interview nine lesson summary

Well. Matt sure did through a lot of terms up in the air. But it seems that his comments do have some merit. From what he said there should be free software out there that can be downloaded and installed on a server that would give you the CRM like functionality that Denise covered in her interview. The key words here are: (1) free, (2) server, and (3) should be.

Well, the free point is good from a budget point of view. Why pay for Act! when you can get the same functionality for free? Well, Matt didn't say that you would get the functionality you need or even the same that Act! can give you. Just that there should be free CRM software packages. Until you look more into what functions these open-source solutions offer then you won't be able to compare the two proposals.

Another point that he made is that it would run on a server. Well, you are already aware that Act! would cost you something in at least hardware so what the cost would be to purchase a server is unknown. There is also the possibility the IT office already has a server that you can have this installed on. But this does seem to have a fairly high overhead requirement for the IT office. They'll have to do some research on open-source CRM options. They would have to see about setting up a system to run this with everything it needs. Matt mentioned that there would more than likely be a database involved and that there shouldn't be any real cost for the usage of MySQL (whatever that is).

And the other key point is the should be. You and your office will have to rely heavily on the IT group to help get this setup and running. And you aren't even sure if there is any type of training required to run this. Until you find out more you can't fully see all of the issues and steps that will be required to make this happen.

The above section covers some of the key lessons noted after the interview with Matt. If you have any insights in this approach or any other thoughts that you feel would enhance the lessons above remember that the built-in comments system is there for you.
Before we go to the next page take out a piece of paper and your favorite writing instrument (you should be seeing a pattern here) and see how many pros and cons that you can come up with regarding this approach.

When you have listed your pros and cons continue to our pros and cons list.