Why espo?

[Mark G.]

I'm a brand-new user of EspoCRM, but I'm not new to the CRM world, having spent most of my IT-working life involved with membership-type software.

My question ... why did you choose Espo?

In my case, I had taken the well-trodden path of investigating some of the various CRM systems out there and not being quite satisfied ... SugarCRM, SuiteCRM, Zurmo, Rukovoditel, etc. Each one had its pros and cons, but eventually I found myself hitting the proverbial brick wall ... where you run out of capability and flexibility.

For me, the three big pluses with Espo were 1) the ability to incorporate conditional logical into the system, 2) formulas/calculations and 3) the ability to create different forms (views) for different sets of users. With these features, you have tremendous customization capability ... the ability to create a system to fit the user's needs, rather than just a basic "shoe box" in which to store data.

Perhaps the only downside with Espo is not having a means to get information out of the system, without having to buy additional software ... but that's not an unfair trade-off. Other than perhaps SuiteCRM and Zurmo (which both have some built-in reporting features, out-of-the box), this is a common design feature of the "free" or open-source CRMs ... you can get data into the system, but getting information out is not as easy.

Regardless, what brought you to using Espo?

[item]

Hi,
are you developper/integrator/ .. .on witch "eye" are you asking and will response ?
i know SugarCrm and SuiteCrm.

[Mark G.]

I'm actually now retired, but I still dabble, where people need help. There was nothing nefarious in my question and I have no connections with any CRM creators. I was merely asking why users on this board decided on Espo for their particular CRM application.

[item]

Haaa.. my english is poor .. so i translate with google .. so you need to adapte my words in poor english. (my question was not in bad way)

I will respond later.. my opinion

[item]

Why,
after sugar.. and fork suite and see always same "core framework".. i decide to change.
you can look on github how many issue are open (suitecrm.. espocrm) ! a basic sample, how phone field is in sugar->suite.

A crm must be "clean front-end" .. no "bling-bling".. and then find espoCRM
i study with my knowledge.. front-end is "pure/clean" .. do what you will.. back-end is really well.
i begin in espoCrm 5.5... and see evolution 5.6 ... 5.9... 6... and now 7.
i asked to Yuri make extension Outlook Integration.. he done it..
i use AdvancedPack a must have.. and certainly i use only at 50% of capacity.. this extension is wonderfull. you can do all.
we have voipExtension.. we don't use it because user but work perfect..

EspoCrm can be modified/adapted.. easyly.. work without bug, is uptodate in all requirement..
with v7.. the core is certainly "robust" like no other crm..
all line of code is perfecly coded.. and respect the "coding rule" choose
you find a developper who know some library (front-end.. back-end).. you have no limit.

Maybe in +-2017, documentation was poor.. but now with all effort of teams, documentation is perfect.. and for me this make a positive value.

I ask some many time to Yuri the avability to customise middleTable.. but he say no.. but espoCrm give you all for do this..just need a developper who read document

And, i say always to my director.. if you need to invest.. invest to "espoCrm"

And last, Yuri is the person who have "developed" the calendar and give to sugar who is used by suite (last suite i know was 7)

I have migrate 2 crm, one from sugar, other from suite to espocrm whith no problem.
one script : entryPoint in sugar/suite .. who just respond table as json.
one job in espocrm who just loop after table and ask to entryPoint.. and inject in database.

Regards

[rabii]

From my experience the whole community is there for you, tremendous power when in comes to customisation. I have used all CRM you mentioned in your post and was not satisfied with them, i was following the evolution of espocrm since 2016 and when version 5 was released i jumped into using it, loved it since then and couldn't change. I have even used other well known CRM like Zoho, Salesforce but always a limitation due to nature of commercial product. Espocrm is well designed CRM with very good performance, very clean and simple UI, open to any customisation (front-end / back-end) you can extend the system to any logic no limitations at all.

Also with Extension like Outlook integration / Sales Pack and Advanced Pack (with full power of automation workflow and BPM you can do any logic for any business). I have been using these commercial extension and i am super happy with price and support provided by the team. A lot of people i know have switched to use espocrm once they saw how we build a powerful CRM using it.

Community is there for you to help, the forum you can learn anything, please will share code and help you sort out your issues.

It is the best CRM i have ever used and always advice other people to use it. for me Espocrm really is the manifestation of Open-source power.

All love to the developers, they really doing a great job.

[item]

It is the best CRM i have ever used and always advice other people to use it. for me Espocrm really is the manifestation of Open-source power.

100% OK with you.

code back-end, code front-end.. analyse/implementation.... what use, how use library is all very well choose by Yuri and teams.. it's "state of art"

[esforim]

It the only Open Source system that support Multi-Email and Multi-Phone, the other one I use they went with each field for each phone numbers/email, so I end up having to create, Email1, Email2, Email3 field. I tested a few paid trial one and they have the same issue.

But not everyone have multiple email so end up with blank information field.

Aside from that, EspoCRM have it weakness and strength. EspoCRM don't have a feature that I can say, "I can't leave EspoCRM!", that option is still there for me at this stage. Just haven't found a replacement system yet.

And it nice to have a forum to get help.

[JosNas]

Espo's flexibility is astonishing. I am a fresh grad in the world of software development, and completely new to CRMs and currently the only developer at our company (which is why I ask a lot of questions here hahaha sorry community). My manager was asking for things I used to think were impossible. Espo helped me complete those tasks without having to dive into the code very deeply.

The entities, fields, access rights to a granular level, workflows, formulas and all their flexibilities and how you change how they interact with each other can help you accomplish wonders. It is up there at the level of Dynamics 365 in my opinion, but the access control flexibilty here is also unmatched especially with Nested Teams.

Most importantly, the support from the community is incredible. Again, this was the first CRM I ever use and alone at the company, but the community acted like a team to me and helped accomplish all the required tasks successfully. The only downside is sometimes your questions go unanswered for a while, and when they do they kind of 'disappear' down the list so you have to follow up and bump them again.

[Mark G.]

I'm pleased to hear that Espo and its flexibility is working out for you and your employer.

Back in my early IT working days ... then called "DP" (data processing), and a world of mainframe computers and raised-floor, air-conditioned rooms ... if you wanted a piece of software, you wrote it from scratch ... accounting, payroll, etc. (The only benefit, then, was having no Internet, you got to travel to some interesting places, to do remote installations).

In this age, software has become more "building blocks" ... you take something, like Espo, and adapt and build on top of it.

I am curious ... do you have a sandbox-type Espo system on which to experiment, or do you simply work on the "hot" (live) Espo instance?

[JosNas]

Mark G. To be honest I love the sound of the earlier Data Processing Days, even though work was definitely harder than it is today. As for Espo, I have an instance installed locally on my machine on which I usually experiment. However since our hosted instance still didn't "go live" yet (the link is still temporary), I am mainly experimenting and working on it there.

And yes, I agree, the fact that software development became "building blocks" is in my opinion a huge benefit to the field as a whole. In my case, I took Espo, created new entities, relationships, and fields , and now I basically turned my instance from a CRM to an Organization Management System (Members, Board Members, Voting, Membership Fees, Companies & their Sectors....)