E-Customer Relationship Management Technologies

e-CRM Software

Most e-CRM software automates common tasks with regards to customer "touch points".  Touch points are the interactions the customer has with your organization, the most obvious being sales calls, however, CRM software incorporates contacts with customer service and support issues i.e. cases, trouble tickets, (putting out fires), and marketing, campaign development and tracking and analytics featuring near real time dashboards and reports.  Your choice of which CRM application will depend on your strategic goals as well as your installed legacy technologies. 

Do not forget training. 

ACT! Contact Management

A division of Sage Software.  Although I wouldn't call ACT! a true CRM application it is by far the contact management solution adopted by sales teams in the industrial and contractor supply channels. 
If your firm is still using ACT! you might want to consider upgrading to a CRM solution with SFA modules. 

Compiere CRM & ERP

An open source integrated ERP & CRM Solution for small to medium enterprises worldwide

FrontRange Solutions

GoldMine

Now part of FrontRange Solutions Similar to ACT! GoldMine allows you to maximize your time, relationships and opportunities.  GoldMine provide a path to upgrade capabilities with a full suite of modules that enhance communication and keep your mobile employees connected.

NetSuite

NetSuite CRM+ includes Salesforce Automation, Marketing Automation, Customer Support & Service, and flexible customization.  NetSuite is geared to small and midsized companies by providing integrated, online business application for CRM, ERP and Web commerce.  This could be a good choice for companies without the support of an IT staff that will be looking to extend technologies to other functional business processes. 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft's CRM offering can be a good choice if you already have invested in Microsoft's technology.  In particular you must have installed Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Integration of Microsoft CRM with the Microsoft Exchange servers is necessary to use the email features.  To use the analytics features you also need Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services.  View Microsoft's system requirements here.  The greatest advantage of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is its integration with Microsoft Office and in particular Microsoft Outlook.  This integration with Office greatly reduces the learning curve making your employees productive from the get go,  Bottom line, if you have already made the investment in Microsoft technology you should seriously consider Microsoft Dynamics CRM. 

Look for a new hosted CRM offering from Microsoft called Titan with multi-tenancy.  Currently service providers have access to a version of Dynamics CRM 3.0 that is available for a hosted server for a single tenant only. 

RightNow Technologies

On demand CRM solutions drive deep and positive customer relationships throughout service, sales and marketing, improving efficiencies, decreasing costs and increasing profits.

Sage CRM Solutions

In addition to ACT! Sage offer Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. 

SalesForce.com

SalesForce.com is an on-demand CRM solution that includes sales force automation, marketing, customer service and support and analytics.  SalesForce.com is best known for it's hosted solution providing access through a web browser.  The upside to this is the low initial cost of implementation.  However, you should consider how comfortable your organization is with a third party handling what may be considered a strategic asset.  SalesForce.com has had some reliability issues with service availability, but it is given that an internally implemented solution can be subject to the same issues.  SalesForce.com also has several different tools for offline access, e.g. sales rep on the road can use the service offline line with either a laptop or a PDA.  Consider SalesForce.com if you do not have the luxury of a technology support staff. 

Salesnet

As an industry pioneer in hosted CRM, Salesnet  creates proven CRM solutions that are designed to drive the fastest ROI for companies seeking to improve their sales performance. 

Salesnet is solution to consider if you are mainly concerned with automating the sales cycles and processes.  As a result sales force automation (SFA) is a core functionality of Salesnet. 

SugarCRM

SugarCRM Is the Commercial Version of Open Source Customer Relationship Management.  It is available in professional and enterprise editions as well as hosted versions.   If you are technically adept and you already have MySQL, PHP and Apache or IIS installed then you can use Sugar Open Source available as a free download.  SugarCRM should be seriously considered if you have the technical resources to manage the software. 

SAP

The SAP CRM on-demand solution, a hosted, Web-based solution built on the mySAP CRM platform, can help jump-start your CRM project. You can deploy the solution that best meets divisional needs -- and move seamlessly to mySAP CRM as your needs evolve, without costly downtime, rework, and loss of data.  If you are using the SAP NetWeaver 2004s platform you should consider mySAP CRM 2005, for its Enterprise customer intelligence, analytical content for CRM based on the SAP NetWeaver analytics platform, mySAP CRM 2005 incorporates SAP's new analytical applications. These ready-to-deploy applications have been tailored to the needs of business users and can be readily adapted to changing business conditions. 

Siebel Div. Oracle. 

Siebel has solutions from hosted CRM to integrated, on premise solutions for the largest companies in the world.  Of particular interest to manufacturers looking to better manage their independent rep sales force, consider Siebel Partner Relationship Management.  Siebel Partner Relationship Management (PRM) applications provide companies with an enterprise-wide solution for managing relationships with their partner (rep) communities.   Siebel PRM improves operational efficiency and alignment of sales professionals and partners by simplifying partner program management, and aligning performance goals. 

vTiger

vtiger has the mission to bring affordable, enterprise IT solutions in CRM, Groupware and other areas. vtiger has been established with a vision to offer best-of-breed open source solutions that are integrated, validated, and certified with additional functional features augmented by our own contributions. We certify the distribution, and provide world-class support. vtiger products may be downloaded and used free of charge, with support and subscription services providing our revenue.
vtiger is a company based in Chennai, India, funded by AdventNet .

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