Book Image

Implementing SugarCRM 5.x

Book Image

Implementing SugarCRM 5.x

Overview of this book

SugarCRM is a popular customer relationship management system. It is an ideal way for small-medium business to try out a CRM system without committing large sums of money. Although SugarCRM is carefully designed for ease of use, attaining measurable business gains requires careful planning and research. This book will give you all the information you need to start using this powerful CRM system. It is the definitive guide to implementing SugarCRM. Whether you are wondering exactly what benefits CRM can bring or you have already learned about CRM systems but have yet to implement one or you're working with SugarCRM already, this book will show you how to get maximum benefit from this exciting product. It demonstrates how to install SugarCRM and also how to get the most out of it by customizing it and integrating CRM into your organization as per your needs. Focused on the needs of the enterprise, this book provides a solution-driven approach for both business and IT specialists to get the most from this powerful and popular Open Source application. It begins with a general discussion about CRM. You will then learn the benefits of such systems, and then explore SugarCRM and its unique value. You will then go through the guidelines for installing and making deployment selections that are set out alongside information for identifying, planning, and applying customizations. Training guidelines and ongoing administrative tasks will be discussed as you progress further into the book. A brief overview of SugarCRM 6.0 is provided at the end of the book.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Implementing SugarCRM 5.x
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
Preface

Chapter 2. One Size Does Not Fit All—CRM Your Way

In the first chapter, you learned about the history of how CRM software developed, how its affordability and accessibility for smaller businesses has been improving in recent years, and how important it is that a CRM be easily customizable to suit your business.

You were also introduced to RayDoc Carpets, Doors, and Windows and met Doc, its proprietor. In this chapter, we will begin the process of analyzing the CRM needs of your specific business, and continue using our RayDoc case study as an example of how to match CRM capabilities to the needs of a business.

Throughout this chapter, and indeed throughout this book to the extent possible, we shall focus primarily on the business objectives and benefits sought from the implementation of a CRM system, not simply on the mechanics of installing and using the SugarCRM system.

To help us attain this goal, several extensive sections of this book are devoted to the business analysis process that you...