We recently were approached by a long-time client about combining or integrating his vTiger CRM account with a “Get a Quote” form on his Drupal Website. The idea was that the lead had to be entered into the CRM for someone to follow up on, so lets see if we can remove a step of data entry being done twice or errors in the entry by having the data passed to the CRM directly. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Services are the best and the most efficient approach for building & maintaining relationships with your customers, so find the perfect fit was essential. Development of this type of bonding drives the business to new levels of success, and integrating the solution with your website can drive new leads.
When developing something for a client, the best thing they can hear is “there appears to be a module for that,” and not the dreaded statement of “let me estimate a custom module for that solution.” In the case of adding VTiger CRM into a Drupal website, it is very much a possibility, and there is a module that will get you 85% there out of the box.
When deciding on a CRM you must first decide if you are going to go with a self hosted option or a service hosted option. Many
CRMs like vTiger such as SugarCRM, CiviCRM, openCRX, Concursive, and XRMS all have the ability to be self-hosted (hosted on your web server). Most also offer paid solutions were they host the service software on a company server. Our client felt that he did not want to be in charge of back-ups or maintenance or updates and chose to go with a hosted solution.
First thing we did was downloaded and installed
Webform2vTiger on the client server. For the next step, we collected all the client details for the account, and identified the user they wanted the information posted to the CRM through. We then made contact with vTiger support, to get the Public Access Key to the account in question to enter into the configuration of the module. Last but not least, we attached the form fields to the Webform2vTiger fields. And as it always goes when you finish something on the Web, “Set it then Test it!” We went through several rounds of testing to make sure that all parts of the system were talking to each other and that incomplete requests were not passed to the CRM, and Live! I would suggest anyone looking for a CRM integrated into their Drupal Website, contact
Green Bird Media about adding this functionality to their website now.
