Posted by jfdill at Apr 15, 2005 4:46:42 AM
Contacts Management
Are there any programs out there that do something similar to ACT! or Exchange but better? I'm working with some clients who manage home care and they have large ACT! databases with about 15,000 contacts, in 600 groups, a smaller number of those are actually active with notes, appointments, and so on associated with them. One client is using something called HandHeld Contact (HHC) to sync a subset of contacts from ACT! to a Blackberry, and that seems to be working fairly well.
Fortunately, I am not directly responsible for the ACT! chunk of the operations, just network engineering and server maintenance, but I want to get educated about what is available. I am also interested in the idea of maybe eventually being able to provide a hosted solution based on Linux / OpenSource--maybe not ready for prime time now, and needs some custom coding and development, but something that could be rolled out a few years down the road.
Posted by lamplight at Apr 16, 2005 2:12:29 AM
Re: Contacts Management
Jonathan sounds like a great idea. I briefly looked into similiar about a year ago for a client myself, I found some open source calendaring apps that are available so I know theres at least a few. Just doing a search and found
http://www.phprojekt.com/I would think this wouldnt be so hard with some programming skills (maybe even just php... or the alternative wink ) . I didn't look too much at the above one but it seems to encompass more of a groupware set of features, not simply contact management. I'm fairly familiar with act, what are the set of functions you you are looking for in addition to storing contacts?
I'm currently using phpbb/mysql on linux for a discussion forum and that allows some of that functionality.. im a songwriter as well, so i setup a hidden password protected forum where i can login from wherever and add some snippets of lyrics as they hit me when im away from home. (primarily used to be before I worked for myself).
Your idea appeals to me as I do run a website on a linux server (as described) and do use thunderbird , it would be very cool to access my contacts via web securely. you're speaking my language.
there is a product that web-enables an act database FYI but it isn't open source that i know of.
-matt
Posted by jsteig at Apr 18, 2005 11:47:04 AM
Re: Contacts Management
I love the idea of an open source CRM (contact relationship management) system. On the Macintosh platform I?ve had good results with DayLite from MarketCircle.com which beats what I?ve seen of GoldMine and ACT in functionality and user interface. I?ve recently had the misfortune to return to the world of Windows and have been getting reacquainted with GoldMine. I have had good success so far going with a hosted Exchange service from DevStreet.com. For $10 a month per user it seems an excellent deal.
Joseph
Posted by jfdill at Apr 20, 2005 3:43:34 AM
Re: Contacts Management
I really do appreciate the input so far and have been mulling over a lot of the comments and suggestions, just swamped with work. It's not as easy to find time to do web and e-mail with my new consulting job. I'm just more conscious of how I spend my time when I am out at client sites, want to make sure that people get their money's worth.
To give you a kind of feel of the scale of what I am thinking about as a sort of "pilot program"--this is brainstorming, also I should mention I am a "techie" and could really benefit from input from someone who actually has some business sense. If it sounds like I am talking out of my derrier, I probably am, but remember this is just BRAINSTORMING and not an actual plan. Practically speaking, it probably looks like finding some groupware project that is out there to: a) start using to meet my own needs; b) get involved in the development; c) share with a few friends who want to play around with it too. The point here is if I am going to put my time and energy into this, it wouldn't hurt to be working on something with some growing room and potential to it, besides that could be more exciting as well.
* about 20 client businesses
* at first maybe offered as an "add on" to e-mail hosting
* small businesses 5-15 employees
* each client has about 30,000 contacts
* about 1,000 contacts are really active
* ability to sync with thunderbird
* use of standard protocols IMAP, POP3, LDAP
* use of (emerging?) calendar protocols
* ability to sync with Palm and/or Blackberry
* ACT! migration path
Open question: How do you make it scalable?
First approach: each client gets his or her own 1U server, each server is cheaper
Second approach: clients share servers, but they are more robust, maybe even clustered, maybe even at multiple locations
Third approach: separate functionalities and optimize eg. database server, web server, mail server, storage server
#3 is probably the most scalable, but more difficult to maintain. #1 is probably the easiest to maintain, but could encounter performance issues. #2 may be a compromise between #1 and #3.
Open question: What is the business model?
One thought is to put the emphasis on the convenience and affordability of a hosted service and make the platform itself Open Source, make it simple and cater to "stupid users" who want an easy but robust solution they can access from anywhere. That is the way I would be inclined to go, but I have no idea what it takes to make it work as a business model, maybe draw parallel to services like Yahoo with integrated e-mail, contacts, tasks, calendar, but this is going to be a business-grade solution to handle a lot more volume and load per user, and it would be subscription based rather than ad based. I picture a custom portal themed for the business for a more professional look, like imagine a customer looking over your shoulder and seeing that vs. seeing that you get your e-mail on Yahoo! with ad banners and all, maybe it's an image thing.
Second thought is to focus on a proprietary or custom application which could be packaged and licensed, for example based on Suse Groupware application. The documentation, knowledge base, and user support could be the "product" that is really sold, maybe services for people to deploy their own server at their own site, or purchase a box with the app already installed, maybe you could sell contracts for "on site" deploy and configure, or remote-assisted install. This model has potential for partnerships and VAR type agreements, also possible to become a Suse Certified Vendor for example.
Open question: What is the development model?
With the first business model, I would like to see involvement with the Ubuntu and Debian platforms, possible funding from Canonical Ltd and linux vendors. It might be possible to bring in developers from projects like OGO or sugarcrm. It might be possible to go after bounties.
Posted by lfranco at Apr 20, 2005 2:35:25 PM
Re: Contacts Management
These guys
http://www.salesforce.com/Pretty much invented the space a few years ago. They have a very rich CRM tool with APIs for customizing it and a rich developer community.
That being said, while they used to focus on small businesses, they have clearly moved up to mid to large size companies -- you may find a niche if you have specific features and a price point that's interesting to a small company.
Just because it exists, doesn't mean you can't do it too -- clearly you
have met people that either don't know about salesforce.com or do not find that it meets their needs.
Good luck.
