SugarCRM is the world's leading commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software.

SugarCRM is the world's leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software for companies of all sizes.

There are three version of SugarCRM –

1. Sugar Enterprise
2. Sugar Professional
3. Sugar Open Source

Sugar Enterprise offers all features available in the open source version plus additional functionality.

Sugar Professional offers a mid-range solution between Sugar Enterprise and Sugar Open Source. Sugar Professional includes all the functionality in Sugar Open Source plus:

* Team Management
* Cross-Module Reporting
* Campaign Reporting
* Quotes and Catalog Module
* Forecasting
* Wireless Access
* Microsoft Outlook Integration

Sugar Enterprise offers all features available in the open source version plus additional functionality.

Product Functionality:

* Team Management
* Cross-Module Reporting
* Campaign Reporting
* Quotes Module
* Catalog Module
* Forecasting
* Wireless Access
* Microsoft Outlook Integration
* Offline Client Synchronization
* Oracle 10g Support
* Oracle 91 Support
* Advanced Reporting with SQL Reports

Support

* Unlimited online and email support
* Receive automatic upgrades and maintenance of Sugar Enterprise for the term of your contract
* Gain access to the premium knowledge base support and Sugar developer forums
* Access to additional, optional services such as Extended Support, Developer Support, and Professional Consulting Services

Commercial Open Source (COS) is based on the value Open Source software delivers to corporate buyers and the realization that existing commercial CRM applications are overpriced relative to the actual engineering dollars required to build these applications. The Commercial Open source model allows SugarCRM to offer:

SugarCRM does not believe customers should be forced to make false deployment choices based on the software vendors' business model. We have learned from our customers that they require different deployment options depending on their stage of growth, IT resource availability and the level of comfort of having a third-party manage their customer information. In order to give customers maximum flexibility, we offer our commercial products in a hosted environment (Sugar On-Demand), in a deployment-ready appliance behind your firewall (Sugar Cube), or downloaded in a pack (Sugar On-Site and Sugar FastStack). Customers can easily move between these existing deployments options depending on their needs.

Sugar On-Demand
Sugar On-Demand provides customers the latest version of Sugar Professional in a hosted environment. Sugar manages installation, upgrades, and patches for our On-Demand customers. Unlike other hosting providers, all customers receive a separate application and database that's isolated from other customers, ensuring the integrity and security of customer information.

Unlike other hosting providers, Sugar On-Demand can be easily migrated when a customer decides they would like to bring their CRM application inside of their firewall. Other hosting solutions only offer the data for the migration. Sugar On-Demand customers can continue their Sugar Professional license, and attain their database and software including customizations to re-install on another system. SugarCRM will also transfer the customer's application onto a Sugar Cube, a stand-alone appliance that can immediately be installed onto a customer's rack.

Appliance
Sugar Cube offers customers the opportunity to deploy a complete CRM application pre-installed, optimized, and ready for production on a stand-alone server. Sugar Cube is best for companies who do not have hardware available to install Sugar Professional, or lack the IT resources in the allotted time to get Sugar Professional supporting mission-critical business activities. Sugar Cubes are proven, tested and optimized based on the Sugar Professional Pack ordered. Customers who need a proven solution guaranteed to run efficiently with a fast integration cycle, the Sugar Cubes are the best solution to implementing Sugar Professional.

The servers are built with the latest technology and components covered by a three-year hardware warranty and lifetime toll-free technical support from our vendor. This is in addition to your Sugar Professional support. Sugar Cubes offer your IT professionals all of the options of a made-to-order appliance solution, including appliance hardware configuration, appliance operating system, choice of Sugar Professional user packs and extensions, and full source code.

On-Site
For customers who would like to not only have their CRM information reside behind their firewalls and also would like to have their IT experts customize and integrate sugar with third-party systems, we offer Sugar On-Site, a deployment option that gives your team the maximum control to get the most out of your CRM application. Sugar On-Site differs from existing installed CRM because it is written in a computer language (PHP) that is simple and understandable. Thus, companies no longer have to hire billable Java or other expensive developers. Instead, Sugar can be deployed quickly and customized without the expensive consulting fees and lengthy deployment times.

To help expedite and simplify the deployment process, SugarCRM also offers Sugar FastStack, a seamless installation and support option for non-technical users that can have your organization fully deployed On-Site in just minutes.

Greater Innovation
By nature, open source product development is a Darwinian process, where only the most useful features and products merit the time and attention of the open source community. This “survival of the fittest” approach differs greatly from the development model of proprietary software vendors, where a group of engineers guess and then build features they think users across a variety of businesses, industries, and geographies might want. By contrast, Commercial Open Source (COS) captures the feedback of thousands of the world's best developers; leading to more frequent improvements of an application that fits the demands of individual businesses worldwide.

Better Quality
COS reveals 100 percent of its source code to developers, allowing the open source community to test and fix any problems or bugs within the application – a radical departure from the world of closed vendors. COS producers believe that using business applications and software, in general, does not have to be an unpleasant experience. If the software is not meeting customer demands, users should not have to wait for another product development cycle or patch release to fix the problem.

Less Risk
Too many companies have paid too much money and then watched as employees failed to adopt a new CRM system. The problem: people were forced to adapt to the application, not the other way around. The COS development process places customization and usability at the forefront. A fun, friendly and usable application increases user adoption, improves employee productivity and provides the visibility executives need to make their business successful.

Faster Payback
COS systems offer lower upfront, implementation, customization and maintenance costs than proprietary CRM systems because of the way the software is manufactured. By leveraging the expertise of developers worldwide, COS vendors deliver a better product at lower cost. Thus, customers can measure their return on investment in months, if not weeks; instead of years or, in some cases, never.

There are four products.

  1. Sugar Enterprise offers the functionality and support needed for the most demanding enterprises.
  2. Sugar Professional offers a sub-set of Sugar Enterprise functionality.
  3. Sugar Open Source is our open source product which can be freely downloaded and used.
  4. Sugar Network provides the product extensions, training, and support to ensure success with Sugar Open Source.

All products are built on the same code base so you can easily move from one product to another. If you have not customized the application, the process is to run the database upgrade SQL script, provided by SugarCRM, against the open source database to turn it into a pro database. Then run the pro installer and point it to the upgraded database.

In a customized system, apply the same database upgrade process as mentioned above. Then merge over the customized files from the open source installation over to the new pro installation.

PHP, the language in which Sugar is written, is a simple programming language that can be easily modified by persons who understand basic programming languages. This gives your organization the utmost flexibility in tailoring the application to meet the demands of your business.

SugarCRM has also provided administration and tools for non-technical people to change the application. Administrators can quickly add new fields to suit your business through the Administration view through a drag-and-drop user interface.

Sugar Enterprise offers offline client synchronization that lets users work without an Internet connection and then automatically transmit their new work into the SugarCRM system when they get back online. Sugar Professional and Enterprise are also accessible via wireless devices so users can access important information while on the move

You can easily import data from another CRM solution, or even just a standard spreadsheet using the standard Comma Separated Value (CSV) format. You can import directly into the database, or use the import wizard found in the shortcut menus throughout the application. If you need additional help, SugarCRM offers data migration packages to assist you with importing your data.