Top Free and Open Source Contact Management Software in 2020

What is a Contact Management Software?

Contact Management Software is a program that allows users to store contact information such as addresses, names and telephone numbers. It helps in organizing sales and marketing workflow and helps in returning a larger customer conversion rate. Apart from managing and storing contacts of clients and other contact information, a contact management system is also useful in the following important ways:

1. Users can search through a vast number of contacts on different parameters such as names, mobile numbers, cities, email Ids and other query details.
2. Data can be entered, altered and edited in the contact platform only by authorized staff and company personnel.
3. The company staff and team can easily identify where each contact fits within their company, thereby allowing better management and sales coordination.
4. Required email Ids can be picked up easily from the contact database as the email Ids can be integrated with the contact management software.
5. Due to a shared and centralized database, tracking all contacts and other activities becomes fast and easy.

Benefits of Contact Management Software

• Centralized storage of contact information: One of the primary advantages of using a contact management software is that it provides a centralised database for storing all contact information such as telephone numbers, email ids and names.
• Email integration properties: A very important feature of this software is that it allows you to transfer data easily from emails into the contact management software itself.
• Sales tracking and ready to use the database: Some of the contact management software allows managing sales distribution and sales tracking which helps not only maintains a systematic order and list of all the important contacts but also keeps a check on the sales and target levels fulfilled by the company.
• Document, notes and conversation management: Contact management software allow all data to be saved centrally, thus facilitating easy editing without the fret of creating duplicate files. It also helps in conversation management which keeps track of your message history with certain customers.
• Mobile phone access: There are few contact management software that facilitate data access and other necessary information even through mobile devices.

A lot of contact management softwares are open source but not all of them are free. Some come with a monthly or annual charge while some offer free trials. It is not difficult to grasp the meaning of free softwares but what most people are unaware of is the open source platforms.

The term “open source” is used to refer to things that can be modified and shared because their designs are publicly accessible. Open source software contains a source code that anyone can inspect, modify or enhance. Computer users are unable to see the source code present in the software. Only computer programmers can use this code, manipulate or modify it to change how a particular software or application work. The source code can be accessed by programmers to add features to the program, improve them or fix any errors.

What’s the difference between open source software and other types of software?

There are some software whose source code can be accessed only by its creator, his/her team or organization. This kind of software is called “proprietary” or “closed source” software. Only the creator of the software exercises complete control over it and has the authority to modify and sell it. On the contrary, open source software provides its source code to users for them to view it, learn from it, copy or share it. In the case of both software, users need to sign a license at the beginning before using them. For closed source software, the license conditions are stricter. Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop are examples of closed source software. On the other hand, the legal conditions for open source software differ drastically from proprietary software.

Here are some of the best contact management software available today

1. ContactBase

ContactBase was founded in 2018 and the company is located in the United Kingdom. It is an online contact management software that views and organises contacts by job titles and company. It is a visual address book app that organises and manages business contacts. This software also removes duplicate contacts and hides non-business contacts from the view of the database. It also helps the users in understanding contact hierarchies and navigates through the course of complicated projects and negotiations to improve contact management. It is useful for other important purposes such as segmentation, contact import/export, and prospecting tools.

2. ContactOffice

ContactOffice is a contact management software that is ideal for businesses of all sizes. It is a web-based contact management software that helps with documents, messages, polls, and address books. Being a cloud-based software, it helps in managing data such as contacts, documents, emails and other tasks from any computer with a web browser. This software provides other facilities such as shared contacts, contact database, contact import/export and segmentation. The headquarters of ContactOffice is located in Belgium.

3. ContactZilla

ContactZilla is a cloud-based contact management solution that helps companies to create address books, mobile device sync and data sorting. This particular software is best for companies that want to centralise contacts. It performs other functions like contact database and contact import/export. key features of this software include easy setup as you don’t need to install this software. Simply creating an account will get you started. It also provides SSL encryption that keeps all your contacts secure.

4. Zoho Contact Manager

This is an online contact management software that allows companies to manage all their contacts in a single database which in turn helps in easy follow-up. In addition, businesses can also track deals, manage tasks and collaborate with their respective teams. Zoho Contact Manager lets you interact with your contacts through email and social media. It is especially useful for webinars and live streams. G Suite, MS Office 365 and MailChimp are some of the popular business software that integrates with Zoho Contact Manager. Last but not least, just like all other softwares from Zoho, this is also backed by a robust developer support which the users can avail anytime without any additional charge.

5. Instream

Founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Poland, Instream is a personalized contact management system that is best for small and medium-sized businesses from various market sectors. This software gives you an opportunity to build an infinite number of lists designed to meet specific needs so that it can be adjusted freely according to your company profile. These features make Instream an efficient software for companies that rely on long term customer relationships instead of one times sales only.

6. Zurmo

This is an open source contact management software that provides various features such as deal tracking, contact management, reporting, marketing automation, activity management, gamification, personalization, security and internationalization. This software also assists in email marketing/ SMS marketing, expense management, email integration, opportunity management and sales performance management. Zurmo is a completely developer-friendly software and runs on Windows as well as Linux. It can also be easily integrated with applications such as Google mapping, Currency updater and Email archiving for better results.

The demand and popularity of free and open source contact management software are rising gradually among the business sector. In the last five years, over 50% of new businesses or companies have experienced a far higher growth rate than others due to effective contact management. For any business or company to survive successfully, the staff and team members must keep an organised list of all their contacts. Contacts play the most significant role in generating revenue, upgrading the company status and reputation. Contact management software are especially beneficial for small businesses as they don’t need to maintain a long list of names and addresses. Most people, particularly developers, prefer using open source software as it helps them in their training. This is another advantage that small businesses can utilize to maintain an effective contact management system. To conclude, contact management systems not only help in learning but also contribute to the successful establishment of a company.