Hosted CRM or on-demand CRM or web based CRM service provides a simpler, faster and cost-effective customer relationship management services for businesses. Hosted CRM services are designed to streamline and automate the customer interactions are manage touch-points.  In hosted Customer Relationship Management, hardware and software component are provided and maintained by third party hosting provider at remote site. It is an easier and affordable solution for customer relationship for businesses with IT and budget constraints. The hosting service also stores all customer related data. Hosted CRM applications are run on a standard web browser. There are scores of hosted CRM services out there, which makes the choice difficult for most businesses. We had already done with the top CRM software, this time we decided to go for an extensive research to queue up the top 10 hosted CRM services for your convenience.

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In our top 10 CRM software we had mentioned two widely used open source CRM software - SugarCRM and vTiger. There has been much altercation over the fact that vTiger will become the SugarCRM alternative in the CRM space. vtiger CRM was actually forked from Sugar CRM designed to create a fully open source CRM that would offer functionality comparable to salesforce.com. vtiger has undergone significant improvements over the years and is one of the leading CRM software now. Although vTiger shares several common features with Sugar, it includes a few propriety extensions. We decided to bring the two major open source CRM solutions face-to-face.

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iPhone 3G S had a grand welcome and whopping sale that apple's App store can rejoice about. Given the hype, iPhone seems a bit cockamamie when placed in array with enterprise class mobile phones where blackberry rules the roost. I feel it's high-time to look at the technology objectively and search for the productivity options that the Apple touch phone holds. Clearly,  what makes iPhone a darling in mobile market are the apps, especially with the third-party included. Come again, the Apple app store offers several leading-edge apps that covers a wide range of productivity solutions from e-mails, invoices to virtually CRM. There are a loads of these productivity apps already in use, we picked the top 10 newest ones to make your iPhone a more productive tool than you ever made it.

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ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning ) requires the developers to develop applications quickly. This is so because, typically ERP implementation not only involves several applications, but also need the applications to be extended or reengineered to incorporate the systems of partner companies. This calls for a tool that could facilitate Rapid application development (RAD) and simplify the modification of ERP application. The tool should be integration-friendly; interface with and extend distributed systems; and offer a robust and flexible platform for interface development. Java perfectly matches up with the standards. Java is platform independent, object-oriented and flexible and modular enough to encourage design structure.

This lead us to the Java ERP software, following our stint with top 10 ERP software. Although high on performance and efficiency, most of the mainstream ERP solution require a considerable expenditure. These ERP solutions might not be a feasible choice for small and mid sized business tied to budget constraints.These SMEs have a viable alternative in low cost Open Source ERP software. After an exhaustive groundwork we fetched the top 5 Java ERP.

1. Compiere ERP
2. Apache OFBiz
3. Openbravo ERP
4. Opentaps
5. JFire

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"Businesses are not paid to reform customers, they are paid to satisfy customers" is how Peter Ducker defined the purpose of management. Professionals working in the field of Customer Relationship Management today face a tough challenge of managing a huge customer base. The CRM software have revolutionized the way businesses used to think a decade ago. The CRM software have streamlined customer relationship resulting in increased productivity and reduces costs at the same time. The CRM software solution offer tools and solutions for improving and strengthening customer relationship. Researches by companies like Frost & Sullivan suggests that in future companies will be investing more in CRM segments such as marketing automation, customer analytics and closed loop marketing. Our reviews on CRM software were an effort to provide an insight into some of the top Customer Relationship Management products. Coming right behind the line, we would like to present a overview of the top 5 CRM software reviewed in our blog until now.

1. Sugar CRM
2. Infor CRM Epiphany
3. Salesforce.com
4. Microsoft Dynamics CRM
5. CiviCRM

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After having done with the popular open source Sugar CRM, we hit upon one of its competitor the open source CRM vTiger. This free software is feature rich and equipped to the demands of small and medium organizations. vTiger CRM has been designed to manage the wide range of CRM activities and Inventory Management.  The open source CRM software includes sales force automation, customer support & service, marketing automation, inventory management, multiple database support, security management, product customization, calendaring, E-mail integration, add-ons (Outlook Plug-in, Office Plug-in, Thunderbird Extension, Customer Self-service Portal, and Web Forms), and others. To analyze the vTiger lets take a look at its features.

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We are done with a number of Customer Relationship Management software. Again we picked up a CRM software from my list of Top 10 CRM software. This time we got hold of the Infor CRM Epiphany. It is a comprehensive customer relationship management software that integrates marketing, sales, and service. The software is modeled on the basis of B2B or B2C solutions. It is based on the Infor Open Architecture, a service oriented architecture platform built on the J2EE technology. This solution is designed to drive intelligent customer interaction. The CRM provides an ecosystem for intelligent customer interactions at every point. For a broader look at the software let's get into it's features.

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There are several small-sized businesses looking for affordable and effective CRM solutions. I had already reviewed the Salesfore.com and SugarCRM for the small and mid sized business and now I decided to go with an lowly priced CRM software for business with limited budget. I came up with Zoho CRM that seems an effective Customer Relationship Management solution for companies on budget. It is on the cheaper end when compared to most other CRM solutions. It offers end-to-end solutions from marketing activities to post-sales customer support and more.  Zoho CRM helps in managing sales leads, accounts, campaign, forecasts and business activities. Zoho is features all basic CRM functions including campaigns, leads, reports and dashboards and manage inventory. The most convenient thing about Zoho CRM is that you create an account with email address and password and get started. Let's take a look into Zoho CRM's features.  Full article (591 words) »

While I was dealing with salesforce.com review, I came across a lot of experts comparing it with another open source (customer) relationship management solution, CiviCRM. I had CiviCRM on my list of Top 10 CRM software. It is a web-based CRM tool basically designed to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental groups. CiviCRM allows organizations to use a for-profit sales tool on nonprofit CRM purposes. The CiviCRM is also used by many NGOs including Amnesty International , Creative Commons and the Wikimedia Foundation.  Let's get into the CiviCRM to delve more into it. Full article (462 words) »

Microsoft indubitably dominates the PC world. still. I see a large number of small and mid size business working with MS business tools. For CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Microsoft offers a Dynamics CRM software which I mentioned in my Top 10 CRM software. Although Microsoft Dynamics CRM is relatively new to the CRM market, but it has made a significant progress in the CRM market. Microsoft Dynamics has been designed to fillip the sales, satisfaction and service with automated CRM. It allows full integration with Microsoft Office and the Outlook email tool. Let's take a pick on the spectrum of features offered by Microsoft Dynamics.
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