SouthwestCRM launches Hedron4 for Charities a CRM and Online Community Portal

03 June 2011

SouthwestCRM, a UK software development company, is pleased to announce the launch of Hedron4 for Charities, an online marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution.  By combining three of the world's leading Open Source technologies, Hedron4 becomes a compelling, low cost, and easy to use solution for membership-based organisations that need to communicate more effectively with its membership whilst reaching a wider audience.

Falmouth, Cornwall June 2, 2011 -- SouthwestCRM has delivered innovative software solutions to the SME marketplace for several years and today is pleased to announce the availability of "Hedron4 for Charities".  Hedron4 is a complete suite of business applications hosted in the cloud to help a charity or not-for-profit grow its membership, build an online community and process online donations more efficiently.  At the heart of Hedron4 is a database that is built upon the World's leading Open Source CRM solution, SugarCRM.  SouthwestCRM has extended this to include a web-based "community portal" and document management system.

Many not-for-profit organisations need to keep in regular contact with a large number of people.  Be it via email newsletters, direct mail or online.  Hedron4 for Charities simplifies this process while at the same time offering charities a rich set of features to help retain members and find new ones.  Simon Leek, founder of SouthwestCRM, says “Open Source technology is ideal for charities that need to keep their operating costs down but at the same time need suitable systems to help build a loyal following.  Hedron4 delivers a feature rich application at a fraction of the cost of a traditional solution”.

Hedron4’s “out-of-the-box” features include a secure own-branded website portal where members of the charity's can log in, update their contact details, view and register for events, donate and subscribe to plans, chat with other members via forums and download charity-specific documents.  Contact details that are updated in the portal are ‘synchronised’ with the SugarCRM customer database.  Simon goes onto say “the great thing about Open Source technology, is the thousands of developers out there who have created useful add-ons so if a charity has a specific need that is not available out of the box, chances are, their needs can be met quickly and cost effectively.   Users are no longer constrained by locked-in software that does not ever quite fully meet the needs of the charity”.

Notes to Editors

About SouthwestCRM

SouthwestCRM is a small CRM consultancy and software developer with offices in Cornwall and London. SouthwestCRM was founded in 2007 by Simon Leek who has spent the last 22 years consulting on best practice in the field of CRM across all industry sectors.  SouthwestCRM provides consultancy and support to its customers which extend across Europe.

About Hedron4

Typically a charity will need a website with a secure area (portal).  They will have a database in the office and ad hoc documents that need to be shared.  They may also use a separate system to run events and process online donations or membership renewals.  Each of these areas have to be served by different technologies.  For example, a public facing website will be delivered through a Content Management system such as Joomla!  Whereas the back-office database for email marketing may be served using a CRM package such as SugarCRM.  Hedron4 ties three of these technologies together (SugarCRM, Joomla! and KnowledgeTree Document Management) to provide one seamless solution that removes the inefficiencies associated with operating multiple fragmented systems.

Contact Details

For further information contact:

Simon Leek
SouthwestCRM
Admiralty House
2 Bank Place
falmouth
Cornwall
TR11 4AT

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: 0845 686 2468
Website: www.southwestict.com