Book Image

Implementing SugarCRM

By : Michael Whitehead
Book Image

Implementing SugarCRM

By: Michael Whitehead

Overview of this book

<p>SugarCRM is a popular customer relationship management system. It is available in both free open source and commercial versions, making it 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 distils hard won SugarCRM experienced into an easy to follow guide to implementing the full power of SugarCRM. SugarCRM is an extensive PHP/MySQL based application but with its rich administration interfaces no programming is required to get the most of it.</p> <p>This book will give you all the information you need to start using this powerful, free CRM system. Written by veteran SugarCRM expert and experienced documentation author, Michael J. Whitehead, this book 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 of this exciting product.</p>
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Implementing SugarCRM
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
Preface
Index

How Do I Make Shrink-Wrapped Software Suit My Business?


As we saw in Chapter 1, CRM customizations fall into several classes:

  • Minor cosmetics

  • Minor user interface changes

  • Major application changes

  • Application integration

Minor cosmetic changes will need the skills of someone who knows how to use computer graphics software, and likely some simple HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language—the code used to describe the appearance of web pages). If none of your employees possess these skills, you will need the services of a local web development and graphical design company. If you already have a company logo and company colors, they should not charge you more than 300-500 USD to customize the look of your CRM to use them.

If your company has a logo and official color scheme, you are likely to have the logo in a high resolution electronic form somewhere, and also a technical description of what your company colors are—in terms of the Pantone color scheme, or something similar. Get this information ready...