#2. you guys were so helpful on my previous question regarding a
customer relation management system. I looked at afew of the options
and even downloaded Sugar but these were way too much. Would it be
possible to get a program like “Kontact” to be accessed at the same
time from about 5-6 different users here in the office?? We want all
users here inside to be running off of the same calendar and also have
the same contact/supplier base to work from. Also through the email we
could all use the same e-mail to send globally and receive globally.
Are there any options or avenues that im not seeing??
First, while a CRM may be overkill, they can provide these types of
services. I'll assume you are not interested in a CRM though, for now....
You are discussing shared address books and shared calendars. Gustin
has some extensive experience with shared calendars. (I'm betting he
will post a response to this thread... ) I have been recently searching
for a shared/common address book solution for myself and have only been
partially successful.
The moment you start thinking of a central repository for contact
information, you find yourself looking at an LDAP server. In theory
this is what it is meant for. In practice it CAN do this, and more. But
the problem comes in terms of what client you are intending on using to
talk to the LDAP server. ThunderBird can read from an LDAP server but
cannot write - so no changing your contacts via ThunderBird. Kontact
should be able to read/write from LDAP. And the inconsistencies extend
to the various clients. If you get to select the client tool, this may
not be an issue. LDAP is a somewhat difficult thing to get set up, as
it is based on terminology and technology that was designed before the
massive proliferation of the Internet. (X.500 is the base concept).
There is lots of documentation out there on getting LDAP up and running,
and really it isn't that difficult. But understanding the terms and the
problem area is not for a novice. Still, a little effort goes a long
ways here. (I might be willing to plan an LDAP workshop if there were
enough interest.)
I believe the easiest alternative at the moment is to make use of Google
Calendar and Google Contacts. There are plugins to make use of these
for most mail clients. The negative side of this is that you are giving
Google your calendar and contact information and it is known they'll
make use of this to personalize ads for you. I personally don't believe
Google has a need for this info, and have so far resisted using these
services. But I can't deny the convenience they bring to the table.
The only other thing I can really add to this is that I was test driving
Sugar at my last job for use in a call centre to share information,
calendars, etc. It never did get off the ground and likely won't under
the current dill-hole management. One good thing is that is runs on any
platform.
I have not looked into this very deeply at this point, but perhaps you
could look at Zimbra. It has many of the features you are looking at &
if you are worried about client access, they offer clients as well.
This is a reach but may suit your needs...who knows. You want also want
to look at a product like sharepoint (ECM I believe). I am not
suggesting you use SP, but there may be something out there for you. I
have come across a few out there. O3Spaces is the only one coming to
mind right now, but try a google for open source sharepoint and they
should come up.
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