CRM Software Directory
CRM Software Manufacturers 
Top rated CRM software systems and manufacturers listed in alphabetical order.
- Aplicor
Founded in 1999, Aplicor was one of the first to market software as a service business solutions. The company makes online CRM and for high growth, middle market and enterprise organizations. Aplicor is not a small business solution. The online software suits middle market and larger companies. The majority of Aplicor customers are decentralized and multi-national. Aplicor business software solutions are only available via hosted delivery and sold on a subscription basis. Aplicor tends to be much less expensive than Salesforce.com, SAP Business ByDesign and Oracle OnDemand.
Oracle on demand was previously called Siebel On Demand and was a acquired as part of the much larger Siebel Systems acquisition by Oracle in September 2005. Siebel actually previously acquired the hosted business software system called Upshot in October 2003 before maturing it into the Siebel On Demand product. The product best fits small and midsize businesses. Although an Oracle product, Oracle OnDemand offers no hosted back office accounting or ERP software system. Since the acquisition by Oracle, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has made very and analyst firm Gartner has illustrated that Oracle has reduced focus and spending on the SaaS software, leaving many to wonder if this part time solution will be sidelined by the software giant.
This software manufacturer has been delivering quality customer relationship management software since 1997. The company's sweet spot is clearly customer service applications such as call center software, customer support, help desk and self service. In May 2006, RightNow acquired company SalesNet in an effort to add much needed SFA and marketing software to the RightNow suite. However, despite the acquisition and post-integration, RightNow continues to struggle in the SFA and marketing space and instead heavily focuses in its core competency of customer service applications.
Salesfoce.com is credited with evangelizing the software as a service movement and has since become the 800 pound gorilla of the hosted CRM software industry. The Salesforce.com product is particularly strong in SFA and not as strong in marketing automation and customer support. In an interesting strategic direction, the company has veered away from focus as a CRM or business software provider and instead channels its efforts in becoming a Platform as a Service (PAAS) provider. Having succeeded in CRM software, the company now has its sights on Microsoft and Sun and intends to become the multi-tenant operating system of the Internet.
SAP is of course best known for its R/3, ERP (currently version 6) and MySAP product suites. Not content to just be the market share leader among ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software systems, the company's client/server CRM software system is also rated the number one market share leader (however, Oracle vigorously disputes this and claims that it is the top market share leader). After several years of down-playing the software as a service market, SAP finally threw its hat in the SaaS ring with Business ByDesign. The Business ByDesign product was announced in 2007, partially released in 2008 and has yet to make much of an impact in the hosted software market.
SugarCRM is the most popular open source CRM software system. While there are over 30 open source CRM applications available, Sugar is the only one demonstrating any success in the small business market. While the Sugar development community appears active and the system has near global representation, the product is largely limited to small businesses. The company boasts a few larger clients, however, most middle market and larger organisations that review SugarCRM find its capabilities far too limiting.
