Hi, I need to convince a boss about open-source not being kid’s play, and about SuiteCRM being used in serious business companies throughout the world.
I can use the SugarCRM fame also. In reality, the only option on the table is going to be SuiteCRM, but it’s fair to say that if a big company works with SugarCRM (up to v.6.5), then what we’ll get with SuiteCRM is in the same league (only better).
Can you please help me list a few big projects using SugarCRM (up to v.6.5) and SuiteCRM? For example, I heard IBM uses SugarCRM. I also heard SalesAgility did projects for the NHS, but it would be nice to know how to phrase it (the NHS is a big thing and I’m sure they only covered some part of their dealings). I also heard about a project at a big european car-maker, can we know the name yet? (I’ll understand if we can’t, I’m just asking)
Finally, maybe I could add some other numbers to my sales pitch, if anybody has numbers. Like X-thousand downloads, estimated X-thousand end-users, estimated number of deployments in production, etc.
Thanks!
Jeez … not many questions there 
OK: We are in the middle of some projects but will not name names yet.
-
5 year project for one of the world’s largest automotive component company’s. European roll-out to 14 territories. 800 direct users, 3,000+ Portal users. Business won against SugarCRM.
-
3 year project for one of Europe’s largest energy company’s. 3 year full stack development to include integration with open source BPM, e-Commerce, Billing & Invoicing. Deployment to 40 operating companies across Europe. Business won against Salesforce.
-
NHS England - SuiteCRM is the preferred open source CRM for NHS England. Multiple projects delivered and more being worked on.
Number of downloads = 500,000+
Number of deployments = 500,000+
I hope this helps. If you need other assistance then contact us off the forum. We’d be happy to talk with your boss directly. SalesAgility is an ISO9001 accredited software company that does things properly. We only do CRM and we are very, very good at it (does SuiteCRM count as a reference?).
1 Like
Hi Greg, thanks, this is very helpful and should probably be enough.
I think that whenever it’s possible to reveal names, it would also help - it simply generates more confidence to say “NHS” than to mention a mysterious company. But I understand that adequately managing your relationship to customers comes before any considerations about publicity.
I notice you don’t mention anything about SugarCRM : - ) I think that if I want information about that it won’t be coming from you! Fair enough.
If the number of downloads is 500.000+ then I believe assuming there are 500.000+ deployments is way too much. I know I downloaded dozens of times in the past years, I tried a lot of stuff, I downloaded upgrades, etc., but the number of actual deployments in my case is about 0.5! And many people give up due to the tough learning curve, and the fact that many simply are not technically qualified to deploy something like this. But even if there were only 100.000 deployments it would still be a huge, successful project.
I’m never going to have more than 50 concurrent users here so mentioning the project with 800 users is going to make my boss feel more confident that we are not stretching the capacity of this software. Thanks!