SugarCRM Rolls Out New Features as Competitors Pummel Each Other (Updated)

By Klint Finley / July 14, 2010 8:00 AM / 11 Comments

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With Microsoft and Salesforce.com locked in market and legal combat, the "open-source" (see update below) SugarCRM is quietly building its own empire. The company has landed over 6,000 customers with its focus on customization and openness. With the newly released SugarCRM 6, the company is attempting to improve its user experience while retaining the flexibility that's gotten it this far. Also, SugarCRM is also now available on Windows Azure and has integrated document collaboration via Box.net.

As we reported in April, SugarCRM 6 focuses on improving its speed, search capabilities, and user interface. Notable in the new version is the use of AJAX menus to facilitate multitasking.

Update: However, SugarCRM has said on its forum that the new SugarCRM 6 theme will only be available in the Professional and Enterprise editions of the product, not in the free Community Edition. It appear that SugarCRM is not releasing the source code for these changes, leading some to question the company's commitment to the open-source community. SugarCRM has been criticized in the past for abusing the term "open-source."

Much of SugarCRM's power comes from its integration with other applications and the apps in its SugarExchange marketplace. The company has worked with its partners to ensure that SugarExchange apps would work with SugarCRM 6 right out the gate.

The latest addition partner to integrate with SugarCRM is cloud storage provider Box.net, enabling SugarCRM uses to collaborate on documents in the cloud from within the CRM suite. (With Box.net competitors Memeo offering Google Docs integration and Nomadesk offering integration with Zoho, perhaps the next killer app will stitch together various cloud drives.)

SugarCRM has built much of its business on the fact that, by virtue of being open-source, it's far more customizable and flexible than proprietary competitors. Salesforce.com Enterprise, for example, has a limit of 25 custom tabs and 200 custom objects (Update: Salesforce.com Unlimited has unlimited custom tabs and objects, but costs twice as much as Enterprise). We've said before that the flexibility of open-source applications will be a boon to enterprises dealing with information overload. Comments from our April post suggested that customers particularly like the ability to hide irrelevant functions and information from certain users. Update: Those access controls are only available in the Enterprise and Professional Editions.

Yesterday, SugarCRM announced that its product is now available for Microsoft's cloud platform Azure, expanding the softwares options for cloud deployments.

Comments

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I love SugarCRM - the Community Edition is free!

Posted by: Ed Borasky | July 14, 2010 8:09 AM

The article is a little misleading in that it mentions the upgrade to the open source product but includes features that are only available in the Professional and Enterprise editions. There has been a long-running thread on the SugarCRM forum where customers have been complaining about the the key Sugar 6 features not being available in the Community edition.

At SplendidCRM, we have created a similar UI to Sugar 6 but we are including it for free in our Community edition.

Posted by: SplendidCRM | July 14, 2010 8:18 AM

Thanks for the info SplendidCRM, I will update the article accordingly.

Posted by: Klint Finley | July 14, 2010 8:21 AM

Wondering why SplendidCRM uses DotNetNuke for their own site...and not their own product.

I instantly left the site because of that, I won't even explore it further.

Posted by: Wayne | July 14, 2010 9:52 AM

I agree. I've toyed with SugarCRM. They are misleading with their literature. I don't expect EVERYTHING to be free, but they make it seem like more is free than really is.

Posted by: Cody Swann | July 14, 2010 10:48 AM

At SplendidCRM, we use DotNetNuke because it is portal software written using .NET technologies. SplendidCRM is not portal software, so it does not make sense to use SplendidCRM as a web site portal.

It seems like a silly requirement. I do not believe that SugarCRM uses their own CRM product to create their main web site. I suspect that they use some popular third-party PHP web portal software, possibly Drupal. Their forum is clearly created using vBulletin.

Posted by: SplendidCRM | July 14, 2010 7:32 PM

You have a factual error in your article. Salesforce.com Unlimited Edition has an unlimited number of Custom Tabs and Custom Objects. You cite 25 and 200, that's not correct. You can see the limits documented online:

http://www.salesforce.com/crm/editions-pricing.jsp

The "full edition comparison" at the bottom of the page has loads of details.

Posted by: Scott Jorgensen | July 14, 2010 8:57 PM

Thanks Scott, I've updated the article to reflect the fact that Unlimited offers unlimited custom tabs and objects.

Posted by: Klint Finley | July 14, 2010 9:37 PM

"The article is a little misleading in that it mentions the upgrade to the open source product but includes features that are only available in the Professional and Enterprise editions."

I don't think it's misleading at all. I just don't think people understand what "open source" means. Open source does not mean "free". That's called freeware or shareware. Open source simply means you get the full source code when you purchase and can change it if you want.

SugarCRM's Community Edition, Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition are ALL open source. The Community Edition is free. What's misleading about that?

If the free users want a fancy interface like 6 has, or any other feature in it, well then they can build it themselves - that's what the community is all about. The fact that the community has't been able to deliver an effective user interface enhancement perhaps suggests what a huge undertaking it is.

Meanwhile, Sugar has invested millions of venture capital dollars and subscriber fees on improving a product which rivals anything on the market. They deserve to be able to differentiate the paid for options. The shareholders deserve a return, and the paying customers deserve the best product possible. The free using community still benefits from an application that is continually updated with bug-fixes and other enhancements.

Everyone wins. Except the comnpetition :o)

Posted by: Nick | July 15, 2010 11:05 AM

"Open source simply means you get the full source code when you purchase and can change it if you want."

This is technically correct, but there are some other expectations as to what open-source means - specifically that you are free to share your modifications, at least by the Open Source Initiative's definition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Definition

According to the CEO of SugarCRM, only about 50% of SugarCRM's code is open-source is this way (using the OSI-approved AGPL license: http://lmaugustin.typepad.com/lma/2010/07/some-thoughts-on-open.html

However, customers do have access to the source code of the Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition.

"If the free users want a fancy interface like 6 has, or any other feature in it, well then they can build it themselves."

That's true, but it's like saying that OSX is open-source because the community can build it's own OSX-like interface over Darwin. It's technically true, but not particularly useful.

Posted by: Klint Finley | July 16, 2010 8:44 AM

"SugarCRM's Community Edition, Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition are ALL open source. The Community Edition is free. What's misleading about that?"

There was a podcast today with Larry Augustin on Network World (http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/63797) where he specifically states that the Professional and Enterprise editions ARE NOT open-source. They include the source code, but they are licensed under a commercial license.

Posted by: SplendidCRM | July 16, 2010 9:46 PM