beantownbabeandClaude Sonnet 5
95eac39434
From the CRM Research session: replaces the plain comparison table with a richer one (origin, catch column), adds a full Requirements page (must-have/ nice-to-have, other names looked at, sources) and a new Pricing page, following the same hero-nav + drill-view pattern as Marketing/Sales. Adds click-triggered info-badge popovers for contested/unverified facts (Zoho's EU/DPA tier, Capsule's IMAP support, etc.), replicating the info_popover() pattern from linkedin_analytics as vanilla JS since this dash has no Dash runtime. Also adds CRM_Research_README.md documenting the whole section, and tracks CRM_Research_Notes.md's latest revisions. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
6.4 KiB
6.4 KiB
CRM Requirements & Option Survey — Research Notes
Status: Neutral survey, no recommendation made — per instruction to stay unbiased on solution direction until requirements are locked. Scope limited to non-US vendors (EU or otherwise, but not US-headquartered or US-owned) for data-sovereignty reasons. Date: 2026-08-17
1. Requirements
Must-have
- Contact + company records with custom fields, tagging, duplicate detection
- Excel/CSV import with field mapping
- Deal/pipeline with customizable stages and value tracking
- Activity/interaction logging (calls, meetings, notes) tied to contact/deal
- Generic IMAP/SMTP email integration — connects to any mail server via host/port/user/pass, not just an OAuth app for Gmail/Outlook (the single biggest filter for a Mailcow shop)
- Multi-user roles/permissions
- EU data hosting + a signed DPA (GDPR Art. 28)
- Export/delete tooling for data-subject access/erasure requests (Art. 15/17)
- Admin burden proportional to a non-technical 8-person team
- Basic reporting: pipeline value, stage conversion, activity counts
Nice-to-have
- Mobile app
- Email templates/sequencing/mail merge (may overlap with existing in-house mail-merge tool)
- Bulk CSV export of LinkedIn-sourced contacts
- Workflow automation/triggers
- Self-hosted option (plausible given existing Nextcloud self-hosting)
- API access (for future integration with the mail-merge tool)
- Free tier to trial before commitment
- Calendar sync
2. Candidate Survey (non-US vendors only, alphabetical, no ranking)
| CRM | Origin | CSV Import | Pipeline | Generic IMAP/SMTP | EU Hosting/GDPR | Self-Hosted | ~Cost, 8 users | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capsule CRM | UK | Yes | Yes | No — Gmail/Outlook native only, others SMTP-send only | GDPR-oriented, data-center specifics unclear | No | Quote-based | Fails the IMAP must-have — needs a live check before including further |
| EspoCRM | Ukraine (core dev entity) | Yes | Yes | Yes, native, well-documented | Self-hosted = full control; cloud plans exist | Yes, free open-source | Free self-hosted (server cost only) | Needs a server + basic PHP/MySQL upkeep |
| Odoo CRM | Belgium (EU) | Yes | Yes | Documented generic IMAP/POP3 support (not independently re-verified live) | Community self-hosted = full control; Online EU terms unclear | Yes, Community free | Cloud pricing varies by region | Full suite — easy to over-buy for CRM-only needs |
| SuiteCRM | UK (Scotland) | Yes | Yes | Yes, standard IMAP config | Self-hosted = full control | Yes, free open-source | Free (server cost only) | Most feature-rich but heaviest of the open-source options |
| Zoho CRM | India | Yes | Yes | Supported at protocol level (TLS) | EU data center (Netherlands); sources conflict on whether DPA/EU-region needs Enterprise tier | No | Mid-tier pricing per seat, varies by plan | Cheapest tier may not include the EU-hosting guarantee needed |
New EU-native names, now checked against the same requirements:
| CRM | Origin | CSV Import | Pipeline | Generic IMAP/SMTP | EU Hosting/GDPR | Self-Hosted | Free/OSS | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CentralStationCRM | Germany (Cologne) | Yes | Yes | No — email is BCC-to-proprietary-address or forward-to-inbox, or a Microsoft 365-specific add-on; no generic IMAP/SMTP host+port setup found | Yes — hosted in Frankfurt, online-clickthrough DPA (AVV) provided | No — SaaS-only | Free tier capped at 3 users/200 contacts, not usable at 8 | Fails the IMAP must-have despite being the most "German" option |
| Dolibarr | France (non-profit association, GPL) | Yes | Yes | Yes — plain IMAP login (host+port+SSL) to any server, OAuth2 optional not required | N/A — self-hosted, so EU hosting/DPA is whatever server you pick; no official DoliCloud DPA found | Yes, GPL, unlimited users | Yes, fully free/open-source | Cleanest sovereignty story and meets every must-have; only cost is your own hosting |
| Efficy CRM | Belgium | Yes | Yes (industry-standard feature, not independently verified) | Unclear — only Outlook/Gmail/Exchange/Kerio sync confirmed in public docs, no generic IMAP host+port setup found | Unclear — a third-party site claims EU data centers + on-prem/hybrid, no official DPA page located | Yes — cloud, on-prem, and hybrid offered | No — paid only | Needs a direct answer from Efficy sales on IMAP + DPA before it can be trusted |
Dolibarr is the strongest fit found among the three; CentralStationCRM and Efficy both fail or leave unresolved the generic-IMAP requirement.
Lower-confidence, not fully checked: Vtiger (self-host reportedly de-emphasized by vendor), Salesflare/Close (appear Gmail/Outlook-centric, IMAP unclear), Insightly (insufficient detail found), Freshsales (custom-email-server config exists, but Freshworks/Freshsales ownership needs a sovereignty check before including).
3. Notes / Caveats
- monday.com confirmed to lack native IMAP/SMTP (Gmail/Outlook only, or third-party connector apps) — dropped on requirements grounds.
- Capsule CRM, often assumed simple = flexible, does not appear to support full generic IMAP — worth a live trial before including or excluding it.
- Zoho's EU/DPA tier requirement is contested across sources — get this in writing from Zoho sales before assuming the Standard tier covers it.
- EspoCRM cloud pricing figures found were inconsistently formatted — unverified, check EspoCRM's own site directly.
- Pricing pages change often; figures above are an August 2026 snapshot, not a quote.
- Self-hosted options shift cost from license fees to server + maintenance time — real even when "free," for a team with no dedicated sysadmin.
Sources: Zoho GDPR · Zoho pricing · EspoCRM IMAP/SMTP docs · EspoCRM pricing · Comparison: SuiteCRM/EspoCRM/Vtiger/Odoo · Odoo pricing · monday.com IMAP limitation · Capsule email integrations · GDPR CRM DSAR guidance