SugarCRM 5.0 Review: 4 Reasons to Switch

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:46:35 +0000

SugarCRM 5.0 was recently released to the public, and we’ve had a good chance make use of the new version during our day to day business operations. So far, we’ve been incredibly impressed with the new version and the flexibility that it has to offer. Here are five new features in SugarCRM 5.0 that might make you want to upgrade:

Custom Module Builder – SugarCRM 5.0 has a tool which allows users to build their own custom modules to track whatever’s most important to you. It eliminates the need to hire an external development firm to get the reports you want in many cases. The new module builder works with reporting, work flow, and Sugar Studio.

AJAX Email Client – Email is an area of SugarCRM that Sugar significantly improved in version 5.0. The new version of SugarCRM implements its own AJAX Email client that’s very useable. It’s got a rich ajax interface, search, keyboard shortcuts, contacts, and support for multiple contacts. It’s certainly no Zimbra or Outlook, but if that’s all you got, it’s useable.

Improved Sugar Dashboards – Dashboards on Sugar just became much more useable and visually appealing. There’s now support for funnel charts, pie charts, line graphs, bar graphs, and even performance gauge charts. You can create your own custom dashboards or use the ones built in.

Improved Access Control – SugarCRM 5.0 offers a substantially improved user access control system. This will allow you to give your employees access to only the information that they need. This is a significant security improvement and reduces a lot of risk by making sure your employees don’t have too much access to information.

SugarCRM has turned what was already a great customer relationship management tool into something even better. SugarCRM 5.0 has a lot of great new features that improves the usability of the tool, and it’s definitely worth considering.

DataSync offers SugarCRM 5.0 Hosting.

SugarCRM Announces Keynote Speakers for SugarCon 2008

admin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:17:45 +0000

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SugarCRM, the world’s leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, today announced prominent keynotes and sponsors for SugarCon 2008, its global customer and developer conference, February 6-8, 2008, at the Dolce Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California. Research In Motion, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, MySQL, Talend and Levementum are among the industry leaders sponsoring the conference, which is designed for users, developers and managers of CRM projects. Space is limited, so please visit http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/events/sugarcon/register.html for more information and to secure a reservation.

The kickoff keynote, “The End of the Beginning: Open Source Moves into the Mainstream,” by SugarCRM Co-Founder and CEO John Roberts, will look at how open source is transforming the software industry and what it means for the future of CRM.

Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, will speak about Sun’s role as the largest commercial open source contributor and how its recent acquisition of MySQL further positions the company as a platform for the Web economy.

Other keynotes include:

“The Real Future of Technology”

Daniel Lyons, aka “Fake Steve Jobs,” senior editor at Forbes

For over a year, the identity of Fake Steve Jobs was the Internet’s best-kept secret. The business world and Silicon Valley were buzzing with speculation and rumor, even parlor games: who, exactly, was behind “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs,” the scathingly hilarious, deceptively insightful and wildly popular blog “written” by Apple’s genius CEO? With his blog and recently published book, “Options,” Lyons has captured the Zeitgeist of Silicon Valley with his pitch-perfect satirical style. In this keynote, Lyons will look at how technology is reshaping the technology and media world.

“Web 2.0, Social Networking and the New Customer Centricity”

Paul Greenberg, author of “CRM at the Speed of Light” and president of The 56 Group

Paul Greenberg will look at Web 2.0, and its ability to accelerate collaboration between companies and customers. In addition to being the author of the best-selling book, “CRM at the Speed of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century,” Greenberg is president of The 56 Group, LLC, an enterprise applications consulting services firm, focused on CRM strategic services including go-to-market strategies for vendors and integrators, CRM strategic planning and vendor selection.

“The Sales Learning Curve”

Mark Leslie, lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business

Mark Leslie, the founding chairman and CEO of Veritas, will examine how companies can manage sales processes to achieve faster growth and greater profits. During his tenure as CEO, Veritas grew from 12 employees to 5,500 employees deployed globally, and increased revenue from $95,000 per year to $1,500,000,000 per year.

“The Future of Open Source and Enterprise Software”

Larry Augustin, founder of VA Software

Larry Augustin is a technology entrepreneur and visionary who was present at the creation of the open source movement. A strong advocate of collaborative software development, Augustin was the visionary behind SourceForge.net, the largest open source development site on the Internet. In this keynote, Augustin will explore how collaborative development is changing the way companies acquire and use technology for business advantage.

“The Challenges of Sales Leadership”

Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and publisher of Selling Power Magazine

Gerhard Gschwandtner will explain what it takes to manage a successful sales organization, including what it takes to build a winning team; manage change; integrate technology with process, incentives and compensation; and satisfy your most demanding customers.

In addition to the keynotes, SugarCon 2008 offers over 40 sessions tailored to SugarCRM customers, partners, administrators and developers. Breakout topics include “CRM On-Demand or On-Site: A Decision Framework,” “Best Practices for Deploying SugarCRM,” “GPL v3: What It Means for You” and “Mashing Up Sugar.” To view a complete agenda, please visit http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/events/sugarcon/agenda.html.

SugarCon 2008 includes the following extracurricular activities:

California cuisine, drinks and music at the famed Testarossa Winery in the Los Gatos hills
Welcome reception and dinner at the Dolce Hayes Mansion
Rooftop party on Santana Row in San Jose

Research In Motion and Microsoft are Platinum Sponsors for SugarCon. Selling Power Magazine is the premier media sponsor. Gold Sponsors include Oracle, Sun, MySQL, Talend and Levementum. Silver Sponsors include InsideView, JasperSoft, JigSaw, Q-Industries, SierraCRM and Zend Technologies. CRM Magazine, PHP Magazine and myCRMcareer.com are media sponsors of the event.

Attendance cost is USD 495 per person. Please visit http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/events/sugarcon/register.html to register.

About SugarCRM

SugarCRM is the world’s leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software for companies of all sizes. Sugar easily adapts to any business environment by offering a more flexible, cost-effective alternative than proprietary applications. SugarCRM’s open source architecture allows companies to more easily customize and integrate customer-facing business processes in order to build and maintain more profitable relationships. SugarCRM offers several deployment options, including on-demand, on-premise and appliance-based solutions to suit customers’ security, integration and configuration needs.

DataSync offers high-quality SugarCRM Hosting. Click here for more information.

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SugarCRM 5.0 Review: 4 Reasons to Switch

SugarCRM Announces Keynote Speakers for SugarCon 2008