SugarCRM Emphasizes Simplicity In Sugar 6 Application Release
"This is really focused on speed and simplicity," said Clint Oram, SugarCRM co-founder and vice president of products. Sugar 6 is now in beta and is scheduled for general availability in July.
Sugar 6 sports an overhauled user interface -- the first significant update to the UI since the product's initial release more than five years ago -- and other improvements such as a "shortcut bar" at the top of the window that makes it easier to navigate through the application in fewer clicks, Oram said in a phone briefing.
That simplicity also will be a big selling point for SugarCRM's 250 channel partners, said Larry Augustin, SugarCRM's CEO, in an interview at SugarCon, the vendor's customer and developer conference being held this week in San Francisco. "They see opportunities for a big improvement in [return on investment] for their customers," Augustin said.
SugarCRM offers an open-source "community" version of the application and sells an enterprise edition of the product.
Sugar 6's enhanced UI improves the application's interoperability with other Web applications and mobile devices, according to the company. "Sugar 6 delivers a look, feel and user experience that consumers of popular social networking and other collaboration tools will appreciate," Augustin said.
The new shortcut bar lets users perform in one click such common tasks as logging a meeting or call, or creating an account, contact or sales opportunity within the application. The bar also includes a global search field, which filters results based on the Sugar 6 module in use (such as Contacts, Opportunities and Accounts) and offers up the results without leaving the page.
The new release also provides simplified default views, inline filtering and one-click action buttons. Module menus provide information about previously viewed pages and make it easier for users to know where they are in the application. A tab-naming feature makes it simpler to navigate across multiple browser tabs.
Sugar 6 also includes native application support for the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones, using development technology from Appcelerator. Sugar 6 will also be one of the first native applications on the market for Apple's iPad device. And integration with Software-as-a-Service content management applications from Box.net makes it easier for Sugar users to share and collaborate on developing proposals, marketing collateral, sales contracts and other documents.
Oram said that while businesses largely focused on cutting costs while the recession raged in 2009, more are now turning their attention to acquiring and retaining new customers. And that's spurring demand for CRM applications like Sugar: The company acquired 600 new customers of its own in the first quarter, Oram said, bringing its total installed base of users to 600,000.
SugarCRM reseller Levementum is seeing increased interest in the Sugar application and other open-source software the Chandler, Ariz.-based solution provider carries, said Geoffrey Mobisson, managing director of technology and marketing. More IT managers see such open-source products as an alternative to competing products from Microsoft, Salesforce.com and others, he said.