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[LUG] Website Development

 

Hi Guys

This is really a call to web site developers and programmers.

I am currently looking at the future of computing and provision of
online services. I do believe there will come a time where maybe we
see servers pwoering all our apps. I wonder if there is where Linux
will really come into its own. Instead of seeing the desktop as the
Holy Grail maybe to see web apps as the future.

So welcoming the future in means a whole new road map for me. And it
involves ecommerce, customer resource managers (crm) and accounting
packages (erp). To build systems from the ground-up will take many
years and cost mega bucks so the only way forward is to use existing
systems and develop them to meet your needs. The main problem with the
current availability is integration.

Basically I have looked at a variety of products - WP, Zen Cart,
Drupal and I have noticed that they all provide very good shopping
carts. What they don't provide is erp and crm facilities with
integration. They might have erp and crm modules but they don't seem
to integrate. But for erp and crm to be of any use surely they need to
integrate.

i.e. I am a new customer and I visit ABC Online Shop. I register and
buy a new product. Now in order to manage the customer and do
follow-up I need to create a new record in my crm. To process the
invoice and add it to my accounts I now have to create a new record in
my erp. I now have three records of the same customer and will need to
access these records if the customer does any further transactions
with me.

Integration means that when I buy an item and register as a new
customer, the record is automatically added to my erp and crm complete
with buying record. Then when I login to my crm to note a follow-up
call and a new purchase that automatically updates the erp. You see
the easy bit is the online shop. The hard bit is getting the various
programmes to talk to each other.

Ok so what I am wondering is whether any developers out there know of
open source software that integrates and provides what I need. But
also whether any web developers out there want to get together and
collaberate on such a project?

Many thanks.
-- 
Rich
http://www.cregy.co.uk
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Romans 12 v 1

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