4/15    I finally understand what a CRM is and what it is used for.
        it's the database of contacts, customers, customers' employees,
        business leads, interests, themes, "opportunities" and a calendar
        to remind you the flow of following it all up.  The front end is part
        of a CRM.                       -brain
        \_ throw in deliverables, impressions to cover marketing
        \_ http://csua.com/?entry=12519
                \_ right, that was the post I was referring to.
                   check out the mouseover on kchang's page!  crazy!  -brain
        \_ It should be noted that most CRM project fail. (you don't earn
           your money back on the investment for it)
           \_ Yeah.  Most of the CRM software that people bandy about
              (RazorsEdge, etc), work out to be upwards of $150k.  When
              we looked into it at the BAM/PFA, it was around $150k for the
              package and customization.  Hardware to run it and ongoing
              support was a lot of money on top of that.
              There are other systems out there, though, with not quite all
              the functionality but much more reasonable price.  -sax
                \_ the installation I was working with cost $30k, with $50k
                   of labor and $200k of contracting that went into building
                   custom modules into it.  The data mining that resulted
                   from it landed a $4.8 M deal.  Sounds like a good
                   investment to me!
              \_ I've struggled through goldmine for the last 2 years, and
                 hate the pile of shit.  90% of user problems are goldmine
                 crashing, "losing" mail, and just otherwise being a pile
                 of shit.  They still use a fucking broken bde library.
                 The DB schema has grown without a redesign for years, and
                 feels like it.  I've been wanting to make my own suite out
                 of open source stuff to replace the crap. --scotsman
                 \_ We actually went with a Filemaker solution.  It was
                    developed by people who left Bluebaud.  It is FM, but
                    it has a pretty decent feature set... kind of focused
                    on membership and donation campaign tracking.  For
                    under $15k, it does everything we need and more -sax
           \_ i agree, but it depends on which company you get it from.
              ROI from enterprise crm companies generates more cash flow.
              The mid-market crm products out there aren't that good and
              is why most fail.  If you can come up with a cheap mid-market
              crm product, then definitly make one.
        \_ LT. TOEJAM: I just got another blast on the CRM-114, and the
           damned thing decodes: Wing Attack, Plan-R.
           MAJOR KONG: Wing attack, Plan-R?
           \_ Major Kong: Well, I've been to one world fair, a picnic, and a
              rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a
              set of earphones. You sure you got today's codes?
                \_ http://crm114.sourceforge.net  -John