why choose sugar and not other crm?

[gabak]

what is the diference between sugar , vtiger , open bravo, info@hand crm.
what is the best for a small computer bussines.?

what about commitcrm.com or mhelpdesk.com they say they are made especially for IT ppl

i got a computer workshop and i need something for that.

[salesagility]

Difference between sugar, vtiger, info@hand:

sugarcrm (community edition) = open source, structured code, developer resources, active & large community, structured & consistent product, high quality forge

vtiger = open source, poorly structured code, much smaller & less active community, inconsistent product

info@hand = no community, not open source, no forge

Err, only one winner that I can see :-)

I have no working knowledge of commitcrm but had a quick look ... just another proprietary software product ... move on, nothing to see.

[Angel]

OpenBravo is not a CRM system, it is an ERP (accounting) system.

There is no "best" product in my opinion. The best solution for you is highly dependent on your specific needs and may be completely inadequate for what I might need it for.

Point being, without knowing what it is you are hoping to accomplish, it is hard to give a recommendation.

That being said, what makes Sugar popular is the fact that it is highly customizable, thus lending itself well to be molded for a wide variety of needs.

[AlexAv]

Vtiger and info@hand using core of SugarCRM 4.x

[AlexAv]

what is the diference between sugar , vtiger , open bravo, info@hand crm.
what is the best for a small computer bussines.?

what about commitcrm.com or mhelpdesk.com they say they are made especially for IT ppl

Much depends on a company that will integrate your business with CRM

[gabak]

i m got a computer bussines and that is my question.
And here it is a pdf comparison

Comparison Chart: info@hand vs. SugarCRM CE and Pro
Feature Notes
info@hand CE Pro
Order Management info@hand‘s Product Catalog supports product assemblies (not just simple prod-
✓✓✓✓✓ ✓✓
& Accounting ucts like Sugar Pro), and adds a catalog import/update function. Only info@hand
has easy Quote customization of company name, address, logo, plus support for
Product Catalog ✓
✓ multiple layouts, multiple tax rates, group and line item discounts, price tuning using
margin or markup, plus a quote approval workflow if required.
Quotes ✓
✓
info@hand can create, print & email Sales Orders & Invoices, process and allo-
Sales Orders ✓ cate Payments, process credit card payments, and print Statements & Receipts.
Accounts reflect the current account balance. info@hand can create Purchase
Invoices ✓ Orders for suppliers, record the resulting Bills, and can record and allocate
PO’s and Bills Outgoing Payments. Sugar CE/Pro/Ent have none of these features.
✓
Shipping and Receiving modules track inventory for multiple warehouses, and can
Inventory
✓ manage partial incoming and outgoing shipments.
Management
info@hand Finance for QuickBooks option synchronizes customer & product lists,
QuickBooks Invoices, Payments, AR balances & Quotes with QuickBooks. Also syncs purchase
✓
Integration information: Supplier list, Bills, Outgoing Payments, AP balances.
info@hand‘s free Joomla-based Portal has Forums, Cases, Bugs, Projects,
Self-Service
Knowledge Base, Event registration, Invoice/Payment history and integrated eStore.
✓
Customer & Partner $$
It also has a special Partner access mode for viewing and creating leads, and re-
Portal
viewing accounts etc.. SugarPortal is an expensive Pro option and offers far less.
The Customer Portal includes a VirtueMart-based eStore that offers the products in
info@hand‘s catalog for online sale. Product images, pricing, inventory and
eCommerce ✓
descriptions, as well as product selection, are managed within info@hand.
info@hand goes well beyond Sugar capabilities. Add dashboards throughout the
menu system, 1-4 columns with adjustable column width, dashlets for News Feeds,
Flexible Dashboards ✓✓✓ ✓
Stock Prices, World Weather/Time, Charts, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google Talk...
Click and drag to set a call or meeting. Grid views show who is free for a group
Group Calendaring ✓✓✓ ✓ meeting. Book meeting rooms, see public holidays, book vacations, print agenda, ...
info@hand includes an MS Outlook 2003/2007 Synchronization plug-in.
MS Outlook Plug-In ✓ ✓
info@hand offers server-side generation of mail merge files using RTF templates.
MS Word Mail Merge ✓ ✓
info@hand Mobile provides web-based access for BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows
Mobile Access ✓ ✓ Mobile, Treo etc... and offers better small screen layouts than Sugar Pro Mobile.
Each article in the info@hand Knowledge Base may be made accessible in the
Knowledge Base ✓ ✓ Customer Portal if desired, for searching by clients.
info@hand forum threads may be linked to Accounts, Cases, Bugs or Opportuni-
ties. They show user photos, and users may register for a thread and receive notifi-
✓✓ ✓
Forum Threads
cation emails about new posts. A Forums Dashlet also shows the most recent posts.
info@hand manages event registration, email reminders & attendance tracking.
Marketing Events ✓
info@hand supports more flexible workflow conditions than Sugar Pro.
Workflow ✓ ✓
All List and Detail views may be printed as PDFs. All info@hand PDFs offer full
Extended Printing
✓ UTF-8 support for languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean.
Support
Very different Projects module - only info@hand tracks project financials and links
Project Management ✓✓✓ ✓ ✓ to Timesheets and Expense Reports. Email reminders, Gantt charts, etc..
Resources have standard costs, with overrides available on a task basis. These
Resource Utilization costs are used to calculate forecast and actual project costs. Expense Reports sup-
✓
& Expense Reports port multi-currency, approvals, advances, linked scanned receipts, cost allocation.
Timesheets may be filed for time spent on Projects and Cases, then approved or
✓
Timesheets rejected, with costs automatically accruing to the Project or Case.
Track employee history, vacation/sick days, dependents, HR documents.
Human Resources ✓
info@hand also tracks assets under support contracts, with automatic email re-
Customer Service ✓✓✓ ✓ minders of renewal dates. Service Cases can print Service Work Orders for techs.
Includes drill-down through sales reporting structure - viewing opportunities, pipe-
✓ ✓
Forecasts Module lines, forecasts, quotas etc..
info@hand adds interactive and scheduled reports: create & email reports and
Custom & Standard
✓ ✓ charts automatically!
Reports
info@hand has User and Implementation Guides with planning and training
material, plus gentle introductions to CRM workflow. Context sensitive Help system
Documentation &
✓✓✓ ✓ ✓ offers full text and image content (SugarCRM just has text) plus a superb search &
Help Pages
lookup capability. Includes User & Install Guides for Self-Service Portal & eStore.
$360 info@hand offers a one-time license fee that is much less than the annual license
License Cost
€185
per user for Free Annual fee for Sugar Pro. With Sugar Pro (& Enterprise at $600 US / user / annum) you
One TIme
On Premise Option never really own anything.
Effective April 2010: Compares info@hand 6.6 to SugarCRM 5.5.1

[salesagility]

Mmmm ... I'm sure that Microsoft, Oracle, Netsuite et al could produce a similarly favourable marketing piece about their products. But the fundamentals with Info@hand is that it's conventional proprietary software.

Now, for some that makes no difference.... and that's fine.

But for others, it's an important distinction.

I fall into the second group.

[gabak]

look this is what the people from info@hand say.

Hi Gabriel -

It is open source in the sense that each client gets all the source code, and may alter it for their own use subject to the terms of our license agreement. So - the source code is open, but it is not 'Open Source'.

As for ERP - depends what you mean by that, what specific features you need. Suggest you review these two sections of the website -

- http://infoathand.com/iah_quotes.html

- http://infoathand.com/iah_inventory.html

Cheers - Michael

Mmmm ... I'm sure that Microsoft, Oracle, Netsuite et al could produce a similarly favourable marketing piece about their products. But the fundamentals with Info@hand is that it's conventional proprietary software.

Now, for some that makes no difference.... and that's fine.

But for others, it's an important distinction.

I fall into the second group.

[AlexAv]

You can do with info@hand all what you need.
It can't by non open source.

[salesagility]

It is open source in the sense that each client gets all the source code, and may alter it for their own use subject to the terms of our license agreement. So - the source code is open, but it is not 'Open Source'.

In no sense is it Open Source. It is a complete distortion to position info@hand as Open Source in any way, shape or form.

What you can say is that it is governed by a restrictive, proprietary license that allows you to amend the code but not to share the fruits of your labour with others ...

Which is why there is no community and no library of extensions.

Open Source licenses and proprietary licenses are so fundamentally different that you need to be absolutely clear about it and not blur the lines.

It is not Open Source in the same way that Sugar Pro and Sugar Ent are not Open Source. It does not mean they are "bad", it just means that their licenses are restrictive, not enabling, open or "free".