How SugarCRM makes the Case for Commercial Open Source…
Open Source advocates often want to “stick, shaft, burden” our school districts with “free software.” And, they tout the benefits of “without charge software licensing.”
Of course, this argument is shortsighted and wrong, but it holds sway with school district decision makers who don’t know any better.
What the Open Source advocates of “free” forget is that schools are complex enterprises with complex network infrastructure and compatibility needs.
On example of why schools must adopt Open Source with all the professionalism of any business is the Client Relationship Management (CRM) arena.
The top choice for an Open Source CRM product is SugarCRM™.
This is commercial Open Source.
SugarCRM™ is a leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software for companies and schools of all sizes.
SugarCRM™ adapts to these business and educational environments by offering a flexible, cost-effective alternative to proprietary applications, such as the ones sold by industry leaders, Oracle™ and Microsoft™.
SugarCRM™’s Open Source architecture allows easy customization and integration of client and customer business processes. This builds and maintains profitable relationships.
SugarCRM™ products are available products including: on-demand, on-premise and appliance-based solutions. The product line needs to be broad to suit security, integration and configuration needs for a wide range of industry and educational needs.
SugarCRM™ describes their development process as a better way to develop software. Here is what they say…
“SugarCRM is changing the game by finding a better way to develop software.
We author and release Sugar Open Source to a community of 2,400 CRM experts and developers who use the software, provide feedback and develop extensions to the Sugar. We then use revenues from our corporate customers to fund the development and release of new functionality for our development community. That is why Sugar was translated into 24 languages in the last 18 months. This distributed development cycle produces a product that is more innovative and of better quality than closed vendors could ever produce. Put another way, who understands the CRM market better: 8 engineers or 2,400 CRM experts?
What SugarCRM™ is actually doing is using the Open Source process to develop its commercial software.
Smart strategy!
So, why would a school district of business opt for the commercial version instead of the Open Source version?
Quality, stability, reliability, dependability…confidence in the tested product.
And real-time support.
Check out the “Try it and See if it Works” Developers Edition of SugarCRM. Get your copy at…
Check out SugarCRM™ to see just why the “free and no-license fee” Open Source advocates deserve to “get the bums’ rush” in venues such as school districts.
“Free and Cheap” have no place when it comes to “mission critical software applications, and school districts should not blame budget shortfalls for the decision to run inadequate programs just because they were able to acquire the software without cost. Software that is inadequate for the job is no bargain at any price, even free.
