SugarCRM News

Leading provider of CRM integration tools will discuss the value of advanced integration with Microsoft Exchange Omni Technology Solutions, Inc. (www.omni-ts.com), the first company to deliver multi-CRM, multi-client, server-side integration with no plug-ins for leading CRMs, will present at this year's SugarCon event in San Francisco, being held April 12-14.

Learn more about how SIOS is using SteelEye's High Availability and Disaster Recovery products to leverage the Cloud and reduce IT costs. Join Jeff Barr, Web Services Evangelist for Amazon Web Services, Larry Augustin, CEO SugarCRM and Jim Kaskade, SIOS Chief of Cloud for an insightful discussion on moving mission-critical applications into the cloud on March 24, 2010 at 9:00am PST.

We come from the open source roots and that’s what we knew well. We very much believed, and still believe, in the model. We saw other players and other verticals continue to do well. We saw MySQL, we saw SugarCRM, Alfresco and other commercial open source players and we understood that there was a true opportunity in the eCommerce space and that’s really what motivated us to believe that there is a business model around distributing free software.

This panel discussion will explore customer motivations for adopting open source software; operational experiences with open source adoption – such as maintenance and cost control; disruptive business models and which market segments are being impacted; as well as many other issues impacting open source adoption in the Enterprise and Government. The panelists will also draw from the 2010 Future of Open Source survey and discuss how businesses can continue to boost productivity and foster innovation with open source technologies.

Why is that? Because in the CRM Outsider - a blog that SugarCRM lets him write with freedom - he takes on important issues and muses about important subjects. That could range from a post on Trust v. Attention as the Prime Currency of the Social CRM Economy to a guest post by Mitch Lieberman, VP of SugarCRM and thinker extraordinare on The Consumerization of the Enterprise, where Mitch suggested in a positive way that he and Marc Benioff agreed on something.

SugarCRM is beefing up its channel partner program as the software developer looks to add 40 to 50 solution providers to its reseller ranks. The vendor is also expanding the types of partners it works with, adding incentives for consultants and other companies that provide SugarCRM with referrals, but don't resell the SugarCRM product. SugarCRM unveiled the enhanced program this week at Everything Channel's XChange Solution Provider conference in Los Angeles.

The Open+ Partner Programme includes a market development programme that provides SugarCRM partners with resources for business planning, business development activities, event execution, market positioning and sales delivery; Greater access and support for SugarCRM’s Open Cloud platform and enabling technology to help build, manage and maintain next-generation cloud solutions for customers as well as a new referral programme that rewards partners for each qualified lead referred to SugarCRM.

SugarCRM today announced a number of high-profile companies have selected SugarCRM’s cloud-based CRM services to power their operations. The organizations include BLS Telecom, Robin Hood, The Utah Flash, SkyScanner and BancVue. These companies, representing a diverse set of organizations that span industries and geographies, all chose SugarCRM for its ease-of-use, flexibility in meeting specific use cases and the affordable pricing that mitigates the risk commonly associated with CRM deployments.

In addition to overhauling its partner benefits, the program emphasizes the opportunities for partners in offering cloud-based solutions. As such, the program provides better access and support for SugarCRM’s Open Cloud platform and related technology so partners can build, manage and maintain next-generation cloud solutions for their customers, according to the company.

Open source software companies continue to strengthen their channel partner programs. The latest example involves SugarCRM’s new Open+ Partner Program. But SugarCRM isn’t alone. The VAR Guy has a hunch that several open source partner program announcements will surface this week. Here are the details. The VAR Guy’s 2009 Open Source 50 survey revealed most open source application providers were just getting started with Partner Programs.