SugarCRM

[Dan Coutu]

Ben Scott wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>   Who here has done anything with SugarCRM?  Would you mind sharing
> your experience here?
>
>   Things I'm especially interested in:
>
> * People who have actually used it for real
> * How hard is it to get up and running (both install and initial data
> population)?
> * Is it maintenance free, or touchy and needy?
> * Do people like to use it?
> * How does it work in a world used to MS Windows, Office, etc?
>
>   They're talking CRM where I work, and so I'm thinking SugarCRM might
> be a good choice.  I'm looking at the website, and will try the demo
> of course, but the demo is never like actual use.  I've got to figure
> out the license quagmire.  "Enterprise"?  "Professional"?
> "Community"?  And then there are the forks like vTiger and
> SplendidCRM.
>   
An important thing to know is that CRM comes in many flavors, all with 
the same name. SugarCRM is really a sales-oriented CRM system. If you 
want something that the sales team can use but don't want to pay for 
salesforce.com then SugarCRM is good choice.

Other types of CRM are:

- Help desk CRM where the primary users are technical support staff. 
Provides a knowledgebase, ability to submit help requests by email, web, 
and phone, trouble ticketing capability.
- Service CRM where the primary users are service representatives. This 
is different from helpdesk in that service calls can be placed and 
tracked. Service calls are assigned by one person, tracked by many 
people, and the responsibility of one person who reports on progress of 
resolution and closes the calls when it has been resolved.
- E-commerce CRM focuses on tracking orders, soliciting follow-on orders 
from customers, and so forth. Usually integrates with an e-commerce package.
- There are probably others that I can't think of right now.

So the question to you is this: what do you expect to DO with a CRM package?

Dan