Insightly vs SugarCRM

May 21, 2023 | Author: Sandeep Sharma
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Insightly
Insightly is a great tool to help small businesses deal with the vital task of managing your contacts, organizations, partners, vendors and suppliers. Using CRM best practices, you can see everything about a contact - from background, email history and important dates, to any projects or opportunities in which they have participated
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SugarCRM
SugarCRM is an alternative CRM system that is available in both open source and Commercial open source applications. Sugar's functionality includes sales-force automation, marketing campaigns, customer support, collaboration, Mobile CRM, Social CRM and reporting.
Insightly and SugarCRM are two popular customer relationship management (CRM) platforms with distinct features and capabilities. Insightly is known for its user-friendly interface and ease of use, making it a suitable choice for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers features such as contact management, lead tracking, opportunity management, project management, and email integration. On the other hand, SugarCRM is a more robust CRM solution that offers advanced customization options and scalability, making it suitable for larger organizations. It provides features such as sales automation, marketing automation, customer support, reporting, and integration capabilities. SugarCRM also offers more flexibility in terms of deployment options, including cloud-based and on-premises solutions.

See also: Top 10 Online CRM software
Insightly vs SugarCRM in our news:

2020. SugarCRM acquires Node to gain predictive customer intelligence



SugarCRM made an announcement today about its acquisition of Node, a customer intelligence startup. This strategic move not only brings valuable AI expertise to SugarCRM but also introduces a customer prediction component to its platform. This means that SugarCRM will now have the capability to identify customers who are most likely to convert or churn. As a result, SugarCRM enters into direct competition with industry players like Adobe and Salesforce, who have long offered predictive intelligence layers. Established in 2014 and having raised over $43 million, Node fills a significant gap for SugarCRM by enhancing engagement analytics and enabling action across various stages of the business. Simultaneously, it serves as a unique market differentiator for the company.


2019. SugarCRM moved into marketing automation with Salesfusion acquisition



In an effort to strengthen its marketing automation capabilities, SugarCRM has made the acquisition of Salesfusion. Recognizing the need for improvements in the marketing automation aspect of their platform, SugarCRM CEO Craig Charlton opted to acquire a company rather than building the functionality from scratch, considering it a faster approach. SugarCRM has been undergoing a transitional phase as it faces challenges in keeping pace with industry giants, especially Salesforce. Last summer, the company entered the private equity market and secured a significant investment from Accel-KKR, reportedly a nine-figure deal according to various reports and characterized as a leveraged buyout by PitchBook.


2016. IBM tightens integration with SugarCRM



SugarCRM has partnered with IBM Cloud to enhance the security and control of its customer relationship management platform. This joint offering enables Sugar's platform to be deployed on IBM's dedicated, private bare metal clouds, resulting in improved overall security and performance, according to SugarCRM. With IBM's expansive network of 46 cloud data centers worldwide, Sugar users can benefit from a larger and faster network. IBM and SugarCRM have maintained an ongoing relationship, as evidenced by their previous collaboration in September, where they introduced IBM Marketing Cloud for SugarCRM, integrating marketing and sales operations to enhance the customer experience.


2016. SugarCRM gets improved Search, Tagging



The latest iteration of the customer relationship management (CRM) software platform, SugarCRM 7.7, introduces several enhancements and new capabilities to improve search functionality. One notable addition is the introduction of custom tags, allowing CRM users to tag any record within the application. These Sugar tags are seamlessly integrated into the Sugar database. The key advantage, as highlighted by SugarCRM officials, is that these tags can now be accessed through a unified global search experience instead of relying on a separate tag search mechanism. In addition, SugarCRM offers a comprehensive "knowledge base" feature, enabling users to create articles on various topics and share them both internally and externally. The knowledge base includes an intelligence panel, which intelligently displays context-sensitive information, helping agents and customers easily locate relevant articles.


2010. SugarCRM 6 - cloudy open-source CRM



While the main competitors (Salesforce and Microsoft) entertain each other with the lawsuits, SugarCRM gradually strengthens its market position. Yesterday the company officially announced the release of SugarCRM 6. The major changes have affected the interface - it became much easier, more convenient and flexible. Users will be able to leave on screen only these elements that are used. The new convenient contextual search panel lets you view search results without leaving the current page, and the new recent pages panel makes navigation easier. It's interesting that the new interface is available only in payed (Professional and Enterprise) editions, but not in the free Community Edition. Because of this the company received another portion of critics, because it actively uses the "open-source" term for SugarCRM promotion. ***


2009. SugarCRM follows Salesforce strategy



SugarCRM, an open-source Salesforce alternative, is trying to keep up with its rival. The newest version SugarCRM 5.5 is focused on the same areas as latest Salesforce versions: platform, social tools and mobile access. Of course, the most significant upgrade is the new integration platform Sugar Cloud Connectors, that allows to link SugarCRM to third-party business applications using Web services. As an example, the company introduced the LinkedIn connector, that allows to display LinkedIn-profile data on contact page inside SugarCRM. The new activity streams module Social Feeds is very similar to the recently unveiled Salesforce Chatter. In addition to short message exchange and status updates, it allows you to receive notifications about various actions in the system, such as invoice creation or customer data change. ***


2009. SugarCRM becomes a part of Microsoft open-source strategy

SugarCRM Community Edition, the free open source CRM platform, is now available in the Windows Web App Gallery. The Community Edition of SugarCRM offers a range of sales, customer support, and marketing features and encompasses approximately 85% of the functionality found in the premium version. SugarCRM has been a Microsoft partner since 2006 and has played a significant role in Microsoft's recent open source strategy. By promoting interoperability with Windows, Microsoft aims to diminish the demand for competing Linux OS and invites open source software vendors to embrace their platform. It will be intriguing to observe whether the success of SugarCRM inspires more open source vendors to adapt their software for the Windows platform.


2009. Sugar Express - SugarCRM on the Sugar Open Cloud

SugarCRM has introduced Sugar Express, an affordable customer relationship management (CRM) solution that operates on their global on-demand computing platform known as the Sugar Open Cloud. This comprehensive CRM offering includes sales, marketing, and support features, along with convenient Sugar Plug-Ins for Microsoft Office and access to SugarCRM Customer Support. Sugar Express is available through an annual subscription, priced at $499 for up to five users or $799 for up to ten users per year. The Open Cloud concept behind SugarCRM aims to provide customers with a range of options, including choice and portability to run on Sugar or other cloud platforms, flexibility to support public, private, and hosted applications, and interoperability as an open-source solution.


2008. SugarCRM Adds Hooks to Cloud Data Services

SugarCRM, a commercial open-source CRM vendor, has announced a new feature called "Cloud Connectors" that allows customers to integrate third-party data sources, including LinkedIn, into their CRM system. The integration capability aims to keep users in a CRM context, making the process more efficient and convenient. With the new feature, users can access relevant information from third-party sites within SugarCRM, eliminating the need to switch between different applications. The Cloud Connectors are made possible by a data services framework that enables developers and users to bring in any type of data source. Other features included in SugarCRM 5.2 are "Social Feeds" for alerts and status details, granular administration capabilities, and "Portal Dashlets" for displaying information from external websites. Industry experts have praised the Cloud Connectors feature, emphasizing the importance of integrating CRM with social networking tools. SugarCRM offers pricing options starting at $40 per user per month for the on-demand version and $275 per user per year for the on-premises edition.


2007. Open-source SugarCRM eyes stock market entry

CEO John Roberts has revealed that SugarCRM, an applications company, plans to file for public company status within two years. SugarCRM, which utilizes an open-source business model to develop customer relationship management applications, released a beta version of Sugar 5.0, a significant update to its application suite. Roberts stated that the company has been able to fund its growth mainly through revenue and is now rapidly acquiring customers. He believes that SugarCRM can achieve annual revenue of $100 million in the next few years. The open-source approach has facilitated the company's fast growth and allowed it to prioritize software quality. With a low-cost version available for free, SugarCRM benefits from a familiar customer base, reducing the need for extensive sales and marketing efforts. Roberts believes that other companies can replicate SugarCRM's success using a similar approach. The enhancements in Sugar 5.0 focus on strengthening the application foundation for large-scale deployments, with features such as an integrated Ajax e-mail client and an improved on-demand version. The final release is scheduled for September or early October, under the General Public License version 3.0, and includes a Module Builder for users to create and share their own application add-ons.

Author: Sandeep Sharma
Sandeep is a marketing expert with a wealth of knowledge in various domains: customer relationship management, social media management, advertising, search engine optimization, website building, Sandeep has established himself as a multifaceted professional. He honed his skills while working at Salesforce and Hubspot, where he gained invaluable insights into the industry. Now, as the proud owner of a small advertising consulting agency, Sandeep continues to provide innovative and effective strategies to businesses, helping them thrive in the competitive landscape of digital marketing. You can contact Sandeep via email sandeep@liventerprise.com