- 11,997
After taking a look at salesforce, zoho, freecrm, and a pile of others I've come to the conclusion that it makes more sense to use either SugarCRM or vTiger. At the moment I'm leaning towards Sugar, any thoughts or comments on either?
G
Guest
Guest
There is no wrong choice. As of now they are both excellent... and very much alike since Sugar was the original "base" of vTiger.
vTiger is run by a couple of people in India but they have a US office... and they seem to fix the bugs fairly fast.
Sugar has a huge community of users and if I were to place a bet on what product will be around five years from now I'd bet on Sugar.
For total functionality of the base product I like vTiger better as they have built in better features for managing users as well as some invoicing modules. They also have a lot of built-in reporting. I also think it is a bit faster... has a leaner code base.
Sugar, on the other hand, has a zillion add-ins that you can get for both the paid version and the free version (called the Community version.)
I've been using the Sugar Community version for the past five years and it meets my needs. But if I were starting out now I would strongly consider vTiger for the added features.
If there were a good conversion module I might switch, but there isn't one that I know of so I stick with Sugar. To me the difference is analogous to comparing an HP and a Dell... they both do the same thing and look and act alike... it all comes down to personal preference. No wrong choice.
vTiger is run by a couple of people in India but they have a US office... and they seem to fix the bugs fairly fast.
Sugar has a huge community of users and if I were to place a bet on what product will be around five years from now I'd bet on Sugar.
For total functionality of the base product I like vTiger better as they have built in better features for managing users as well as some invoicing modules. They also have a lot of built-in reporting. I also think it is a bit faster... has a leaner code base.
Sugar, on the other hand, has a zillion add-ins that you can get for both the paid version and the free version (called the Community version.)
I've been using the Sugar Community version for the past five years and it meets my needs. But if I were starting out now I would strongly consider vTiger for the added features.
If there were a good conversion module I might switch, but there isn't one that I know of so I stick with Sugar. To me the difference is analogous to comparing an HP and a Dell... they both do the same thing and look and act alike... it all comes down to personal preference. No wrong choice.
As always, it depends what you want it for. I recently tried vTiger out and it works well, kinda sorta....
The nice thing about vTiger is it has an automated workflow system. This means you can actually setup the system to email your clients on day 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 30, 45, etc, automatically, and if the status changes, it will switch to a different email series (i.e., they buy so they go from prospect emails to thank you type emails). It's not so easy to set this up correctly though.
I also needed to make some 'tweeks' to the layout. Biggest problem I had was the tab order when filling out a new prospect is strange. Now, I'm pretty good at going in and making tweeks, but their code is pretty good at keeping people from doing it.
Beyond that, as Al says, they are basically the same thing. Sugar is heading towards a more commercial model.
Absolutely no right or wrong answer between these 2.
Dan
The nice thing about vTiger is it has an automated workflow system. This means you can actually setup the system to email your clients on day 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 30, 45, etc, automatically, and if the status changes, it will switch to a different email series (i.e., they buy so they go from prospect emails to thank you type emails). It's not so easy to set this up correctly though.
I also needed to make some 'tweeks' to the layout. Biggest problem I had was the tab order when filling out a new prospect is strange. Now, I'm pretty good at going in and making tweeks, but their code is pretty good at keeping people from doing it.
Beyond that, as Al says, they are basically the same thing. Sugar is heading towards a more commercial model.
Absolutely no right or wrong answer between these 2.
Dan
speckledpig
Expert
- 22
Do you guys use these systems instead of a "traditional" management system such as 360, etc?
I am just now beginning to consider a management system for our paper-based office, including document storage. We don't want to pay 360-type prices, and I have a IT background, so I was hoping to homebrew something that works well for us.
Right now we have Google Apps for email and some doc storage, but I'd like to build a customer database that we could use to start entering data for new business, and one that would allow us to generate things like form letters and other mailouts.
Thanks.
I am just now beginning to consider a management system for our paper-based office, including document storage. We don't want to pay 360-type prices, and I have a IT background, so I was hoping to homebrew something that works well for us.
Right now we have Google Apps for email and some doc storage, but I'd like to build a customer database that we could use to start entering data for new business, and one that would allow us to generate things like form letters and other mailouts.
Thanks.
G
Guest
Guest
You can surely use both Sugar and VTiger as the base of a paperless office. You can store documents and send/receive emails.
However, I just use the database portions of Sugar.
- I don't like their email interface... slow and cumbersome.
- I find using MobileMe for document storage works better as I can give client a link to it to download.
- I find it easy to copy and paste any IMPORTANT email I send or receive to/from a client as a "note" in Sugar. (If I used its built-in email I would not have to do this but I like my Apple Email program a lot better.)
- Sugar is free. (The community edition, that is. It is what I use.)
I keep copious notes on each client contact (in-person/phone) and Sugar is for me a huge logging tool!! I can quickly find a client and read about what we talked about last year.
I keep applications encrypted and password-protected on my MobileMe site and have a link to them in Sugar. Same with quotes but of course I purge them after 6 months.
Sugar is not perfect but for my needs it works well. Lots of folks like the RadiusBob system, and of course YIO is the bestselling desktop product I know of for smaller agencies.
There are lots of CRMs out there... some as subscritpion models and some that you own and install. Several guys here like Oprius at $15 a month.
Try them all and see what you like. That's all that counts.
YMMV.
Al
However, I just use the database portions of Sugar.
- I don't like their email interface... slow and cumbersome.
- I find using MobileMe for document storage works better as I can give client a link to it to download.
- I find it easy to copy and paste any IMPORTANT email I send or receive to/from a client as a "note" in Sugar. (If I used its built-in email I would not have to do this but I like my Apple Email program a lot better.)
- Sugar is free. (The community edition, that is. It is what I use.)
I keep copious notes on each client contact (in-person/phone) and Sugar is for me a huge logging tool!! I can quickly find a client and read about what we talked about last year.
I keep applications encrypted and password-protected on my MobileMe site and have a link to them in Sugar. Same with quotes but of course I purge them after 6 months.
Sugar is not perfect but for my needs it works well. Lots of folks like the RadiusBob system, and of course YIO is the bestselling desktop product I know of for smaller agencies.
There are lots of CRMs out there... some as subscritpion models and some that you own and install. Several guys here like Oprius at $15 a month.
Try them all and see what you like. That's all that counts.
YMMV.
Al
speckledpig
Expert
- 22
Thanks very much for the feedback. I'll add these to my research.
I'm still new here, but I'm glad to be a part of the forum. I look forward to sharing ideas with everyone.
I'm still new here, but I'm glad to be a part of the forum. I look forward to sharing ideas with everyone.
Does Sugar have the capability to mail merge with contact data?
G
Guest
Guest
Yes. The feature (module) is called "Campaigns."
Al - do you know if this works for merging to a single contact? It looks like to do this you need the Microsoft Office plug in which is not available on the community edition.
Also, what is the benefit of backing up, or storing docs to mobileme versus using google docs?
Thanks,
Bill
Also, what is the benefit of backing up, or storing docs to mobileme versus using google docs?
Thanks,
Bill
Last edited:
- 11,600
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