SugarCRM Expands Open Source Package
SugarCRM has added to its suite of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) products with the release of Sugar Enterprise Edition.
The upstart CRM provider said the new offering is designed to extend the reach of its platform into a wider range of business environments.
Priced at $499 per user, per year, Sugar Enterprise Edition also includes technical support. Key features include support for the Oracle 9i database, an offline client, advanced reporting, and a “Module Loader” for plug-and-play installation of third-party extensions.
The Cupertino, CA-based company released the first version of its open source Sugar Professional in January.
The Offline client offers automatic synchronization of all changes made to the CRM data by users working from an airplane, car, hotel room or any other offline location the next time they connect to the Internet.
Advanced reporting also allows administrators to write multidimensional queries using SQL queries in order to report on complex associations beyond those available with the standard reporting module. Reports can show detailed, crossover information stored in areas that are managed by different user roles.
Users can add or remove third-party modules without programming and keep add-ons separate from the base application code, allowing core updates to be made without affecting accessory modules.
To date, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company said SugarCRM community software developers have created more than 80 accessory modules, including language translation packs, document and knowledge management systems, timesheets, database backups and Java synchronization.
“The advanced capabilities of our new Enterprise Edition make our CRM platform available to a much broader audience,” said John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM in a statement. “The new Sugar Enterprise opens the door to other businesses with more advanced needs that are looking for a proven, low-cost, alternative to proprietary CRM programs.”
Last month, SugarCRM marked the one-year anniversary of its launch by noting several milestones. SugarCRM said there have been more than 260,000 downloads of its Sugar Open Source Edition and 250 paying customers for its professional edition.
Also, some 575 open source developers are contributing new code and enhancements to the system, and nearly 9,500 participants are active in multiple forums sponsored by the company.
David Needle is an experienced technology reporter, based in Silicon Valley. He covers big data, mobile, customer experience, social media, and other topics. He was previously the news editor for Enterprise Apps Today, TabTimes editor, and West Coast bureau chief of Internet.com.