I have to say, I’m more on the purist side of CiviCRM. And it kinda comes down gold ‘ole freedom. That’s also part of the open-source ethos — the ability to use the software how you want to, without restrictions, with accessibility and sovereignty built in.
For instance, at the top of the civicrm.settings.php file and you will see a part that says,
CiviCRM is free software; you can copy, modify, and distribute it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License Version 3, 19 November 2007 and the CiviCRM Licensing Exception.
CiviCRM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.OK, that’s really not saying “good luck” but more like, “it’s your choice”.
In more practical terms, having greater access that aligns with this statement means, particularly on the first two:
- Administrator access* — through your CMS or on the standalone option, you’re granted the “Administrator” role. That means you can install extensions, import data, and change system settings. Yes, even the ones that might have adverse effects if you’re not careful. But you’re an adult, so we’re good here, right? And you got backups that work, right?!
- You won’t hear “You can’t do that” * — Perhaps the best selling point is there’s no arbitrary restrictions. If you have the technical skills, determination or willingness to contract it out to a preferred vendor, then it will be made so.
- Control panel access — hosting, backups, monitoring, cron jobs, firewall, server logs, PHP settings, phpMyAdmin, server caching and more.
- SSH credentials — While not critical in the early stages of your CRM journey, if you know command line and scripting, you’ll find even more goodies and automation available. And install any extensions that aren’t natively in app.
And here’s why you might value all of that:
Adaptability as skills evolve
Your “CRM skills” are not static over time. Early on, you’ll probably want lots of help and only be scratching the surface with end user level capabilities. Then they’ll deepen and you’ll make use of more elevated areas (cpanel, managing extensions) to see the entire picture.
A fully-owned system doesn’t punish you for advancing in CRM know-how. Instead, it rewards investment in in-house know-how.
Cost control over the long haul
SaaS models are a flat monthly/annual bill whether you’re using the system lightly or heavily. Your usage of a CRM just doesn’t work like that. It comes in spikes and relatively calmer periods in both scheer usage and making enhancements to it.
Here’s the deal:
With great freedom comes great responsibility. Open source means flexibility and control. So its only natural to align with this ethos. This isn’t for everyone, but that’s why civicrm.com has 4 distinct ways you could even use CiviCRM.
And this isn’t meant to say you ought to go full purist here, but more saying “that direction keeps options open and you get the best of both world’s” e.g. you can offload hosting and the admin burden for a predictable and affordable price but avoid vendor locked.
That freedom means you can lean on outside help when you need it, or take it in-house when you’re confident. And there’s CiviCRM partners out there to guide you on this path. The fact is clients who invest in building in-house know-how and documentation are the ones that succeed—they can make bigger changes without being overly reliant on a vendor.
And all it really boils down to is this: is it an area best done in-house or delegated away?