Drupal - choosing a business consultant
In this article, as well as in 7 best tools for solving business problems from a business consultant generalist, I will tell why I chose Drupal and why he is so good. The article was written based on my report at Drupalcamp Moscow 2014 .
My profession is a business consultant medium and small business. I work with the company as a whole, that is, with almost all its parts: web sites, optimization, 1c, CRM. All that I will tell from my words is my experience, which was acquired by me through trial and error. I am not afraid to talk about my mistakes, because without them there would be no experience.
To begin with, I will talk about projects. Usually, when I come to a company, it has several problems that need to be solved. For example, they open a warehouse or it does not work well, the accounting system is not properly configured, or non-quality or non-functional modules. And one of these problems is usually the site. That is, the question arises of creating an online store.
Accordingly, drupal is obtained, as part of the project, part of the whole. Because I am submitting the whole project. I hand over the site, if necessary with the integration of 1c, if necessary with the integration of the CRM system, if necessary with the warehouse, if necessary with everything together. Since the site is only a part of the whole, I cannot spend too much time on it, and it is very important for me to make it quickly and not return to it as much as possible.
')
Let's start with the fact that when I started doing business consulting the first site I did was made on Bitrix. To start, I ordered a banner on the cap. The banner was like this: three girls in swimsuits on the background of sunflowers. I placed an ad on freelance and paid 7,000 rubles (I did not know then that the banner actually cost 200-300 rubles). Placed a banner on bitrix, then installed the module and the plugin, which cost me about 8 thousand rubles, and that does not include the cost of the license itself. In the end, I wondered how much the whole site would cost me? I realized that those solutions that I use are too expensive (Bitrix, OS Cart, Magento) or not functional (this is about joomla, which I switched to after bitrix and wordpress, which I tried after Joomla). It is now I understand that the cost of the banner and the cost of the site do not correlate, but then it was my first site.
Then I tried drupal. Then I was bribed by a large number of plug-ins that it was free, and I simply had no options. At first I thought that drupal does not suit me, that there will be a lot of trouble with integration too, I was already thinking about returning to the expensive bitrix, but after more in-depth study I realized that drupal is the best product on the market and I decided to take the risk.
When I continued to work with other CMS, I came to the conclusion that many modules did not have the capabilities that could be done on drupal. After all, almost everything can be done on drupal. This integration with 1c, and integration with the CRM system, various types of publications and many other functionality that is so necessary for the client. I want to highlight the CLIENT, not you. Because basically the reasoning about CMS goes at the level of webmasters, and many sacrifice functionality (due to not CMS knowledge necessary to accomplish the task or the impossibility of accomplishing this task in their CMS) against the interests of the client.
Because it will help you sell and not blush for the result. Sell ​​the service - earn your bread, if not, you will not get anything. In addition, it is important how you sell the service, depends on whether it is on bread butter. When I sell my services and offer to make a site on drupal, I am sure that I offer the best product currently on the market. And here confidence is very important! It is confidence and not faith. Humility is based on facts, for faith it is enough just to believe marketing.
Why? Because here thanks to the modules you can do almost everything. I am sure that other CMS do not do this for the same money. For drupal 7, there are about 10,000 modules for every taste and functionality. And if there is no, then the module on the drupal is very easy to create.
It is very important that what is meant for the client remains for the client. So that I myself, knowing that this is a clear architecture and it is really transparent and easy to understand, was able to convey this to the client. It is better for me to spend some time on learning and transferring my knowledge, rather than listening to complaints and valid claims. After all, so that I do not tell the client, it will perceive any inconveniences of CMS as inconveniences of the site created by me, and not CMS.
There is one important point. I do not need to choose which distribution, which edition to choose (small business, large business, etc.), for me it does not matter. I always know when installing drupal that if something needs to be done, I can always do this thanks to a wide selection of free modules and plug-ins. This is very important, and it is necessary to convey to the client. At first, I did not understand this, but now I understand how important this is.
For example: In bitrix, a license prohibits the use of multiple copies. That is, if you can drupal deploy for several developers and have the environment that they could develop locally, then the Bitrix license prohibits it. Officially, you can not develop websites or projects on Bitrix, having a distributed team using git, and similar decentralized systems. There is still a very unpleasant moment, when installing a plug-in or module on britix, a license failure may occur, this is in turn an application for support, time to wait for an answer, loss of money.
That is, it turns out that you are constrained, that is, constrained by licensing policy. You do not know where it will come up. In order to find out it is necessary to understand further, again, a waste of time. I was approached by clients on bitrix, and when I started to understand, the first thing I needed was to find out which edition, which kernel, copy it or not copy, they updated or did not update their 1c, why do I need it? While in drupal I looked at the system information, if I had to update the kernel and the plugins, that's all.
I am confident in the quality and simplicity of drupal. About 20 sites were created under my beginning (for a business consultant who does not develop web development, this is a lot), these sites did not require maintenance, there was no maintenance, that is, did and forgot. Even if the kernel is updated, something is unlikely to change, you do not have to rearrange plug-ins and modules.
Another plus is that behind drupal is the personality of Dries . If we look at other engines and the history of other engines, how do they differ? What kind of person do they associate in your head, with which person? Has anyone seen any person standing behind joomla or Magento? .. For joomla there is mamba, and then the story is lost. And here the person, it is very important, he constantly directs the movement. After all, what is not done under the direction of man is a continuation of the will of man. It is very important when working with a program you are dealing not with some kind of faceless crowd, but with someone else's opinion it is possible to find out.
Drupal has the friendliest, nicest community. With regards to communities Bitrix, 1c, joomla, a different atmosphere reigns. Someone just trying to sell, somewhere envy and trying to write some angry comments, trying to advertise something at this moment. In community drupal they are really trying to create something worthwhile, they really help with advice and deed.
Many systems are ruined by greed, that is, if a developer makes some kind of plugin, he is trying to sell it. In Jumla, in WordPress, almost everywhere they try to monetize their plugins and modules. In drupal, in principle, this is not, that is, you can sell some of your quality services, but no more. But if you made a plugin, then it is already open, if the plugin is closed, then it will not get into the repository. That is, everything that is available to the user will be open and free access. You can check how it works and ask the developers.
Of course there are paid plug-ins that are themes that can be bought for money, but this is a drop in the ocean and they don’t do any weather.
Another plus. The widest choice of specialists. Market Saturated. Of course, if you are not trying to tighten the specialist in the state. If you are trying to get a person to the state, it is not enough that this is unlikely to work out for you, you will not have problems if you agree (sick leave, vacation, etc.). Therefore, if you want to implement a one-time project, the choice of specialists is huge compared to the others. I say this from my own experience. A programmer who looks to the future is engaged in the system that can give him that future. Joomla and Wordpress are not very suitable for professional development due to the disgusting quality of the first person and the simplicity of the second. Bitrix is ​​fat cats, which are trying to extract as much money as possible from you, moreover, it is harder to sell at the expense of price, and the wonderful prefix 1C in the name helps them in it.
Once again, drupal has excellent friendly forums where you will be answered and assisted in solving the problem. And therefore it is possible to take any drupalist and he will cope with any task, unlike other systems, because there are some subsystems, super-systems and editorial boards in which not everyone understands. In drupal, you just don’t think about it. If I have one programmer is busy, the second is busy, then no question, I will always find the third. And it is enough for him to say: “Yes, I know I have been a good drupal,” and that's all. But someone will say that the learning curve of drupal is ruthless, but still the drupal is much more on the market than the rest of the CMS.
One more thing. If in drupal there are always some meetings, personal acquaintances, then with other systems it is difficult even with specialists. Even to install the module on joomla is difficult to find a specialist, with wordpress a little easier. On joomla.org to go is useless. Then you come to drupal.ru or drupal.org and you understand that they will help you with advice and deed.
And even with all the magnificence of drupal remains for me a part of the project on integrated enterprise automation. What are the advantages of this CMS:
1) simple integration (JSON, XML, MySQL)
2) convenient and simple interface (very important for the client)
In drupal, you can link the system with almost any protocol.
Even more likely the whole complex of problems. These systems are, in principle, compatible and integrated, but if you want to change something, you will encounter a number of problems.
In drupal, everything is simpler, I say to the programmer, please do in this form (JSON, XML) any programmer will understand and do. 1c I tell the programmer, I'll give you this file here, and you upload it. It just takes and loads. If I need to unload from 1c do in drupal. I simply form the unloading of all the necessary information in xml I give 1c to the programmer, and he considers it. That is, he does not need to know CommercML, he does not need to know drupal. The same with the web programmer.
And this is exactly what I am talking about, not universality, but precisely sharpened. Because universality in this case prevents.
When I explain these pluses to drupal to a client, the client begins to understand what is being offered to him, in his eyes the product begins to acquire value, even though it is free.
By selling any product you sell yourself at the same time, for the first 15 seconds, he evaluates your appearance, the next 5 minutes, he evaluates your public speaking, and 15 minutes your expertise in this matter. In any case, you need to try, what would a customer buy exactly your product. I suggest to focus on free of charge if you compare with bitrix. But most often the client does not know the product, he does not know what he will receive in the end, he did not have a website, he saw it only on the network and does not suspect the existence of a CMS. Joomla, Wordpress, drupal mean nothing to him, that is, it is necessary to understand what he relies on when making a decision. (Some, of course, have heard, but mostly they have heard about a little functional WordPress, because it occupies a large share of the Russian market and there’s nothing to say about it). In this case, press on the functionality of drupal. The confidence that the drupal is the best helps me in the sale.
The most significant disadvantage of the drupal repository is in English. That is, all modules and all development is conducted in English. In most cases, the client does not know English and he cannot understand the description of this or many modules. Is that bad. But so this flaw is covered by the gratuity and functionality of the CMS. And besides, usually the client is important product, which you can make money (well, or consume a good), and not what module or platform is used to create his site.
Many of my clients initially assured me that Bitrix (Magento) is paid and therefore it differs in result. This is one of the biggest misconceptions. Bitrix (Magento) is not responsible for the result. People just want to earn money and give the product along with free drupal, take money, do marketing, convince everyone that they are chosen.
All the same, drupal has an element of cooperation, we are sharing, paid engines do not have this, that is, they work on a monetary basis and the main thing for them to sell.
One more thing. Free - no one is responsible. There was a real case. The site on drupal took 2-3 place in the search. Flew off for two days. I counted the damage 500,000 rubles. For my part there were only 2 questions: Why not 3 billion? And why if you hang losses on me, then do not share the profit with me?
That is, there is no responsibility as such - it is necessary to inform the client. Moreover, the CMS developer is not responsible. Free - means the same irresponsible, as well as paid, paid - the same irresponsible, as free. No responsibility here, just no. In the USA, England is possible. But in Russia, this is definitely not there. And it is necessary to talk about this to the client, because competitors will talk about "warranty and service." Paid this does not mean that someone is responsible for something.
Often there was a saying that drupal is unsafe. But at the same time, no one could give an example. In my practice, not a single site has ever picked up a cold or allergy, there were no freezes and some problems.
To summarize, why it is beneficial for you and your customers to use drupal for projects.
And finally, for me, drupal is probably the best CMS in the company's automation project.
My profession is a business consultant medium and small business. I work with the company as a whole, that is, with almost all its parts: web sites, optimization, 1c, CRM. All that I will tell from my words is my experience, which was acquired by me through trial and error. I am not afraid to talk about my mistakes, because without them there would be no experience.
Why do I use drupal for my projects?
To begin with, I will talk about projects. Usually, when I come to a company, it has several problems that need to be solved. For example, they open a warehouse or it does not work well, the accounting system is not properly configured, or non-quality or non-functional modules. And one of these problems is usually the site. That is, the question arises of creating an online store.
Accordingly, drupal is obtained, as part of the project, part of the whole. Because I am submitting the whole project. I hand over the site, if necessary with the integration of 1c, if necessary with the integration of the CRM system, if necessary with the warehouse, if necessary with everything together. Since the site is only a part of the whole, I cannot spend too much time on it, and it is very important for me to make it quickly and not return to it as much as possible.
')
Let's start with the fact that when I started doing business consulting the first site I did was made on Bitrix. To start, I ordered a banner on the cap. The banner was like this: three girls in swimsuits on the background of sunflowers. I placed an ad on freelance and paid 7,000 rubles (I did not know then that the banner actually cost 200-300 rubles). Placed a banner on bitrix, then installed the module and the plugin, which cost me about 8 thousand rubles, and that does not include the cost of the license itself. In the end, I wondered how much the whole site would cost me? I realized that those solutions that I use are too expensive (Bitrix, OS Cart, Magento) or not functional (this is about joomla, which I switched to after bitrix and wordpress, which I tried after Joomla). It is now I understand that the cost of the banner and the cost of the site do not correlate, but then it was my first site.
Then I tried drupal. Then I was bribed by a large number of plug-ins that it was free, and I simply had no options. At first I thought that drupal does not suit me, that there will be a lot of trouble with integration too, I was already thinking about returning to the expensive bitrix, but after more in-depth study I realized that drupal is the best product on the market and I decided to take the risk.
When I continued to work with other CMS, I came to the conclusion that many modules did not have the capabilities that could be done on drupal. After all, almost everything can be done on drupal. This integration with 1c, and integration with the CRM system, various types of publications and many other functionality that is so necessary for the client. I want to highlight the CLIENT, not you. Because basically the reasoning about CMS goes at the level of webmasters, and many sacrifice functionality (due to not CMS knowledge necessary to accomplish the task or the impossibility of accomplishing this task in their CMS) against the interests of the client.
Why choose drupal?
Because it will help you sell and not blush for the result. Sell ​​the service - earn your bread, if not, you will not get anything. In addition, it is important how you sell the service, depends on whether it is on bread butter. When I sell my services and offer to make a site on drupal, I am sure that I offer the best product currently on the market. And here confidence is very important! It is confidence and not faith. Humility is based on facts, for faith it is enough just to believe marketing.
Why? Because here thanks to the modules you can do almost everything. I am sure that other CMS do not do this for the same money. For drupal 7, there are about 10,000 modules for every taste and functionality. And if there is no, then the module on the drupal is very easy to create.
Understandable architecture.
It is very important that what is meant for the client remains for the client. So that I myself, knowing that this is a clear architecture and it is really transparent and easy to understand, was able to convey this to the client. It is better for me to spend some time on learning and transferring my knowledge, rather than listening to complaints and valid claims. After all, so that I do not tell the client, it will perceive any inconveniences of CMS as inconveniences of the site created by me, and not CMS.
Drupal is easy.
There is one important point. I do not need to choose which distribution, which edition to choose (small business, large business, etc.), for me it does not matter. I always know when installing drupal that if something needs to be done, I can always do this thanks to a wide selection of free modules and plug-ins. This is very important, and it is necessary to convey to the client. At first, I did not understand this, but now I understand how important this is.
A bit about Bitrix licenses and difficulties in choosing paid software
For example: In bitrix, a license prohibits the use of multiple copies. That is, if you can drupal deploy for several developers and have the environment that they could develop locally, then the Bitrix license prohibits it. Officially, you can not develop websites or projects on Bitrix, having a distributed team using git, and similar decentralized systems. There is still a very unpleasant moment, when installing a plug-in or module on britix, a license failure may occur, this is in turn an application for support, time to wait for an answer, loss of money.
That is, it turns out that you are constrained, that is, constrained by licensing policy. You do not know where it will come up. In order to find out it is necessary to understand further, again, a waste of time. I was approached by clients on bitrix, and when I started to understand, the first thing I needed was to find out which edition, which kernel, copy it or not copy, they updated or did not update their 1c, why do I need it? While in drupal I looked at the system information, if I had to update the kernel and the plugins, that's all.
I am confident in the quality and simplicity of drupal. About 20 sites were created under my beginning (for a business consultant who does not develop web development, this is a lot), these sites did not require maintenance, there was no maintenance, that is, did and forgot. Even if the kernel is updated, something is unlikely to change, you do not have to rearrange plug-ins and modules.
Personality Dries.
Another plus is that behind drupal is the personality of Dries . If we look at other engines and the history of other engines, how do they differ? What kind of person do they associate in your head, with which person? Has anyone seen any person standing behind joomla or Magento? .. For joomla there is mamba, and then the story is lost. And here the person, it is very important, he constantly directs the movement. After all, what is not done under the direction of man is a continuation of the will of man. It is very important when working with a program you are dealing not with some kind of faceless crowd, but with someone else's opinion it is possible to find out.
The drupal community.
Drupal has the friendliest, nicest community. With regards to communities Bitrix, 1c, joomla, a different atmosphere reigns. Someone just trying to sell, somewhere envy and trying to write some angry comments, trying to advertise something at this moment. In community drupal they are really trying to create something worthwhile, they really help with advice and deed.
Many systems are ruined by greed, that is, if a developer makes some kind of plugin, he is trying to sell it. In Jumla, in WordPress, almost everywhere they try to monetize their plugins and modules. In drupal, in principle, this is not, that is, you can sell some of your quality services, but no more. But if you made a plugin, then it is already open, if the plugin is closed, then it will not get into the repository. That is, everything that is available to the user will be open and free access. You can check how it works and ask the developers.
Of course there are paid plug-ins that are themes that can be bought for money, but this is a drop in the ocean and they don’t do any weather.
The choice of a specialist.
Another plus. The widest choice of specialists. Market Saturated. Of course, if you are not trying to tighten the specialist in the state. If you are trying to get a person to the state, it is not enough that this is unlikely to work out for you, you will not have problems if you agree (sick leave, vacation, etc.). Therefore, if you want to implement a one-time project, the choice of specialists is huge compared to the others. I say this from my own experience. A programmer who looks to the future is engaged in the system that can give him that future. Joomla and Wordpress are not very suitable for professional development due to the disgusting quality of the first person and the simplicity of the second. Bitrix is ​​fat cats, which are trying to extract as much money as possible from you, moreover, it is harder to sell at the expense of price, and the wonderful prefix 1C in the name helps them in it.
Once again, drupal has excellent friendly forums where you will be answered and assisted in solving the problem. And therefore it is possible to take any drupalist and he will cope with any task, unlike other systems, because there are some subsystems, super-systems and editorial boards in which not everyone understands. In drupal, you just don’t think about it. If I have one programmer is busy, the second is busy, then no question, I will always find the third. And it is enough for him to say: “Yes, I know I have been a good drupal,” and that's all. But someone will say that the learning curve of drupal is ruthless, but still the drupal is much more on the market than the rest of the CMS.
One more thing. If in drupal there are always some meetings, personal acquaintances, then with other systems it is difficult even with specialists. Even to install the module on joomla is difficult to find a specialist, with wordpress a little easier. On joomla.org to go is useless. Then you come to drupal.ru or drupal.org and you understand that they will help you with advice and deed.
Integration
And even with all the magnificence of drupal remains for me a part of the project on integrated enterprise automation. What are the advantages of this CMS:
1) simple integration (JSON, XML, MySQL)
2) convenient and simple interface (very important for the client)
In drupal, you can link the system with almost any protocol.
Even more likely the whole complex of problems. These systems are, in principle, compatible and integrated, but if you want to change something, you will encounter a number of problems.
In drupal, everything is simpler, I say to the programmer, please do in this form (JSON, XML) any programmer will understand and do. 1c I tell the programmer, I'll give you this file here, and you upload it. It just takes and loads. If I need to unload from 1c do in drupal. I simply form the unloading of all the necessary information in xml I give 1c to the programmer, and he considers it. That is, he does not need to know CommercML, he does not need to know drupal. The same with the web programmer.
And this is exactly what I am talking about, not universality, but precisely sharpened. Because universality in this case prevents.
When I explain these pluses to drupal to a client, the client begins to understand what is being offered to him, in his eyes the product begins to acquire value, even though it is free.
How to convince the client to choose exactly drupal for the project?
By selling any product you sell yourself at the same time, for the first 15 seconds, he evaluates your appearance, the next 5 minutes, he evaluates your public speaking, and 15 minutes your expertise in this matter. In any case, you need to try, what would a customer buy exactly your product. I suggest to focus on free of charge if you compare with bitrix. But most often the client does not know the product, he does not know what he will receive in the end, he did not have a website, he saw it only on the network and does not suspect the existence of a CMS. Joomla, Wordpress, drupal mean nothing to him, that is, it is necessary to understand what he relies on when making a decision. (Some, of course, have heard, but mostly they have heard about a little functional WordPress, because it occupies a large share of the Russian market and there’s nothing to say about it). In this case, press on the functionality of drupal. The confidence that the drupal is the best helps me in the sale.
Weak side drupal
The most significant disadvantage of the drupal repository is in English. That is, all modules and all development is conducted in English. In most cases, the client does not know English and he cannot understand the description of this or many modules. Is that bad. But so this flaw is covered by the gratuity and functionality of the CMS. And besides, usually the client is important product, which you can make money (well, or consume a good), and not what module or platform is used to create his site.
Another “weak” side of the drupal.
Many of my clients initially assured me that Bitrix (Magento) is paid and therefore it differs in result. This is one of the biggest misconceptions. Bitrix (Magento) is not responsible for the result. People just want to earn money and give the product along with free drupal, take money, do marketing, convince everyone that they are chosen.
All the same, drupal has an element of cooperation, we are sharing, paid engines do not have this, that is, they work on a monetary basis and the main thing for them to sell.
One more thing. Free - no one is responsible. There was a real case. The site on drupal took 2-3 place in the search. Flew off for two days. I counted the damage 500,000 rubles. For my part there were only 2 questions: Why not 3 billion? And why if you hang losses on me, then do not share the profit with me?
That is, there is no responsibility as such - it is necessary to inform the client. Moreover, the CMS developer is not responsible. Free - means the same irresponsible, as well as paid, paid - the same irresponsible, as free. No responsibility here, just no. In the USA, England is possible. But in Russia, this is definitely not there. And it is necessary to talk about this to the client, because competitors will talk about "warranty and service." Paid this does not mean that someone is responsible for something.
Often there was a saying that drupal is unsafe. But at the same time, no one could give an example. In my practice, not a single site has ever picked up a cold or allergy, there were no freezes and some problems.
To summarize, why it is beneficial for you and your customers to use drupal for projects.
- In drupal a huge selection of free modules.
- Client-friendly architecture.
- drupal free.
- Qualitative.
- Professional and friendly community ready to help
- Huge selection of specialists.
And finally, for me, drupal is probably the best CMS in the company's automation project.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/247059/
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