I (Steve) have implemented SugarCRM 5 repeatedly, and have sufficient liking and confidence in SugarCRM5 that we used it internally at Barnes-Open, and now Business Geeks. It is a stable and sound product, with a good web interface. Importantly, it can be customised as well through the Studio and other means. There are also add-ons available through the Sugar Forge (although quality is variable).

One of the important things about successfully implementing Sugar is to understand how it fits in your business. Yes, it's powerful, but how will you use it? That's why we work both on your sales process and your Sugar implementation to give you a complete recipie for success!

A recent assignment I have undertaken at a consultancy used SugarCRM 5, and we used the Studio to help optimise the product for their purposes:

1. added some third party components to extend functionality
2. added fields and drop-down lists to extend existing components
3. removed unnecessary fields to unclutter the interface and optimise it for the sales process
4. in addition to altering the display and edit views, we alteredthe list/search views as well to better serve the sales process.

The result was a significantly changed product. It was faster to use and more intuitive for the staff as they attended to their specific sales processes.Why? It was optimised for their business!

One important task is formalising documentation so employees can readily understand the overall marketting and sales process, how their CRM serves the process, and the role they play in making the process effective and productive. This task should be wrapped into the CRM consultancy so you get full benefit instead of that fly-by-night consultancy feeling!

Contact Business Geeks now if you would like to see how to put a bit of Sugar in your day!