X2CRM Breathes Life into the Open-Source Model: The CRM Rising Stars Awards 2018

For a while, the market for open-source CRM solutions was vibrant. Then cloud computing and bundled suites that resulted in lower costs threatened the open-source market. X2CRM, founded in 2011, is one of the few companies that sustained the open-source concept. And now, following a recent change in leadership and corporate reorganization, the company, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., is ready to spark renewed interest in open source.

This past April, the vendor tapped 30-year CRM industry veteran David Buchanan as CEO. The company has since re-emerged with a renewed vision and a new approach to product design and customer on-boarding that positions its products as a viable alternative to other CRM systems, which it says can be rife with technological deficiencies due to incompatible cloud platforms, databases, application languages, and user interfaces; subpar support; and premium price tags. 

Part of that effort was the institution of a true try-it-before-you-buy-it approach, providing an unrestricted 30-day free trial so companies can measure the system’s business value before paying for anything. The company also offers what Buchanan calls “white-glove” service, where the company performs all of the work needed for customers to transition to X2CRM. Companies can even take advantage of an implementation partner program that lets them choose how they design, deploy, and manage their solutions.

And businesses have been responding—today, X2CRM’s solutions have been translated into more than 15 languages and the company has more than 40,000 deployments under its belt.

But X2CRM isn’t stopping there. The latest iteration of its CRM system, version 6.9.1, introduces an updated user interface; new toolbar drop-down menus; the X2 Admin Dashboard, which provides a one-stop diagnostic tool for servers and applications; expanded social media functionality that links business associates’ Twitter streams and LinkedIn profiles directly to their X2CRM contact pages; and Dropbox Document Sync. All of this comes in addition to extensive Google GSuite synchronizations for increased collaboration and productivity. 

And the company promises an entire application overhaul in its upcoming 7.0 release.