SugarCRM Review - Walz Scale

We have been using Sugar for several years, but only in the past six months have we really dug down to fully utilize the software. The tool is fairly simple to use, I like the reporting functions, but the feedback I get from my sales team is that it is just 'clunky' to use. I'll give you one little example. For the Opportunity 'Actual Closed Won' date, I found through coming across some bad sales data for the month, that if you close a sale in January, and that same month you mark it as Closed Won. But lets say in March you want to go in and add a note to the description. Once you edit that note, (thus changing the Modify date) you autimatically changed the 'Actual Closed Won' date to March. Really messes up sales reports! When I contacted Sugar, there really wasnt an easy fix. We found SierraCRM (third part software) and Bill Convis from there helped with a solution to this problem. We have now purchased this software and believe that this will help take us to the next level of using Sugar. Sugar Support via email is usually pretty prompt, but as far as hearing from our 'Account Manager', just 2 weeks ago was the first time I heard from someone regarding our account. At that point, I had already reached out to SierraCRM, so I did not need anything from Sugar. To summarize: Great tool, though a little clunky, but the price is not bad. Customer service could be improved, especially for companies like us who are invested in the process, and just need some help taking our sales process to the next level. Thanks!

Pros

I like the Online (sugar on demand) that allows Sugar Support to get into your software and look and something you may be struggling with, like reports...

Cons

Design is little clunky. Think with some improvements, it might be easier to convert leads, update opportunities. Need less clicks!

Great For Sales and Leads Tracking, Leaves Much to Be Desired with Support Case Management

I've used SugarCRM a great deal in current and previous employers, and have always been thrilled with the sales tools that SugarCRM has, and the great ability for customizations, not to mention the continuing updates for each version. Their customer support team is top notch and very helpful for the most part, and there has been very little downtime, allowing all our teams to use the product successfully. If I could choose one thing they could improve upon, it would be their outdated case management tools. I work with our support team and find the options to be limiting compared to other case management solutions such as Zendesk (which I have also used previously). If I am to point out glaring specifics, it would be tracking visibility on unassigned cases (who is viewing each case record? has the case record been updated while I've viewed it?). It would also be the absolute poor setup of getting cases into Sugar -- we have an inbox set to automatically add in cases, but if a customer or one of our personnel doesn't email directly from inside Sugar's Email module, it creates a new case ticket (over and over). This may be a byproduct of the way we have our case management set up, but there are no best practices, and I've had to create custom Process Author tools and Workflows to get it running in a decent way. Again, the product is great from a sales point of view and for lead tracking tools, but the case management tools are dated and need to be examined and looked at to match their competitors in that category.

Pros

Sales tools, lead tracking tools, reporting features are second to none
Module builder is fantastic and very customizable.

Cons

Case management tools are lacking to a high degree, very dated

SugаrCRM: Bооst yоur busіnеss

Thе Sugаr рlаtfоrm wоrks vеry wеll аnd іs quіtе sсаlаblе асrоss оrgаnіzаtіоns оf аll sіzеs.

Pros

Eхсеllеnt dаtаbаsе systеm. Cаn bе соріеd tо оthеr sеrvеrs. Custоm fіеlds. Abіlіty tо lіnk CRM dаtа tо dеаls. Gооd usеr іntеrfасе. Wе usе SugаrCRM аs оur рrіmаry tооl іn trасkіng аррlісаtіоns, dеtеrmіnіng еlіgіbіlіty, аnd mаnаgіng раymеnts fоr сhіldrеn іn рublісly fundеd рrеsсhооl рrоgrаms. Althоugh іt wаs рrіmаrіly dеsіgnеd аs а sаlеs tооl, wе usе іt lеss аs fоr sаlеs (gіvеn thаt wе аrе nоt а sаlеs оrgаnіzаtіоn) аnd mоrе аs а rеlаtіоnshір mаnаgеmеnt аnd ассоuntіng tооl. Wе hаvе а vеry smаll tеаm (10 реорlе tоtаl), but wе аll usе Sugаr оn а dаіly bаsіs.

Cons

Rеаlly, rеаlly fіnd іt а hаsslе (аt lеаst rіght nоw) tо synс Sugаr wіth оur mаrkеtіng аutоmаtіоn sоftwаrе. Wе usе а 3rd раrty API аs оur соnnесtоr bеtwееn thе twо systеms but I fіnd glіtсhеs іn іt thаt соnсеrn mе аnd mаkе mе wоndеr іf аll my іnfоrmаtіоn іs bеіng ассurаtеly trаnsmіttеd аnd mаtсhеd uр. Sugаr wаsn't vеry іntuіtіvе whеn I fіrst bеgаn usіng іt. Wе rесеntly hаd а 3rd раrty соmе іn tо rеdеsіgn thе systеm fоr us аnd оnсе іt wаs сustоmіzеd, іt wаs muсh bеttеr. Sеаrсh funсtіоn dоеsn't аlwаys sееm tо wоrk іn thе tор nаv bаr- frustrаtіng whеn I'm tryіng tо fіnd sоmеthіng fаst аnd dоn't wаnt tо gо іntо а mоdulе tо dо іt.

Bargain paid open source CRM with lots of power

In my opinion, one of the top two open source CRM apps. A responsive web interface which works the same on all smartphones tablets laptops and desktop computers, no app required. The CRM of choice used by many upstart aggressive disruptive companies of all sizes. Highly cost effective, and expandable with tons of third party PHP modules available from the SugarOutfitters app store, such as connectors to your phone system, document system, marketing automation, reports, social media, etc. A complete bargain when compared with the usual salesforce which runs inside a restricted environment. Way more customizable because you have the wide ranging freedom of adding the latest innovations of PHP code to strengthen and automate your CRM.

Pros

Open source roots. Benefits from the rising tide of PHP innovations which let you keep up to date by adding new modules for a very affordable prices. There is a massive community of PHP developers available to help build custom modules for you for cheap prices, if you don't have PHP programming skills.

Cons

It can take some time to get used to how to use it. Also, it's too bad the free SugarCRM CE (Community Edition) version 6.5.25 is somewhat outdated, and updated only to fix security bugs. Although, it's about 75% the same features as the paid current version of SugarCRM Pro 7.8.

Excellent Community CRM

SugarCRM Community edition has been a great daily driver for my music business. It's reliable, and has enough functionality to enable me to record all the key data that I need. The ability to self-host the platform is fantastic, because it helps keep costs down, and when you work on a small-scale, you don't need all of the processing power of a paid hosted solution. Definitely a great option if you have the savvy to install and maintain your own instance on your web server.

Pros

I used the self-hosted community CRM for several years for my own music business. It has a ton of functionality that matches a lot of the basic features you find in Salesforce Classic. It's a great tool for keeping track of client data, deal tracking, etc. It's also nice to be able to self-host the platform as well as it's a lot more affordable than using a paid SaaS solution.

Cons

SugarCRM Community Edition looks pretty dated. If you don't have a lot of experience with the typical CRM data model concept, it can be hard to figure out how to use the system. The interface could be modernized to make it easier to navigate and find your way around. Another downside to being the Community Edition is that you need to know how to install and maintain the platform on your own server, but this is also a plus if you do have these skills.

Even the free version is great, with nice custom reporting capabilities.

Sugar allowed us to consolidate a few disparate software tools into one - now any one at our organization can login and see all there is to know about any of our customers!

Pros

Sugar is SUPER customizable. We've been able to easily make it ours (some via the UI, some "behind the scenes" via scripts). One of the best features are the custom reports. You can do almost SQL-level queries to get the information you want (and if you wish, you can use MySQL as well on the back end.) The ability to build multi-level dropdowns, e.g. to categorize issues, is great too. You can make almost anything you want appear on any screen you wish as well.

Cons

The built-in issue tracking part is designed for issues reported by your team - not for issues reported by your customers. We do use it for customer support, and we LOVE being able to see issues customers have had when we pull up their records - but the emails they receive are not well designed, even after considerable work on our part. In addition, we can't provide them with a login to see all their open issues, so they have to ask us.

A good open source CRM, but lacking modernization

It allowed us as a small business to track, bill, and market to our customers and potential customers.

Pros

Of course you can't beat free when it comes to software. There are so many open-source applications out there that you can almost always find one that meets your needs in this day and age. SugarCRM has been around a long time and has become a mature CRM with all the basics you'd expect. It even handles customization fairly well. Dashboards are great for tracking the simply stuff and you can build your own as well.

Cons

SugarCRM has now split into 2 tracks. There's a paid-for premium version that is typically hosted by SugarCRM. Then there's the Community Edition that's still open-source and free. For years they co-existed side-by-side perfectly fine, but a few years back, SugarCRM decided to stop updating the Community Edition. CE is eternally stuck on version 6.5. And then in April 2018, they've removed it entirely so now you're stuck with the Pro or Enterprise editions which are paid-for.

Sugar was one of my first forays into the world of CRM and covers all the basics

I learned how to work a CRM. I kept track of all customer records, ranging from revenue and profit and order amount and contact list and order dates and essentially everything related to my job operationally as a purchasing coordinator. Definitely made my life easier.

Pros

Very customizable to your needs. Straightforward, no nonsense UI. Easy to read and find things. Sugar is a perfect entry into CRMs that aren't salesforce, because its useful across all industries and departments. Its simple while being complex. You can create functions and layouts that are very specific to your needs, but without it cluttering and looking like there's a lot of information.

Cons

Its not very pretty. Sort of looks like it was made in the early 200s and they just kept the look since. People are always talking about professionalism, and this definitely looks less polished than other CRMs. Because of this, some of the information can blend together and be difficult to find if there are long lists of things you are looking for.

I have made product configurations for a company that provides technical consulting services

Management of all information related to customers and sales in a single software in a centralized manner that can be accessed by any type of device in real time, providing valuable information for decision making made by the management controls

Pros

The tool is intuitive and very easy to use, there is the option to use the cloud in a private server or use the software tool as a service, it has a variety of modules to carry out the management of clients, such as sales, marketing campaigns, opportunities, potential customers, everything related to meetings and appointments to be carried out by sales executives, among others. It has a module to carry out project management related to opportunities and contributions made. It also has a version for mobile devices that allows you to review information or keep the information of the CRM updated from the comfort of the smart phone and / or tablet. It has the ability to add new fields to the forms by further personalizing the tool, there is a version in which you can by role display a certain form. It has the capacity to extend it by adding new modules

Cons

It has a module to record tasks, which can be used for assigning different activities to employees, in this part you may be able to add some type of SLA and in this way to measure the time it takes for users to complete tasks according to the assignment date and the SLAs registered for a specific type of task. Workflows are very basic for the professional version

SugarCRM Review

One of the main benefits is having the mobile app that SugarCRM provides this helped to get us data and information at our fingertips when needed. Sugar is reasonably priced, has pretty good user-friendly interfaces and requires just a little training to get used to it. It's more suitable for mid-sized companies.