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 6. The SugarCRM Ecosystem

In the previous two chapters, you have read about the basic CRM functions provided by the SugarCRM system. We have also seen a number of extended capabilities the standard system can perform that take it beyond pure CRM, into a broader business management role.

SugarCRM is supported not only by SugarCRM, the company, but also by a large community of fellow users throughout the world. Many of these individuals are also contributors, as they offer solutions to problems that others may be encountering. This may be in the form of an answer to a technical query or in other cases, they are corrections or enhancements to the system.

While many of these community members offer open source or free editions of the add-ons that they have developed, some are only available for a fee. SugarCRM, the company, provides two places for you to easily locate these contributions. The first, SugarForge.org, contains a wide assortment of enhancements and add-ons of which the vast...