Why is there no simple CRM (for Windows)?

Question

Ok, maybe I'm looking for under the wrong keyword, if so, please enlighten me :)

I'm looking for a software that can do the following:

• Contact Management
• Calendar Management
• Mail Integration
• Document support
• (plus) Telephon/Call/Fax integration would be a great plus.

It does need to be able to cope with more then one person using it. (e.g. Contact sharing, Calendar sharing, Mail/Documents attached to events/tasks or persons) Though it would be sufficient to handle 3 to 10 users.

It also does need to support mobile and remote application. (E.g. on an android phone. CardDav+CalDav+IMAP or a suitable replacement would be sufficient). Remove access over slow lines would be nice (would not need to be a full blown client).

If it would seamlessly integrate with Office tools that would be great as well.

The software David by Tobit solves this quite ok. But is a hell to maintain and breaks frequently. Once the internal database (File System Structure) is corrupted, it's hopelessly broken. It's "mobile"/"remote" support is also heavily affected by this.

Another package: Work4All does most of this also pretty neat, but fails flat on their network architecture. And remote hosting has no sensible price component.

Daylite also seems to be a pretty good piece of software solving the above needs. But it's for mac only.

Final note: after browsing the web for CRM solutions: I don't understand why a CRM system needs all this social stuff. I must be missing something, but why would I put facebook and twitter like features in a simple CRM?

Any hints for a CRM that might suite the needs outlined above are much appreciated!

Answer 1

Looking at your bullet points, for most "multi-user" Windows environments those problems are solved in Exchange + Outlook + Outlook Business Contact Manager + Lync.

Anyone who wants to enter the space would have to go up against or work within that 800lb gorilla, especially once you specify multi-user. A few have actually done this, but mainly you're looking at web solutions (37signals and Salesforce come to mind).