Looking for on-prem CRM for our office. New to this. Advice?

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Hi!

 

So, we are currently using an online provider for our cloud CRM. Nothing special. Contacts (phones, addresses, age), PDF documents. 

 

Our  provider experiencing too many outages. Not only that, I am starting to think that it would just be better (security wise) if we keep our data ourselves. To my understanding, this is called "on prem" (as in premise). 

 

Now I know this is a big universe of information I am getting into, but I would appreciate some advice. 

 

We are trying to keep costs down as well. 

 

I was thinking of an internal "server" which will store our data, but I am completely unaware of what software is needed for such CRM. 

 

Honestly, I am not even sure I am asking the right questions. 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

cloud CRM

Most of them have gone this direction, sadly, the rest (or I should say, the few remaining) that are truly offline, charge by the user, on a monthly basis.

How big is your office, what kind of budget are you working with, do you need expert tech support or are you willing to wing it?

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

4 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Most of them have gone this direction, sadly, the rest (or I should say, the few remaining) that are truly offline, charge by the user, on a monthly basis.

How big is your office, what kind of budget are you working with, do you need expert tech support or are you willing to wing it?

Thank you. 

 

6 office clerks at most. Budget is whatever is needed to do the job. 

 

The problem I am having is - is there even a software that runs like this today? 

 

Sorry, I am very new to this. 

 

Regarding support, I am pretty techy, and always willing to learn. I don't see issues with the hardware itself (i can figure that stuff out), just what to actually use for the purpose of this. 

 

thx again

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

thx again

Ok, offline (as in real, stand-alone offline) CRM does exist, but there will be a learning curve on re-training your crew to use the new stuff, and most offline (that I know of, anyway) CRM solutions require a server and some type of SQL-esque fiddling to make it work right.

 

If you don't care about the level of work involved, I'd look into the following options, most have a free trial, you can see if they will work for you/easy to use/customizable/etc

 

https://www.pipelinersales.com/crm/software/crm-online-offline/

https://smartcrm.gmbh/en/building-blocks/smartcrm-offline/

https://claritysoft.com/features/Offline-CRM

 

I have no direct experience with those, our company used to use SugarCRM, but they went "cloud only!" and that was the end of that.

 

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

Ok, offline (as in real, stand-alone offline) CRM does exist, but there will be a learning curve on re-training your crew to use the new stuff, and most offline (that I know of, anyway) CRM solutions require a server and some type of SQL-esque fiddling to make it work right.

 

If you don't care about the level of work involved, I'd look into the following options, most have a free trial, you can see if they will work for you/easy to use/customizable/etc

 

https://www.pipelinersales.com/crm/software/crm-online-offline/

https://smartcrm.gmbh/en/building-blocks/smartcrm-offline/

https://claritysoft.com/features/Offline-CRM

 

I have no direct experience with those, our company used to use SugarCRM, but they went "cloud only!" and that was the end of that.

 

 

This is awesome! Thank you so much. 

 

Will do the reading now. 

[idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b]

PS - may I ask you a dumb question? 

 

Do the PCs (desktops) connect to the in-house (on-prem) "server" in the same way they connect to the internet? 

 

Since a desktop pc mobo has only one Etherenet port, I am assuming I will need to go through..... a switch? How can the desktop be connected both to the web and to the in-house server at the same time? 

 

Thanks! 

[Radium_Angel]

2 minutes ago, idh1oi12jkl31jk2bgve3jk12b said:

 

This is awesome! Thank you so much. 

 

Will do the reading now. 

You are welcome, if those don't work (or you can give me a more concrete list of features you need) report back and I'll dig further.