the trimmings - is far more cost effective, even if you buy support.
Software licencing gets easier in the cloud? Not if your name is Microsoft
The classic CRM Online suite is no more, it has ceased to be, is bereft of life and rests in pieces. Microsoft has overhauled its licence and for some the price has become a lot more expensive, trade customers have told us. Last week CRM Online covered the entire suite. Now the product has been split into apps with different …
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Friday 4th November 2016 16:31 GMT VinceH
Re: You can keep it.
Handy tip - ta. I know bugger all about CRM software, and a client's salesman uses an ancient copy of Sage ACT! which threw a brief wobbly with the Windows 10 anniversary update. I've just glanced at their site and emailed a link to him suggesting he give it a look as a possible alternative.
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Friday 4th November 2016 19:42 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: You can keep it.
CRM is good to keep sales leads and customer interfaces a bit in line, but it's worth developing teh processes first that you want to automate. You can use it "out of the box" but you'll soon find there are a number of actions you do one after the other - a CRM can line that up for you so you don't lose information, leads or followups and eventually you get a view of your sales pipeline and lead conversion rate (you need to build up the business data first).
If you're familiar with SugarCRM, SuiteCRM is built on the same code base and has the same API, but you get the full feature set for free with the download - SuiteCRM's income is based on hosting, support and consultancy.
The only thing you have to be a bit careful with is browser plugins such as Ghostery, Ad Aware and uBlock & friends because it is very quick to scream "hack alarm" at you when it spots the URL diversions that such things generate (at least, this is what I assume - it went away when we disabled plugins). We now simply use a separate browser for it - a totally plugin-free copy of Opera :).
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Saturday 5th November 2016 02:07 GMT Roland6
Re: You can keep it.
I've just glanced at their site and emailed a link to him suggesting he give it a look as a possible alternative.
Might be a little more helpful to also direct him to this site:
https://bitnami.com/stack/suitecrm
Where he can download a complete Virtualbox compatible VM and be up and exploring in minutes...
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Saturday 5th November 2016 11:14 GMT Doctor Syntax
Re: You can keep it.
Microsoft, SugarCRM (and derivatives), etc: do they keep personal data of customers?
If so do users have the customer's permission for that and are they registered with the appropriate regulator?
If not they stand at risk from the DPA or equivalent. Things get even worse if it's hosted by a supplier. They then have to worry about - or should be worrying about - where it's hosted, whether the hoster is also registered and just how much cover the Privacy Figleaf provides. Given the standard gung-ho approach of the average salesman or marketroid I suspect that many of the users of CRM are in contravention. Maybe a visit from FAST is the least of their worries.
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Friday 4th November 2016 12:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: One of the reasons
The cost of license management and the risk of still getting it wrong was one of the reasons we ejected all MS software products from the company (another one was the overhead and resources involved in keeping it moderately safe).
Given that even the MS rep had at times problems working it out suggested to me MS didn't really have a clue, and I didn't want to have FAST associated idiots prancing around our subsidiaries hoping for a fat payout by interpreting license statements to their own benefit. Now we can be as rude to them.
Life is sweet :)
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Friday 4th November 2016 19:00 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: "How do I get what I'm getting today and pay the same?"
"You don't. You get less and pay more as with every time MS change their licencing."
And as time goes by, more and more Certified Microsoft Dependent Business Partners will realise that the party is over and the last bus will soon have left. Why has it taken them so long? Trevor?
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Friday 4th November 2016 13:22 GMT a_yank_lurker
Money
At roughly 60 or 70 per month per seat adds up to a nice chuck of change for a largish organization. Assume on has 100 users that 1200 user month or about 72K or 84K a year. I do not know much about CRM software other than it is pricey but at those rates one is idiotic not to look at purchasing a copy.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
