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Sugar CRM My Portal Module

Conclusion

This module has the role in classifying your favorite websites. You can add as many as you wish, and have different shortcuts for them in the left panel.

Here is a picture with Sugar CRM My Portal.

Clicking on the site listed will display the site in Sugar CRM.

Also you can classify the websites in personal and global.

Is this useful? I really don’t think so. If you want a true bookmark system, I recommend to get firefox or If you would like an online bookmark system see del.icio.us or check Google.

So that’s all, about Sugar CRM My Portal. I will deleted from the “it’s a must list”.

Conclusion: Sugar CRM My Portal, is a module you don’t need. Excluded from the “it’s a must list”.

Tags: sugar crm, my portal module, portal, sugar crm portal module, sugar crm tutorial

Sugar CRM Leads

Sugar CRM Leads Module Conclusions – fast link.

What are leads in SugarCRM ? It is worth using them?

These are the questions that I will try to answer now.

In the sale process, leads are the early contacts. For example, a lead may be generated by a phone call, a partner, word of mouth, trade shows, or other sources.

All leads have a life cycle and they can be managed and tracked with Leads module of Sugar CRM.

A lead may be duplicated (if you have more leads from the same source) or converted in opportunities, account, contacts and even appointments.

In the leads module home page, you will see a quick search and a lead list (that can be exported in CSV format) with columns like Name, Status, Account Name, E-mail, Phone Number and User (the user is you or other team members).

Clicking on any lead will display detailed information of that lead.

Information that can be added in a Sugar CRM lead

A lead can contain the following information (default with Sugar CRM open source). The ones I consider important, are in bold. (but I repeat, depends on the business type of your company).

There are three main categories:

• Lead Information
• Address Information
• Description Information

Lead information:

• Lead source (cold call, exiting customer, trade shows etc)
• Lead source description
• Status (new, assigned, in process, converted, recycled, dead)
• Referred by
• First Name
• Last Name (mandatory field)
• Account Name
• Title
• Phones – office, mobile, home, etc
• E-mail
• Department
• Do not call
• Assigned to

Address Information:

• primary address and secondary
• city, state, postal code, country

These are the usual fields, in my opinion they are enough. For a fast, flexible and small company I will use just:

• Lead source
• Status with New, Dead – the others values of status field I will eliminate, because they are no needed I’ll keep the converted-status field, which is automatically assigned when a lead is converted
• Contact Information (address, e-mails)
• Description

I like to keep it simple.

These fields can be customized from the admin menu and if the admin custom module isn’t doing a good job for you, a good coder (programmer) can provide you with all the fields you need, with the right associations.

In conclusion: Leads are the starting point of an income (a new business, orders and so on). Leads are the early contacts, and they have a source – a phone call, a website, e-mail, partner etc. The leads may come from the exterior or can be generated by us (and let’s not forget that we should generate them). Sugar CRM Leads Module can be used to manage and track the life-cycle of these the leads. It is a module that will help your work flow and it will help you keep organized.

For a feeling of this module please click here, and play with Sugar CRM Leads Module.

Tags: sugar crm, leads, sugar crm leads, leads module, crm tutorial

Oracle’s business strategy has significantly changed with the acquisition of Siebel System. In their new CRM strategy, Oracle will not force upgrades to the new technology. Oracle target is to become the leading vendor in CRM global market.
Oracle has claimed to be the number one CRM vendor with five million users. This why Oracle is based on the number of people and not sold licenses.

After the integration of Siebel system, Oracle received 150 million registered self-service users. In this moment Oracle already begun the integration of its products: Oracle E-Business Suite, Siebel, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne CRM
.
The focus is on developing and enhancing end-to-end business processes.

Simpson added that Oracle was also addressing the on-demand CRM model pioneered by Salesforce.com. This is where the software is hosted remotely and delivered via a web browser. There is a debate within the CRM market over the merits of the traditional on-premise model — where the software is bought and runs on servers in a company’s offices — versus the on-demand approach.

“We’ve got really good product offerings for both,” said Simpson, who admitted that Oracle was not in a dominant position in that part of the market. “I will acknowledge that another vendor has helped define the on-demand market… but we’ve overtaken them in terms of product capability.”

Silicon republic article on Oracle unveils CRM strategy

Tags: news, crm news, oracle, siebel, strategy

ATG a leading vendor in e-commerce sites, e-marketing and customer services products announced the partnership with Materna Information and Communications. Materna is a vendor of IT service management, customer service management and government services in Europe.

Their position in the European marketplace will be strengthening, with this new partnership.

It is believed that they will develop a robust product, offering e-marketing, e-crm and e-management solutions. We will see.

Tags: crm, crm news, atg, materna, partnership, marketing, european market

This is a short description of Sugar CRM products and capabilities. This features will be discussed later in Sugar CRM category.

Sugar CRM

Sugar CRM is a popular open source CRM. It has three main versions:

• Sugar CRM Professional (commercial) – 239$/user/year
• Sugar CRM Enterprise (commercial) – 449$/user/year
• Sugar CRM Open Source – FREE

Here is a picture, from www.sugarcrm.com with the futures of each product. This is what the team from SugarCRM is telling us, but maybe is more for the Open Source version.

Ok, don’t wait anymore and check this Sugar CRM Open Source Demo from their main site.

So, for a first view I see that Sugar CRM Open Source has:

• Portal
• Calendar
• Activities
• Contacts
• Accounts
• Leads
• Opportunities
• Cases
• Bug Tracker
• Documents
• Emails
• Campaigns
• Projects
• RSS
• Dashboard

Sugar CRM Professional - demo here:

• Portal
• Calendar
• Activities
• Contacts
• Accounts
• Leads
• Opportunities
• Quotes
• Cases
• Bug Tracker
• Documents
• Emails
• Campaigns
• Projects
• RSS
• Dashboard
• Forecast
• Reports
• Contracts

And Sugar CRM Enterprise - (the most complete one - demo here) has:

• Portal
• Calendar
• Activities
• Contacts
• Accounts
• Leads
• Opportunities
• Quotes
• Products
• Cases
• Bug Tracker
• Documents
• Emails
• Campaigns
• Projects
• RSS
• Dashboard
• Reports
• Forecasts
• Contracts

I have bolded the differences between the commercial version and the free one.

These are the main and basic functionalities of Sugar CRM. What each one is doing we will discuss later. It is important to see that the differences are very few. In my opinion the most important element that is missing from the open source version is “reports”; of course this depends on the profile of the company. But a report is always necessary.

Tags: sugar crm, crm, open source, client, management, sugar crm tutorial

NetSuite, Inc. has announced that Purdue University has decided to incorporate NetSuite programs into undergraduate and graduate curriculum for the Purdue Industrial Distribution Program. NetSuite, Inc. is a leading vendor of on-demand CRM. According to NetSuite sources, several classes will benefit from the program. The benefits will include financial transactions, sales, and management. Financial transactions of Purdue University may contain distribution, purchasing, inventory and warehouse management.

TMC.net has an article on the Same Topic.

Most organizations make the selection part of the process by conducting an extensive review of the systems and processes in place. Adoption of CRM system is an effective solution for the growth and steady development of any organization. A CRM system requires a sizable commitment for any firm. Most companies make these investments. However, they have not realized the maximum value for their money due to common errors before and after the implementation of the CRM system.

Some firms choose to play it safe while adopting CRM system. They approach CRM from a plug-an-play perspective. It is necessary to assess the potential value of a CRM system so that the system runs efficiently without any difficulties. After the implementation, problems such as poor maintenance and inadequate training may arise. Hence, selecting a proper application is very crucial.

Tags: CRM, CRM news, solution, organization, investments, safe, maintenance, application, implementation, CRM systems

Microsoft Gold Certified Partner I.B.I.S., Inc. has decided to continue to invest in Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Microsoft Information Worker solutions. IBIS s worked with more than 40 clients and their Microsoft CRM implementation. IBIS has a group of employees that focus on the Microsoft CRM application. The following Microsoft disciplines are very useful for CRM development :

• Microsoft CRM
• Windows Server
• SQL Server
• .Net
• SQL Reporting Services
• Microsoft Infrastructure

Microsoft CRM is completely dependant on other Microsoft Technologies. Hence, it becomes important to work with a service provider that understands Microsoft and their solutions better. TMC.net has an interesting article on the Same Topic. IBIS sources believe that their long stint with Microsoft will help them to find compatibility with version 3.0 of Microsoft CRM.

CastleCRM has launched HealthCheck, which is an advanced application monitoring service for customers using SalesLogix. The SalesLogix Application Health Maintenance System provides proactive monitoring at no extra cost. PR.com has an interesting article on the same topic. The new CRM software will monitor the health of customers’ SalesLogix applications. It also alerts customers of identified issues in most cases. CastleCRM runs a sophisticated systems integration and application management company located in the US and Spain.

This service offering will allow our clients to realize even greater value from their investments in SalesLogix by maintaining peak performance of their application while reducing administration costs”, said William Zarbock, President of Castle CRM.

There is a definite link between customer relationship management and the value chain in any organization. Companies must consider how their resources complement each other and how a CRM platform effectively and efficiently delivers the desired value to customers. There is a similar article on the same topic. Companies now have realized that call center channels produce and deliver value. Customer contact center solutions are increasing taking center stage in terms of their contribution to value creation and process efficiency.

The new VoIP-based solutions offer significant technical and cost-saving advantages. Their enhanced features meet the objectives of CRM and fits in the corporate organizations. Traditionally, the call centers performed outbound telemarketing and inbound queries for customers. Now these activities have become more automated and sophisticated. The introduction of IVR (interactive voice response) systems provided a boost to the customer relationship management.

CRM platforms have emerged to manage customer interactions in an effective manner. CRM also helps companies to become more customer-centric. Call centers have now focused on responding to customers’ needs while meeting the objective of customer satisfaction and customer retention. Companies have also shifted their attention to CRM in order to maximize benefits.