The ways businesses connect with colleagues, customers and partners changed significantly over the last year as more mid-to-large enterprises began adopting social business applications. According to IBM’s 2011 Tech Trends Report, “The majority of respondents reported that their organizations have embraced social business to some degree to benefit from increased efficiency and collaboration.”

Click to download your copy of the report
2011 Tech Trends Report.

Agenda

8:30 – 9:00 Registration & Breakfast

9:00 – 9:10 Introduction

9:10 – 9:30 Customer Testimonial

9:30 – 9:50 The New Rules of Social CRM: Clint Oram, SugarCRM co-founder and CTO

9:50 – 10:10 How Do You Become a Social Business

10:10 – 10:30 Networking Break

10:30 – 10:45 How Do You Integrate Social Media:Clint Oram, SugarCRM co-founder and CTO

10:45 – 11:00 Best Practices for Becoming a Social Business

11:00 – 11:30 A Day in the Life of a Social Business

11:30 – 11:50 How Do You Get Started

11:50 – 12:10 Q&A

Please use the “Request Info” form on the right to enroll =>

With a dozen executive departures over the last 18 months already, Sage brought that number up to 16 today with the announcement of 4 more executive departures in the CRM division as cited at ERPLife.com.

So is it their sales team or their product?

Well, it might be hard to tell but history has shown that products often fail to make the transition to new technology paradigms. And SalesLogix wouldn’t be the first product that had problems getting to the cloud. But of course it’s always easier to change your sales team than to re-architect your product so most companies try that first…

Interested in knowing more about customers that have made the transition from SLX to SugarCRM like Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea?  Just drop us a line and we’ll tell you more about the programs we have in place to help companies like yours make the switch without missing a beat.

The First Integrated CRM / MA Offering

Just over a year ago, Oracle purchased the intellectual property of Market2Lead – a leading B2B marketing automation service. The result? Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing.

Released this past February, Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing features a similar but redesigned (read: “Oracle-ized”) version of Market2Lead, using Oracle’s original CRM’s look and feel, terminology, and 20-language access.

Benefits of the Marriage

The new data structure is unified, allowing for smooth, integrated management and reporting across the lead generation, prospect nurturing, and customer buying processes – and on into the post-sales customer relations realm. The product features flexible programs that adapt readily to customer behavior fluctuations, advanced web pages and forms, automatic content fulfillment, and multiple asset templates.

Overall, the intent of the program seems sound, and time (and careful analysis) will tell if its users benefit from the union.

How this Affects the Industry – If at All

Why is this significant, and what does it mean? Well, we at ApexTwo are excited to see significant movement in this direction because it underscores our standing position that this is where Marketing Automation and Customer Relationship Management are heading – straight down the aisle for a marriage made in Heaven. And we are perfectly poised to be a matchmaker in the process.

However, is an all-inclusive application the best vehicle for this marriage?  Perhaps there’s still something to be said for the hands-on, human approach that takes into account all the  intricacies of the unique needs of each business, its customer base, and its specific processes and goals.

ApexTwo is Leading the Way

As proven experts in both SugarCRM implementation and marketing automation, we’re already on the leading edge of this movement. And SugarCRM’s unparalleled flexibility in customization makes it the natural CRM choice for integrating a targeted, well plannd marketing automation program for any business, small or large –- and our experts are highly trained and experienced in making it happen. What’s more:  our business acumen provides the business intelligence that a single application is hard pressed to match.

At least so far.

In the rush to move everything to “The Cloud” with the SaaS movement, are we fully considering the ramifications? Is it really the best move to put your clients’ private information in the cloud?

What is The Cloud and SaaS?

You’re hearing about it on blogs, in sales and marketing campaigns, and at the proverbial water cooler: a huge movement is underway with many products and services racing to “the Cloud”.

What’s the cloud? Basically, the term refers to cloud computing: the practice of accessing software and data through the Internet instead of from a local computer or server. Software as a Service (SaaS) is when the software you use to run your business exists “in the cloud” and is run by a service provider. With SaaS, you do not need to download, install or maintain the software – you just log in and work.

For example, Salesforce.com is a widely accepted powerhouse in the CRM industry – and it’s 100% SaaS. But at what cost?

Storm Clouds on the Horizon

In November 2007, many Salesforce customers faced the nightmare of having their customers’ contact info compromised when a phishing attack successfully hacked their servers and sent phishing emails and spam to those customers.

Another danger of SaaS is the risk of downtime. When a server goes down for a SaaS solution, it goes down for everyone on that service. In January 2009, thousands of Saleforce customers suffered the effects of a 40-minute collapse.

And what about the data? With Salesforce, although it’s internally stored in a relational database, you do not have direct access to it. You can request to receive it, but what you’ll get is a separate CSV file for each table or data type, and it’s left to you to figure out how to connect the relationships of the entities (e.g., which email history goes with which contact, at which account, etc.). And if you have customized your CRM solution at all, those data relationships are even more convoluted.

To SaaS or Not to Saas?

To be fair, these downsides and risks affect all SaaS solutions, not just Salesforce. And Salesforce is a fine company with good people, sound operational procedures, and certainly they’ve worked hard to guard against these risks in the future. There’s much to be learned and improved in the world of SaaS.

But given the track record of SaaS in general and the inherent risks involved, are you completely comfortable with having your clients’ private data in the cloud?

SugarCRM Offers a Choice

If you’re looking for a CRM (or thinking about making a change), you might want to consider SugarCRM as an alternative. SugarCRM offers you a choice: you can take advantage of the conveniences of a SaaS solution, or you can choose to host your own instance of the software locally – maintaining full control of the software and your relational database.

So with all these warning signs about SaaS, does that mean that SugarCRM’s Cloud option is a no-go? There are certainly pros and cons to weigh for each unique business solution, but it’s worth noting that even with SugarCRM’s cloud solution – unlike Salesforce.com’s – you have full, direct access to your relational database.

With the more flexible hosting services available with SugarCRM, businesses benefit from better performance, easier access for customization, and greater flexibility and peace of mind. No matter which SugarCRM solution you choose, you maintain control.

And that’s always good.

Combined with the new Summer 2011 (6.2) release of Sugar, many would maintain that it is currently the best support in the market.  But how does it compare with the original Sugar mobile CRM support?

• Mobile Lite is the new name for the pre-existing mobile support. Support for Android is now included but otherwise no new features have been added.
• Mobile Plus is now the newly re-branded Mobile Express platform acquired from iEnterprises.

Writes Connelly: “[SugarCRM’s] eponymous CRM package is more flexible in some significant ways than Salesforce.com, and certainly less expensive … In essence, the price for Sugar Enterprise works out to $50 per user per month, or one-fifth that of Salesforce.com’s list price for Sales Cloud Unlimited.”

In addition to citing SugarCRM’s much lower price-point as a major plus over Salesforce.com, Connelly points out several other advantages of SugarCRM:

• Flexibility
  SugarCRM is offered as both an cloud-based solution as well as an on-premises install (Salesforce is strictly cloud-based), allowing businesses to have full control over their data. SugarCRM also offers incomparable customization options, allowing businesses to tailor the system to their unique needs.
• More features included with each package
  SugarCRM packs each package with full-bodied features, instead of charging add-on fees like Salesforce.com – no hidden surprises.
• Easy user interface with little ramp-up time required
  Connelly reports that “the user interface is uncluttered, with the apparent intent of keeping users working efficiently.”

Connelly also praised SugarCRM’s “eschewing of glitz [as a] a sound approach, one that allows it to give users the information they need to chase opportunities, close deals and service customers, without fuss or muss.”

Read the entire eWeek article here.

If you’re considering a CRM implementation for your business, you can quickly learn your ROI percentage and payback on initial investment term – as well as compare SugarCRM to other brands – using our new ROI Calculator at our website.

Purchase or Extend Your Subscription of Professional Edition by June 30 and
Receive Free Upgrade to Corporate

Datasheets:

• Sugar Professional – a complete CRM solution for businesses that want to gain and retain more customers.
• Sugar Corporate – with advanced mobile capabilities for the workforce that needs CRM access from the road, and even while offline.
• Sugar Enterprise – the CRM solution with the power, scale, and flexibility to meet the most demanding business requirements.
• Sugar Ultimate – a comprehensive set of features and our highest level of support for complex global, mobile, and social CRM applications.

Feature Comparisons:

*Pricing effective July 1, 2011.

Sugar Mobile – Current iPhone support extended to include Android.

Sugar Mobile Plus – Enhanced mobile platform with offline data support for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and iPad.

Actually, did you know that with even a few percentage points’ boost in productivity, you can recuperate your initial investment in as little as six months – and sometimes even less?

If you’ve been putting off investigating investing in a CRM because of the costs involved, you might be pleasantly surprised to learn that the affordable yet feature-rich SugarCRM can poise your company to realize substantial returns within a short amount of time.

And to help give you an idea of your ROI and investment return time frame…

Click here to download our new ROI Calculator.

This easy-to-use tool calculates your ROI percentage and the number of months it will take to recuperate the initial cost of SugarCRM, as well as allows you to compare SugarCRM to any other brand of CRM you might be considering.

Take advantage of this opportunity to learn your ROI on this solid and proven-effective CRM today. Questions?  Let us know – we’re here to help!

New enhancements and lots of great new features make this much more than a “point” release. Drill down and find out why.

General Availability scheduled for June 1, 2011

• New Connectors [Professional/Enterprise editions only]
  • IBM LotusLive meetings and files
  • Google Docs
  • Cisco WebEx meetings
  • GotoMeeting meetings
  • InsideView SalesView – 6.2.x
• New Right-to-Left (RTL) Theme [Professional/Enterprise editions only]
  • Support for Hebrew and Arabic languages
• 22 total built-in languages

Enhancements to Existing Functionality

• Dashlet enhancements
  • Auto-refresh data in Sugar Dashlets
  • Social “My Activity Stream” dashlet (fka “My Sugar Feed” dashlet) enhancements
    • Filter by My Favorites
    • View user pictures within posts
    • Reply to posts
    • Delete posts
    • View Twitter and Facebook feeds
  • My Quotes Dashlet
  • My Documents Dashlet

• Admin Enhancements
  • Enable/disable modules for Global Search
  • Set system default theme
  • Display/hide available languages [Professional/Enterprise editions only]
  • Delete private teams [Professional/Enterprise editions only]

• Studio Enhancements
  • Copy/Sync EditView and Detailviews
  • Create custom Relate fields to relate to Users
  • Search for records using date and number ranges
  • Calculated Fields (calculate a value for a field based on a formula) [Professional/Enterprise editions only]
  • Dependent Fields (hide/display fields based on a formula) [Professional/Enterprise editions only]

• Sugar Logic [Professional/Enterprise editions only]
  • Support for Date and Datetime fields and functions
  • AssignToUser action
  • Dependencies defined in metadata

• New JS Charts

Platform

• Add support for Oracle 11g [Enterprise edition only]
  • Drop support for 9i

Sugar Mobile

• Android Support [Professional/Enterprise editions only]
  • Same functionality that is in Sugar Mobile for iPhone
  • Additional functionality
    • Import contacts and leads from phone address book
    • Email reports and quotes using phone email client
    • Filter records by My Favorites
• Blackberry Support [Professional/Enterprise editions only] – 6.2.x
• iPad-specific application with offline sync [Professional/Enterprise editions only] – 6.2.x
• iPhone application with offline sync [Professional/Enterprise editions only] – 6.2.x

Have questions?  Talk to an ApexTwo consultant right now – 847.230.9870