SUGAR CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

About SugarCRM
SugarCRM is the premier commercial open source customer relationship management application provider, breaking the rules set by conventional CRM solutions. The limitations of traditional CRM software can be summarized by the lack of flexibility, high costs, and closed-source structure which is embedded into the traditional product offerings. This has led to a failure rate of over 70% with traditional CRM implementations.

The 3 founders who started SugarCRM created a new kind of software company that smashes the CRM industry's antiquated methodologies - using distributed, open source product development. By leveraging the combined intelligence of CRM developers across the globe, SugarCRM has built a more revolutionary CRM application than what is offered by most proprietary software or hosting companies’ today.

Sugar Professional Features
The Sugar Suite offers extensive user-friendly functionality which makes using the application enjoyable and effective.

New Features in 3.5:

Cross-module reporting
Allows users to merge data sets from different Sugar Suite modules. This enhancement to Sugar Professional's reporting capabilities makes it possible to filter customer data in hundreds of ways to gain new insights and information that can help drive sales.

HTML emails
This new feature enables the use of embedded graphics and formatted text both in single-use emails and in email marketing campaigns created and managed through Sugar Professional. This complements existing plain-text email abilities and helps users attract the attention of prospects and customers.

SOAP API calls
These calls are created to query and easily traverse module relationships. Now complex interactions don’t require heavy enhancements to the API.

Faster Database Responses
Increased database performance with a single connection instance. Your users will notice the difference in response times.

Upgrade Manager
This tool completely manages upgrades from within the system administration screen, eliminating the need to manually copy and paste files. Offers controlled upgrade to speed-up the upgrade process and reduce the potential for errors.

Customization Safekeeping
New upgrade-safe event handlers preserve modifications during future release upgrades.
Improved Sugar Plug-in for Outlook
For faster navigation and greater control over synchronization of contacts and calendars. Users can archive customer emails to a contact, opportunity, lead or account with one click; transfer scheduled meeting information from Outlook to Sugar Professional through the Free/ Busy Server; and more.

New Sugar Module Loader
This feature users to add or remove third-party modules without programming and keeps the add-ons separate from the base application code, allowing core updates to be made without affecting accessory modules. This removes deployment barriers and makes it easier for developers to build Sugar Professional enhancements.

Additional Sugar Suite Features:

Manage your marketing campaigns
The Campaign Manager allows users to organize marketing activities and measure their effectiveness and influence on the sales pipeline. Users can manage and track marketing efforts associated to leads, contacts and opportunities for closed-loop marketing analysis.

Email list designer
The list designer provides query, list management and list filtering tools that allows personnel to segment contact databases for target marketing purposes. Users can query the system to generate lists targeting specific audiences, then save the queries for re-use for similar future campaigns. Users can also import temporary lists such as those rented from brokers or data service providers.

Manage your email marketing
This component enables marketing teams to create text email templates that can be personalized for recipients and sent as email blasts on any desired schedule. The email is then recorded as sent within the lead or contact history, enabling a 360-degree view of the customer.

See sales' forecasts
Forecasting allows sales managers to calculate potential sales and associated revenues based on projections from sales representatives related to deals that are in their pipeline. This provides essential visibility and flexibility to alter expected performance commits, help establish sales goals, and aid in resource planning.

Access Sugar Suite on any wireless device
Use any browser-equipped mobile device via a new separate application that interfaces with Sugar Suite. Users can view, search, modify or add contacts, leads, opportunities, accounts, meetings and calls instantly through a wireless device with web access.

Manage your key documents within Sugar Suite
Provides a central repository for product briefs, data sheets, collateral materials and other documents required by sales, marketing, and support teams.

Manage your key projects within Sugar Suite
Project management is a group collaboration tool that allows organizations to define steps, establish timelines, and assign work to members on any project relevant to end users.

Access your corporate employee directory
See complete corporate resources list and have search functions by first or last names, roles, departments and basic contact information.

Synchronize your schedule with non-Sugar Suite calendars
Enable users to use Sugar Suite with full group calendaring, utilizing scheduling information managed both inside and outside of the Sugar Suite application. The new Sugar free/busy server can communicate with any client calendaring system that can reference a free/busy published service such as Microsoft Outlook? or Mac iCal?.

Customize your Sugar application without coding
Your business process is unique. Sugar Suite allows you to customize the information flow to fit your organization like a glove. All of this customization is now easy to do with a drag-and-drop field manager available through the administrator tools.

Point-and-click portal creation
Add new modules into your Sugar Suite that are web-based applications - such as forms, document repositories, order management systems and more. Get quick access to all of your web based tools without leaving the Sugar interface.

Automatic web lead imports
Leads can be automatically imported from a web form where attributes for tracking and assignment purposes are customizable. Sugar is also built to integrate with one of the best open source CMS applications available - Mambo. Transfer your web leads automatically to your employees through Sugar.

Microsoft Outlook email archive
Sugar Pro offers email archiving directly from Microsoft Outlook without logging into Sugar Pro. A user can also create an account, case, lead and opportunity The 2.5 release offers additional Outlook integration.

Interactive dashboard
Gain a real-time understanding of the Sales and Marketing activities through the interactive, Macromedia Flash based, drillable dashboard panel. You can customize what it displays too!

Integrated RSS feeds & team notices
Communicate the latest news and activities through the new RSS feeds from your favorite media sources and also display internal team blogs on the Team Notices board.

Easy to learn interface
Sugar Suite is designed for intuitive interactions allowing fast human interaction time and ease of use

Fast application response time
Sugar Suite's architecture (LAMP) has the fastest server response times in comparison to other CRM applications due to the clean coding and optimized development

Totally customizable application
Written in PHP and MySQL, all aspects of the application can be customized to better fit business needs

Complete application search feature
The search functionality in Sugar spans all components, and displays every similarity in an organized presentation on one screen

User defined templates
The user selects which template to interact with - which doesn't interfere with other user selections

User defined languages
Perfect for multi-lingual organizations, there are more than 15 languages the user can select to interact with

Last viewed list
Every page offers the user their last set of data points they looked at, for quickly returning to a screen

Shortcut table
Every component has a shortcut table customized to display the commands most requested within that component

Quick data entry tool
Users can easily add data through a sub-menu table located within every component

Built for B2B and B2C companies
The accounts tab can be modified to become the customer tab, offering the same advanced SFA system to business to consumer companies

User controlled lead conversion
Users have the option to create accounts, contacts, opportunities and follow-through activities when converting leads

Advanced matching logic
Sugar uses "stop and check" technique for reduction of duplicates in the system

Comprehensive scheduler
Dynamic calendar displays scheduled meetings, calls and tasks for a singe view of activities

Task assignment
Email alerts communicate newly assigned leads, contacts, accounts and opportunities to a user

Team selling with data security
Sugar Pro can assign leads, contacts, accounts and opportunities to user teams and track activates as a group controlled by user level security

Dynamic charts
Click on chart results and get the detailed information and to edit the view

vCard creator and importer
vCards can be created, imported, and exported through Sugar.

End user data import tool
Offers a data import tool that lets end-users easily import data from most proprietary CRM products and spreadsheets like salesforce.com®, Microsoft®, Act!®, and more.

End user data export tool
Users can easily export selected data into a commonly used format for external use