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Who's participating in the development of an open CRM?

Hi all!

For a while I have been thinking about the development of a CRM, one unlike others already (freely) available.

Given I am unable to invest a significant amount of time (0.2 FTE, at most) I would like to work with others to make this idea reality. So what are my ideas?

  1. Create a system which easily integrates with other systems. Have a well designed API which is easily accessible.
  2. Super well designed, and a delight to work with. Easy to learn, and to relearn.
  3. Built to offload the brain; categorize information in a way that is easily searchable.

Although this might be too abstract to bite; I'm looking for a tool which I can connect with my email accounts, and automatically categorize communication I had with a certain customer with additional notes I make about them. I would like to use this tool the least amount possible, but have it quietly collect all the information I want and be available when I need it.

The code should be open source, preferably under a GPL license or something similar.

Technology I'm thinking about working (though not carved in stone) is a stack I'm highly familiar with myself;

  • asp.net core backend running a GraphQL service
  • React frontend using Tailwind CSS for styling
  • Relational SQL based database
  • Integration with an external OAuth service

I'd preferably keep this project simple. A majestic monolith so to say. No microservice buzz as that'll only complicate development, and I do not really see why that would be required in the first place.

Initial features;

  • Great API surface
  • Relationship management
  • Email snooping and automatic categorization
  • Simple notekeeping

Please share any thoughts in the comments! I'd be happy to hear any feedback. In case you would be interested in participating; hit me up!

For proof of my skills and previous work; check out my personal blog, Skyhop or my GitHub.

on October 26, 2020
  1. 1

    Are there any alternatives at the moment?

    Sounds like CRM space is pretty interesting for some fresh thinking.
    All tools are super sales driven and too opinionated (close.io) or too messy (salesforce). Having the CRM core logic on an API level and being able to consume in creative ways sounds pretty interesting.

    I think writting down some use cases for it and a notion document to describe the idea in a better way would be a great way to make it more clear.