Concrete and CRM

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What are peoples thoughts on this but I would love to see some sort of CRM add-on for Concrete that offer some services like Sales Force.

A few of my clients would love this.

just thought I would plant the seed. ;-P

senshidigital
 
ThemeGoodness replied on at Permalink Reply
ThemeGoodness
I would be interested in a project management tool as well.
testytim replied on at Permalink Reply
testytim
I would like to see a crm. I do a lot of work for non-profits. I don't get paid and resources ($) are usually not available for my 'clients' to obtain software. Open Source and the like, is usually the answer to non-existent tech budgets.

C5 is perfect for non-tech personnel. I tried Drupal, but clients just could not navigate the learning curve. I am working on my first C5 implementation, and I think it will be the answer.
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
Look forward to seeing what you come up with.
clevyr replied on at Permalink Reply
clevyr
Did you get anywhere with this? I am considering using Sugar in the office, and maybe ActiveCollab for the PM side of things...

A Concrete5 CRM/PM tool would be pay-worthy.
myFullFlavour replied on at Permalink Reply
myFullFlavour
Basecamp, Highrise & Zendesk are my CRM/PM tools!
ThemeGuru replied on at Permalink Reply
ThemeGuru
I actually use pancakeapp for billing and their bringing out a small PM solution as well.

From personal experience I tried to get my clients to use a PM but it was just to big and bulky. Most of the time they just emailed me.

At the end of the day it really depends on which type of client you have.

I would probably pay for a PM solution for c5. Maybe projectpier gets ported over, but its not an urgent project.
Darkwater23 replied on at Permalink Reply
Darkwater23
Hmm, interesting idea. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, though.

I customize SageCRM on a regular basis for my clients. A CRM is entirely different kind of app than a CMS. The administration features are extensive. Entity creation, relationships, workflow, communications, etc. I guess "add-on" makes it sound too deceptively simple to me.

What would be cool, though, is a CRM that is built in a similar way to C5. I don't know how Sugar is coded, but the way C5 is coded is really growing on me. If a CRM was built like C5, customization would be much easy than customizing Sage. I can testify to that!
frz replied on at Permalink Reply
frz
I agree with you.. in-context editing is awesome for websites, but isn't all that useful for an app like CRM.

I'd love to see single signon solutions for concrete5 and sugar, or other CRMs.. that would help.
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
For me all I need (my client wishes) is some features like Sales Force where the form submitted on the page is stored and generates a 'lead' page. Here you can track sales, marketing etc.

I suppose something like the reports C5 generates at the moment but a lot more comprehensive.
synlag replied on at Permalink Reply
synlag
vtiger integration would be awesome

http://www.vtiger.com/
Teddie5000 replied on at Permalink Reply
Teddie5000
I had an in depth look at SugarCRM / vTiger for a client in February this year. The bottom line is, it looks great on the surface but the coding is dreadful. I would avoid trying to customise this application.

This is a real shame becuase it is the only Open Source CRM platform out there that seems to do what the commercial CRM solutions do.

I was thinking about creating a few CRM style blocks that you could install into Concrete5 as a workaround and use the user/groups/permissions to display them to those who should see them. As part of my proposal in Feb I had to write the database schema and necessary screens and I kept thinking - this is so much like Siebel, am I trying to reinvent the wheel? Having done a lot of the thinking about it I am still keen to give it a go, provided there is the demand for it?
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
We are in the process of building a CRM add-on for concrete as we wanted one for ourselves. Its taking a bit longer to do as we are fitting it around our clients work.

Soon as we have anything I will let you all know.

We will be inviting a select few from this forum to test it out too so will let you know when we are at this stage.

We are looking at the end of September for an alpha/beta stage build that we are happy with.

Cheers

Chris
warrenz replied on at Permalink Reply
warrenz
I would love to help test as well. I have a big project with a definite need for a CRM.

Right now Salesforce is our choice, but something integrated directly with concrete would be wayyyy better.
SteveJohn replied on at Permalink Reply
good luck!
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
We are building a Lead/sales tracker for C5. A simple CRM if you like.

Hope to have it ready in a couple of months.
PassionForCreative replied on at Permalink Reply
PassionForCreative
Would definitely be interested in this add-on. Can't wait to see it Dojodesign
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
Great news. We are still at the early stages but its taking shape. I'll post details on how it's coming and it's functionality as soon as I can.
gewald replied on at Permalink Reply
gewald
How are things going with the CRM development?

Garrett
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
Hi Garrett

Still in development. Taking a bit longer than anticipated.

Soon as we have news I will let everyone know.

Cheers

Chris
MarkRussellKington replied on at Permalink Reply
MarkRussellKington
any News on the CRM project ??
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
We are looking at September/October for beta testing. We may invite a few on here to try it out also.

Will keep you updated.

Cheers

Chris
MrHyde replied on at Permalink Reply
MrHyde
I'm VERY interested in this as well, my company is in the process of scoping out a project that includes a CRM integration with either Sugar, vTiger or Salesforce.

Are you thinking about coming up with something that is native to Concrete, or something that integrates a different CRM solution?

P.S. Don't forget about mobile, my company's sales people want to be able to access a CRM in the middle of trade shows from their phones.
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
Hey

This will be integrated into Concrete 5. It will pull in leads from forms created in Concrete 5 or you can insert them manually if you receive leads over the phone etc. You will be able to say when a lead is won, lost, binned and the amount that it's worth etc. This will generate reports on how well your business is doing which you can also export.

This will not be as In depth as Sales Force or Zoho but will cater for most small businesses. We can always add functionality later down the line if it gets enough interest.

I will say we are perfectionists so won't release anything until we are completely happy with it. At some point later down the line I will post up some screenshots so you can get an idea how it's coming together.

Cheers Chris
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
Oh, forgot to say, an iPad/iPhone app may also be on the cards. ;-)
frz replied on at Permalink Reply
frz
If you want salesforce integration, we can help with that. We've built single signon with salesforce using SAML for clients in the past. Just send me a PM.
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
Very Interesting Franz.

This may be something we add as a separate option for this add-on further down the line.

We mainly wish this to be a standalone application that works using Concrete5 and not an outside source. Gives the user more control over there information.

Will speak to the team and see what they say. Appreciate the offer of help.

Cheers

Chris
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply 1 Attachment
senshidigital
Hi all

Attached is a spec document for the CRM we are building. Give you an idea of how it will function.

Please post any questions.

Cheers

Chris
ScottC replied on at Permalink Reply
ScottC
Sounds great. Good luck :). It sounds like a daunting application. How many hours do you have estimated for it?
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
To be honest not too sure. Iona, our lead developer, will be working on it about two weeks a month to get it finished. (in between clients work)

Will not release it until its ready.
moosh replied on at Permalink Reply
moosh
I can not wait to test it! :)
webtodesigns replied on at Permalink Reply
webtodesigns
Would be Very Interested in this.

Please PM me when you guys are done or need a Beta Tester :)

Garen
alseageo replied on at Permalink Reply
This looks great! It might be just what our company needs.
malkau replied on at Permalink Reply
malkau
ooh, I'd be keen for an addon like this. still considering making it?
BlueFractals replied on at Permalink Reply
BlueFractals
This sounds interesting. Where are you up to with this?
senshidigital replied on at Permalink Reply
senshidigital
Hey guys.

Our production has been manic here, which is good, so this has taken a back seat for now.

We are building it and hope to have something early next year. Its in our production and will not get moved so it is happening.

We just want to make sure its right.

Cheers
Chris
ronyDdeveloper replied on at Permalink Reply
ronyDdeveloper
Hi Chris
Is the add-on ready for use?

Rony
jasteele12 replied on at Permalink Reply
jasteele12
Hi Chris,

Bump checking to see if there is any news on the progress? I would be happy to alpha/beta this, so feel free to add me to that contact list.

Thanks,

John
dragongardens replied on at Permalink Reply
dragongardens
an add-on for NIMBLE would be nice, to incorporate with Mail Chimp
vlarsson replied on at Permalink Reply
vlarsson
We have done integration with BaseCRM (http://basecrm.com). It's currently stuck in the verification process, but send me a message if you'd like to try it out.
MrHyde replied on at Permalink Reply
MrHyde
Any movement on this?
ericchaffey replied on at Permalink Reply
I am also very curious if this has any legs, even wobbly or broken ones. If something could be put out here, Github or similar, it would give others a chance to get something awesome moving along. The start of this post is so damn old though I hope at least a piece of this could be put out for public consumption.

Please, if it is still out there, can we at least get a peak or test of such an awesome tool.