Sugar CRM Review

With the advent of SaaS making many niche software types viable and practical, CRM software was one of the niche solutions that got the most immediate attention. In a few short years, sophisticated CRM infrastructures have become one of the backbones of modern business, being used by almost every department to some level. Now, we see a trend in CRM for either Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics being lauded as the best thing going. But in all these lists and reviews, you also see another one being mentioned just as amicably, Sugar CRM. However, it’s rare to find a real Sugar CRM review, or one that puts it higher on the list than third, despite there seeming to be no reason to rank it always lower.

Well, one of the main reasons it’s hard to find a Sugar CRM review, and why people tend to overlook it for other solutions in comparison lists, is mainly due to its being open-source. It’s very common, if illogical, for people to automatically look down on open-source solutions as being somehow inferior. This is not, in fact, always the case.

Sugar CRM is an example of open-source being no less viable than the alternatives. One thing, however, that is a real problem with this one being overlooked is because it’s the best CRM solution for small and medium business sizes. It’s geared mainly for those, and its design, out of the box, reflects that pretty clearly.

It offers a very simple but intuitive interface that’s easy pick up quickly, and offers as much access to advanced features as Salesforce or Dynamics. Along with this, the wizards and other creation tools reflect a no-nonsense simple interface as well, making for a lot of user friendliness.

Along with this, its native mobile app overcomes compatibility hurdles that other mobile apps for other CRM solutions still contend with, and has an equally elegant interface. Along with good social network and Google integration, as well as social CRM functions for collaboration, it really is an intuitive CRM solution for this business scale, with no configuration.

The only problems it has is it can’t compete with Salesforce when it comes to the legendary Salesforce App Exchange, and an issue of questionable support. The latter is because, being open-source, there are a number of versions and distributions of Sugar CRM. These are called forks, and it’s common in the open source world. But, since these vary so widely, the quality of support you can get in a pinch varies widely depending on what distribution and configuration you’ve installed. This compounds when you begin modifying it in any way, too.

If you’re a medium or small business, and you can sacrifice the level of support more expensive CRM solutions provide, then you shouldn’t overlook Sugar CRM on all of those lists people make. They tend to forget that non-enterprise businesses have some special concerns occasionally. So, while it’s hard to find a solid Sugar CRM review online, perhaps this will give you some insight. While the competitors have earned their rights as top enterprise solutions, for smaller businesses, this one’s probably the best solution, really. They offer demos if you’re not convinced, so what have you got to lose by trying one?