Open source Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integrations allow for increased flexibility at a lower cost. Open source applications attempt to create a more public, communal design and development of software. Public collaboration will hopefully create a more "user-friendly" application.

Open source CRM integrations focus on engineering - with lower development and marketing costs - providing savings which can be passed onto the consumer. Open source companies provide the source code for a licensing fee.

These open source CRM applications are better tailored to specific business needs. Open source CRM integrations are especially attractive to well-developed organizations with their own technical support, who might need CRM applications for specific projects.

Most technology users are comfortable with popular closed source enterprise programs and operating systems. Since data is gathered from many sources - databases, the Internet and through e-mails - it is important to have a CRM compatible with the myriad of data sources.

Various open source CRM are more compatible with popular enterprise software programs; others attempt to "sychronize data" with these closed source programs. Group data sharing, file formatting and e-mail platforms are important criteria for selecting the best open source CRM.

Popular open source SugarCRM won the "2008 Product of the Year Award" from Customer Interaction Solutions Magazine. SugarCRM brags of 400,000 users. SugarCRM doesn't want to create artificial restrictions, meant to force consumers to pay for what they don't want. SugarCRM calls its open source the "archtecture of participation".

Open source CRM is a healthy choice for well-developed businesses.