In 2012 I reviewed a number of CRM’s, in my endeavor to move from Windows based to cloud based CRM. In the last few years there has been an explosion of open source CRM solutions, and with cPanel programs like Softaculous that automatically install the programs in the cloud, it’s never been easier to have total control over your customer relationship management.
A little background. I used ACT! off and on for well over a decade. (I refuse to admit how many years in case you start adding.) I was an early adopter of Salesforce, and used it off and on again up through 2013. For me, Salesforce still has the same shortcomings. Too cumbersome to customize, whether small or big business, and too expensive to use the way I want relative to other options.
After my reviews, I made the plunge and left Sage ACT! Premium 2012 for Windows, for SugarCRM Pro, hosted by SugarCRM. I also still use ZOHO for another business purpose, and am quite impressed how robust the platform is for the free service. If you’re a business of one- look no further, check out ZOHO.
Why am I evaluating CRM’s again? My pet peeves with SugarCRM Pro are:
Letter /mail merge. Compared to ACT!, it’s quite clunky and has definitely limited the number of outgoing letters sent to prospects as a result. Not that the process is much different for any other hosted CRM, but the speed of desktop is sadly missed. Basically, you create your word document with template fields, upload to Sugar, then go to contact to print a letter, or do merge for a list. The letter is attached to the record. But…if you want to change a sentence, you have to upload a new template. With ACT desktop, while viewing a contact, you select print letter and it auto-fills name, address etc. based on stored template. Modify the letter as you wish, then print.
Prospects, accounts, contacts. Unless you customize, any time you want to create an opportunity, you must convert a prospect to an account. To me an account is a business that has made a purchase. I found someone that will do all the modifications so it’s more like ACT!, but they wanted over $1,000.
Groups. Let’s say you have a group for a market vertical called widgets. You add a bunch of accounts and send a direct mail piece. The next time the mailer goes out, you have more contacts that belong to the group. In ACT!, they’re dynamically updated as you go along. In Sugar, they are not. You have to create a new campaign; there’s no dynamic updating of contacts to campaigns.
Leads/prospects. When a person moves from prospect to contact (required when you create an account), the name can be found in leads and contacts. This creates some confusion, though the latest update now alerts you to the ‘other’ listing. It was much simpler to market to a group of prospects or a group of accounts or a combination in ACT!
What do I love about SugarCRM Pro?
Free mobile app, always in sync. This was a prime reason to make the change and I love it.
Peace of mind – backups, up time, easy to access and use from anywhere
Account organization, including hierarchy with parent
Host your own CRM or pay for hosting? This is a huge decision. Security, maintaining server updates, backups etc. all take time even when you have automated processes. How much is your time worth vs. how much would it cost to pay someone else to host. How often is your server updated for performance vs. paid service? In most cases, just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD host your CRM on your own server.
Whether you host or not, a good way to begin your search is the list of automatic installs available via Softaculous for cPanel server users.
My short list of requirements to reduce the list: mobile app, create web lead forms, import/export.
If the CRM supports the above, it’s listed next to the application name
• Vtiger- mobile
• Dolibarr- not mature enough for me
• SugarCRM- not evaluating since I’m already a Pro user and decided this wasn’t good enough
• EPESI- not robust enough
• EGroupware
• Zurmo – looks promising; demo very slow, why?
• X2CRM -looks promising but maybe young company; doesn’t support mail merge per user 6/2015 in forum. Also import issue reported if any records are duplicate.
• Tine 2.0
• SuiteCRM
• webERP
• EspoCRM
• OpenBiz Cubi
• Group Office
Sage Act! is too pricey and features I loved are lost in the cloud version so it’s out.
In the end I installed SuiteCRM but since it did not support mobile, and I’d be responsible for data security, I decided to stick it out with SugarCRM at least for another year.
This 2011 review of hosted sales contact management and marketing campaign management solutions is based on balancing sales, marketing and CRM needs. Companies have struggled with this for years as Sales Contact Management solutions were not necessarily the best CRM solution. The winning recommendation for Sage ACT! Premium 2012 vs Salesforce Premium vs Sugar 6 CRM is based on very specific criteria. Businesses need to clearly define their needs for now and the future and TEST, TEST, TEST before committing an entire organization. Start with a few key sales and marketing staff and form a beta testing group to help evaluate as well as refine nurturing programs, layouts etc.
Three critical criteria for selecting a solution in this review:
It must meet all sales lead and contact management system requirements.
It must be a hosted cloud solution, offer mobile sync, and be user friendly with little or no integrations or customization needed. Intuitive use is essential.
It must include cross channel support of data input ( leads), and optimally cross channel output- (print, email
The solution must also provide basic needs for a company with these features:
MANAGMENT & ADMINISTRATION
an outside sales force up to minimum 25, scalable to over 100
manager management to assign leads
manager reporting window to see status of leads progress
Sales opportunity reports
SALES USERS
Record history with automatic time/date stamp, drop down menu to choose from send letter, phone call etc. The 2nd element for phone to include drop down – completed, left message, attempted. Other elements will be completed or not completed.
ACCOUNT DATA
Keep customer contact info, plus associated notes, history, activities, documents, opportunities, social media profiles, and more in one organized place.
Search by any data including SIC, city, state, industry, name, company, NOTES,
Access contacts and calendar details from virtually anywhere including iphone, Droid
MARKETING
AUTOMATED LEAD NURTURING VIA EMAIL – Admin campaigns, sales rep campaigns
Automated lead nurturing via direct mail
Integrate web forms capturing leads
In addition to the primary and basic criteria, I’ve outlined some key differentiating elements in the table below.
create automated alerts ie if lead not acted on within certain number of days or hours
?
Appears to be yes
Appears to be yes with customized sales process
territory management
?- I’m sure it can be done, just not familiar with how
* YES, Enterprise only
Can be built in Sugar Studio or is available as a downloadable application via SugarExchange, for free or at an additional fee
USERS
Offline app
YES- required
YES- Users provided desktop app and will auto sync
Mobile
Connect service $59.95/user
YES
YES- 3 options- browse web version, mobile version, or use native app (latter on iphone now, coming to Droid 12/11)
Email- outlook
YES
YES
archive emails to Sugar and sync calendar, contacts and tasks
Email- other
YES- integrated Act email, Gmail, 3rd party plugin options
YES
YES- gmail, yahoo, mail, IMAP- use the Sugar email client to archive emails to Sugar
ACCOUNT DATA
Document sharing
YES
YES- Google Docs
YES- Relate documents to any record in Sugar and store them in the cloud using LotusLive or Google Docs
Hierarchal company organization- parent, subsidiary, related
YES
YES
? Not sure if standard or customization needed
MARKETING
Create and execute campaigns across marketing channels
No- optional email campaign only
Only with APP exchange – choose and configure
YES – Advanced target to lead tracking for insights as to why campaign worked.
Captures leads directly into the CRM
YES with optional monthly service
Yes, but not sure of the simplicity
YES
Automated Drip Email campaigns
YES with optional monthly service
Yes, in the time-based workflow for enterprise and unlimited edition. Otherwise genius.com plugin.
YES
Measures return on investment of campaigns
Yes, but need to customize
YES
Campaign benchmarking
Yes, with APP exchange
YES – compare ROI trade show vs direct mail, email etc
Social
YES-Linked In
YES facebook, twitter and linkedin so you can see all contact activities
Online collaboration
YES- Schedule, start or join LotusLive, Cisco WebEx or GoToMeeting online meetings directly from Sugar
Data Intelligence/ Data mining
YES – Sage Business Info Services for ACT! By quote only, estimated $99/mth per user
YES, Jigsaw- added fee
YES- From free. $19/user and $49/mth per user (for $49 you can export and build lists and create custom sales triggers)- Features range and can include automated Hoovers company data, and discovers relationships between you and decision makers; Custom sales triggers!
PRICING
$359 per user for desktop software license, plus optional data intelligence with Hoovers, plus CONNECT $59.95/user/mth for cloud and mobile sync, plus $44.95/user/mth email nurturing (varies up to $129)
$65/mth for Professional Version, $125 for Enterprise Version, 1 year contract all users
Per User Monthly, 1 year agreement. $30, 45, Sugar Enterprise $60, Ultimate $100.
PLATFORM
Backups
Your computer, you back up; some data will sync to the cloud
Daily back-up only in Ultimate
Dashboard reporting with graphics
YES
YES- most elegant
Dashboard by lead source
Drill down data, but not sure about graphics
YES- most elegant
Dashboard sales pipeline
Drill down data, but not sure about graphics
YES
Multi language
YES
YES
Customization Capabilities
YES
Limited- additional fee applies in some cases
YES- customize layout, add modules and fields
Project Management
Included
Integrations- API support
YES, many 3rd party
Many options, additional fee for ‘objects’ may apply
YES- SOAP, REST, 3rd party
Support
90 days; extra fee after that
Extra fee
Unlimited all plans; 1 hour phone guarantee and assigned rep for Ultimate users.
De-dupe on import
YES
YES
YES
After reviewing many options and other user reviews, the list was narrowed to three based on personal knowledge, market leadership, and ability to pass the basic criteria. Sage ACT! Premium 2012 is included because I’ve used Sage Act! off and on for 15 years, and Sage launched their new version this month with cloud, email, mobile and social integrations. I currently use Act! Premium for Workgroups with a $10 one-time fee iPhone mobile plugin, to sync scheduler and contacts, and I previously used ACT! Corporate about 2 years ago. There were many limitations in the corporate compared to the desktop version at the time, rendering it to be mostly a lead management tool, and not useful enough for sales agents to make it their primary tool. I’ve also used Salesforce off and on for about 3 years since the company was launched. I always went back to ACT! because I felt the cloud was too slow and there were limitations regarding contact fields. I’ve had custom options for so long via ACT!, it’s hard to live without them. The cloud was not drastically slow, but it’s noticeable when you’re using the system for contact activities vs on the desktop. I have no prior experience with Sugar and I don’t personally know anyone using it. PCMAG editors and users gave it the beta version a 4 star review in 2010.
Sage ACT! 2012 doesn’t even come close for return on investment for anything but a small user group. I love the product and there is a lot of value not mentioned in this article that you don’t really know until you use it and compare to others. (Since it failed to meet the basic criteria established, there is no reason to expound on other benefits. ) If you’re not using the optional cloud services, then choose ACT!. If you want the cloud, it’s very limited compared to other options. If you’re an ACT! user and want to stick with it, but upgrade to cloud service, you might want to look at SalesNexus instead. This is a nice comparison chart for Salesforce vs ACT! vs SalesNexus. LandslideCRM is also worth a look.
Salesforce is arguably the most robust solution on the market. But that comes at a price both monetarily and with time investment. For larger companies with big budgets and teams to plan out a complex integration of many other existing systems and resources, it’s a winner. However, that does not meet the initial criteria of simple and easy to roll out.
SUGAR 6 is the clear and convincing winner based on the criteria established and reading the online information. In addition to meeting the criteria, it also has other items on my wish list, including a free desktop version with automated sync. This is a true cloud combining web, mobile and desktop. The open source code is fairly easy to navigate and modify. Though it’s newer on the market, there is a strong community and support team to help users. Note: There is a FREE community version
Follow up on Sugar 6. I signed up for the free 7 day trial. Although it’s a demo account and not necessarily indicative of the live account, it was lightening fast. The dashboards are elegant and useful. There are many positives and great comparisons to ACT! features I already love, but rather than modify drop downs on the fly, users have to click on the admin button. All the changes I wanted to make, such as adding a field for SIC code, were done in the studio without going to the Module Builder where you can create your own custom tabs to navigate. The module builder can overwrite tabs, so just like ACT, some thought should go into planning to deploy for all users. However, out of the box, it’s pretty robust. I probably spent a day on ACT! layouts and the same will be needed here.
SUGARCRM enterprise login for trial accountSUGARCRM campaign ROI from VP sales viewSUGARCRM sales forecastSUGARCRM sales pipeline dashboard for sales representativesSUGARCRM main contact tab can be customized.SUGARCRM sales contact additional info tab. Customize data and residing tab.
There are a few questions raised from using the trial account for about an hour and not knowing what difference the desktop version might have. Limitations- these may be able to be overcome, but not in trial version:
Users can send emails from their account, but cannot send email blasts. ( Users can assign contacts to newsletter lists.)
Email blasts are only from the administrator- one email set up for from etc
It looks like to send a letter, you do it on your desktop then upload to record vs “write letter” or “write letter from template” and it pre fills info. There is a FREE SugarCRM MS Word plug-in for both mac and PC .
Modifying drop downs is easy to do, but all changes must be made in that module. It cannot be done while you are in the contact section like in ACT!. This means it will take extra time to navigate back and
InsideView is a good plugin for time saving insights for prospects. Prices range from free to $99 per month. The free version is built into SUGARCRM.
Management can put in the cost of a campaign and see ROI at a glance by assigning leads to the campaign. You might want to write a script so the ROI displays floating periods- what the ROI was 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months. For example, trade show leads could take many months to close and others quicker or vice versa. The dashboard provides monetary ROI graphics to compare multiple campaigns and marketing methods. If Sugar doesn’t have a feature out of the box, it appears to almost anything can be customized fairly easily. You don’t need to be a programmer, but for more involved stuff, a little knowledge wouldn’t hurt.
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