Contact management is one of the ongoing organizational battles I contend with on a daily basis. Over the years I’ve tried everything from mastering the address book facilities of various email clients, to maintaining a text file, to lugging around a PDA. In the end however, none of these attempts have worked as desired, largely because of the need to track not only typical contact information, but also maintain effective record of all communications with key individuals.

To that end I’ve spent the last few months experimenting with various open source content management systems, having settled on SugarCRM. It’s a LAMP-driven solution offering an amazing array of capabilities and infinite configurability. SugarCRM also boasts a huge community effort, with more than 200 projects and over 5,000 registered volunteers.

More recently, I’ve been checking out vtiger, a lesser-known but nonetheless slick open source CRM solution. In addition to a great interface, I’m a fan of some of the nice touches such as a built-in JavaScript calculator, world clock, and Ajax-driven chat client.

If you’re looking for a more capable way of managing your contacts and projects, definitely consider learning more about these projects.