Open Source ERP Guru

Compiere, one of the leading open source ERP vendors, announced the release of a connector to the most popular on-demand CRM solution, Salesforce. The connector will provide bi-directional synchronization of data between Compiere ERP accounts, sales orders and invoices and Salesforce CRM lead tracking and other account information.

It’s always a dilemma for any ERP vendor as to how far he goes in developing his own CRM functionality. Modern CRM systems have evolved to cover almost all aspects of customer interaction (lead generation, contracts, quotations, service and support etc.), and ERP providers find it harder than ever to develop and sell their offering as “ERP & CRM” solution (Compiere’s website is titled: “Compiere Open Source ERP and CRM Business Solution”..)

The solution for most vendors is to provide a tight, out-of-the-box integration with a leading CRM provider. Compiere chose to integrate with Salesforce, but other options might have been the leading open source CRM solution, SugarCRM, or the most popular CRM application, Sieble (was acquired by Oracle a few years ago).

Compiere is not only offering its own customers a good CRM option in Salesforce, but also pitches its ERP solution as a backoffice solution to the huge Salesforce customer base.

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ISO Implements Compiere ERP

ISO is the worlds largest standards organization, setting international standards for any imaginable industry – from high tech to oil drilling, from quality assurance to software development. Compiere, a leading open source ERP vendor, announced that ISO has selected its solution to run their daily operations.

ISO is not a manufacturer or a distributor, but rather a service company. It manages over 18,000 different standards and gets over 5,000 customer orders a month. Compiere ERP will handle mainly products and sales cycles. Great news from Compiere!

Openbravo new partner program

Openbravo announced a new partner program. If you are interested, you can become any of 4 types of partner: Registered, Certified, Gold, and Platinum. That replaced the old partner types of system integrator, ISV and VAR.
I’ve always claimed that one of the key factors to open source ERP solutions success is the partners ecosystem. Openbravo already has over 100 partners in over 40 countries, and the new program is aimed at growing the community further.
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