SugarCRM vs SuiteCRM

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.


2013. SuiteCRM - free alternative to SugarCRM



You might argue that SugarCRM is a free CRM solution, and you would be partially correct. It offers a free version called SugarCRM Community Edition, as well as three paid versions: Pro, Enterprise, and Ultimate. However, when compared to the paid versions, the Community Edition lacks several essential features, such as reports, mobile apps, user access control, and integrations with Office and other applications. It's only natural that over time, as the SugarCRM team gains a substantial user base and attracts larger paying customers, they allocate less attention to the free version. Presently, they invest their time in creating captivating videos reminiscent of Salesforce's style, like the one mentioned above. Fortunately for us, as business users, there were idealists within the team who firmly believe in the principles of free software. Consequently, they developed SuiteCRM, a free and open-source system that is fully compatible with SugarCRM Pro 7.0. They assure us that transitioning from SugarCRM Community Edition to SuiteCRM is a seamless process, and the system supports multiple languages.


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.