is vicidial a CRM?

[aponipedro]

It must be a stupid question to ask but i really need to know if vicidial can be considered a CRM.

Thanks

[williamconley]

Yes. Especially if you consider Custom Fields.

But it falls down when you want multiple "opportunities" per lead. And easily managed multiple leads at a single location.

It really depends on what you need to track on a per-lead basis. By comparison to vTiger and SugarCRM, NO. But that's if you need all the modules. If you only track leads and one sale per lead ... with no "after sale" support, it's perfect.

[mflorell]

Most CRMs aren't able to handle millions of leads like Vicidial can, even with custom fields. Some of our clients use Vicidial as a CRM, some use vtiger/SugarCRM together with Vicidial and only put SALEs in their full-featured CRM, and some clients have built whole sets of pages around Vicidial's custom fields framework to create their own CRM based upon their business rules. As we've learned over the years, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all CRM, most of them need to be customized to how the company works.

[aponipedro01]

Thanks for giving light on this matter. Btw, if I should integrate a CRM on VICIdial, which version of Vtiger/SugarCRM works best with version 2.2.1-259 asterisk 1.4.41.2.

Your reply has always been appreciated.

[williamconley]

vTiger 5.1 already has an integration set with Vicidial, but it's old and vTiger itself is not that cool from a programmer's standpoint. Don't flame me, I've read the code and it's not clean or professional. It does get the job done, though, after a fashion. LOL

But if you are not prepared to deal with a very old version of vTiger, you could try a later version and look at upgrading the built-in integration. Or you could try SugarCRM which has superior coding ... but is missing group level security (on purpose!).

In any case, I'd use the latest version of any CRM when and where possible. But that's me.

[aponipedro01]

Thanks for your insights, William.

I have a very basic knowledge when it comes to programming codes so whether vtiger coding is a mess or not is not that important for us atm. We just need something we could use ^^.

[williamconley]

If you don't need group level security, Sugar is better.

But if you want "simple to integrate", you can try the older vTiger.

On the other hand, I've found that many clients who are that "ambivalent", actually don't need a CRM at all. Vicidial can handle everything you want to do and a CRM merely adds another layer of confusion to your life.

[aponipedro01]

^_^ You are right William.

Anyways, im so pleased to have successfully installed Vtiger. Hopefully I will find something it could help our business after studying it.

[williamconley]

VMware is your friend. Install SugarCRM, too. CE is free. Can't beat that for a way to compare them. Wish I could do that with new cars (take 'em both home, buy the one you like and leave the other to gather dust ...? LOL).