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CostEffective IT: Compiere
Cost-Effective
IT: Compiere,
by
Richard Sonnier
Houston
Business Show "Advisor" Richard Sonnier, of the Information
Technology Services firm Nimble Services, Inc., provides weekly
information on our show about business technology issues. He can be
reached at 281-445-4800 x250 or rsonnier@nimbleservices.com.
This week I will discuss Compiere, a free and complete business
application.
Compiere ERP and CRM
Compiere is an open source application for small and medium size
enterprises. It provides core business functions of Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The Compiere
software supports:
- Marketing and Sales
- Field Service
- Production
- Inventory Control
- Procurement
- Distribution
- Human Resources
- Finance
- Accounting
- Sales Force Automation
- Call Management
- Self Service
Thus, Compiere provides the core business software suitable for most
companies. It is free in that there is no charge to install and run the
Compiere software for any number of users. You do have to have a
database and a suitable server. Compiere runs on Windows or Linux
servers and the ORACLE database. It
is written in the Java programming language so it can be implemented on
any computer that supports Java. Since Java is supported on nearly
every type of computer, Compiere can be implemented on most computer
systems.
Cost of Compiere
With a $2000 server and $1500 database you can implement Compiere for
10 users for around $3500.00. Recently, Compiere announced preliminary
support for other databases like Sybase; and over the next few months
you can expect to see Compiere available on one of the open source
databases like MySQL. This will further lower its implementation cost.
Compiere Design
Nimble has been evaluating Compiere for over a year, and it has proven
to be a very robust application. Unlike its expensive competitors, it
is relatively easy to implement and get started with Compiere. Its
design allows that everything can be changed and customized over time.
Therefore, you can get started with it quickly in just a few days, but
easily change it as you become familar with Compiere and understand how
to use it. Most commercial software packages require a big upfront
implementation where you configure the software for your business, and
it is relatively difficult to change things down the road.
Recommendation
Go to http://www.compiere.org
and
check out the world's most popular open source application for business.
Next week I will
continue this discussion of Compiere.
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