Inexpensive CRM replacement, please?

June 2, 2014 6:49 AM

Hello, We are currently using Business Contact Manger as our CRM software. We are having problems when having to re-install (computer crashes, etc) at this point and are looking to either upgrade to Office 2013 (which will allow us to use Business Contact Manager 2013) or to find a new CRM. The preferred option (long-term) would be to get a new CRM, as BCM (Business Contact Manager) does not meet all our needs, and is essentially defunct, but it would need to be less than the price of buying Office 2013 for the 4 users who use it (around $2100).

CRM Requirements:

- cheaper than (or roughly equivalent to) upgrading from MS Office 2007 to 2013
- NOT in the cloud
- Outlook integration
- Contacts/ Accounts/ Appointments/ Opportunities (with products)
- reports
- ability for custom fields
- some marketing functionality

Nice to have

- intuitive ability to track process from lead to opportunity stage with follow-up tasks
- task assignments with email reminders & due dates
- ability to track "bugs", i.e. customer support function (currently using another software for this, but would love to have it integrated)

I've looked into it a bit already & I'm currently evaluating the following:

- ACT! Pro
- Maximizer
- Prophet 7

I'd love to hear from anyone using the ones mentioned, or alternate suggestions. I've found a lot of the "current" CRM software seems to be in the cloud, which is definitely not something the company wants.

I did look at past questions, but did not find one promoted that fits all our requirements. Thanks

posted by Laura in Canada to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Pivotal is a product in the Aptean portfolio.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:09 AM on June 2, 2014

At the risk of not answering your question, current CRM software is in the cloud because it is less expensive to provide than is pre-packaged software that is distributed to users' desktops. It is also easier for the end user to manage and update.

I would suggest that if cost is a principal concern, your company may need to reconsider its aversion to cloud-based solutions.
posted by dfriedman at 7:10 AM on June 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @Ruthless Bunny, I did take a look at that site, but I couldn't find any info on pricing. I feel like it is probably outside the range the company would be willing to spend based on the terms I see ("moderately priced" when MS Dynamics is considered "economically priced" in the same breath). Do you have any info on that? Or would you highly recommend it enough for me to consider contacting them about pricing? Thanks.

@dfriedman, I have been told it is for security reasons (private customer info) that they would not consider a cloud-based option, but I'm sure if it were made clear that that would not be a risk, it would still not be an option right now. Thanks though, I do understand it would help us to get what we are looking for.
posted by Laura in Canada at 7:27 AM on June 2, 2014

I got $5 bucks that says Salesforce.com has way better network security than your company, or just about any small business. However, you can host SugarCRM internally on a private server if you want to. The community edition comes at the low, low cost of free.
posted by COD at 8:53 AM on June 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

CiviCRM is also a free open-source solution that you could run on a private server.
posted by rjd at 12:48 PM on September 23, 2014