Company: SugarCRM, San Francisco, CA
Nomination Submitted by: Lutz PR & Marketing
Company Description: SugarCRM is how marketing, sales, and service teams finally get a clear picture of each customer to help businesses reach new levels of performance and predictability. Sugar is the CRM platform that makes the hard things easier. Thousands of companies in over 120 countries rely on Sugar to achieve high-definition CX by letting the platform do the work.
Nomination Category: Solutions & Implementations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: CRM Suite - New or New Version
 Nomination Title: The SugarCRM Platform
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the features, functions, benefits, and results to date of the nominated product or service, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
See below for the written answers to the questions.
- If you are nominating a brand-new product or service, state the date on which it was released. If you are nominating a new version of an existing product or service, state the date on which the update was released:
The latest release of the SugarCRM Platform (version 14.2) became generally available in October 2024.
Key platform announcements include: In May 2024, Sugar announced acquiring sales-i to add AI-powered revenue intelligence capabilities to the platform and drive intelligent account management. In July 2024, Sugar announced newly added generative AI capabilities to bring opportunity summarization and case summarization to the platform.
Key industry analyst accolades include Sugar being named a Leading Vendor in Constellation Research ShortList evaluations for Sales Force Automation, Sales Engagement Platforms, and Midmarket CRM Suites. Additionally, Sugar is a Leader in the Nucleus Research Sales Force Automation Technology Value Matrix 2024.
Furthermore, Sugar has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2B CRM Platform Software for Industrial Manufacturing 2024 Vendor Assessment and is exclusively featured in a competitive advantage report by Nucleus Research about Why Manufacturers Choose SugarCRM.
- Describe the features, functions, and benefits of the nominated product or service (up to 350 words):
Total 348 words used.
SugarCRM is a challenger brand in the multi-billion-dollar CRM sector. Sugar targets high-growth midmarket companies that often lack the in-house technical expertise and support of larger companies but know that winning is about mixing a killer product and innovative service with an effortless CX.
Sugar Sell, sales-i, Market, and Serve are integral components of Sugar’s comprehensive CRM solution -- a platform powered by advanced AI and user-friendly interfaces. Together, these offerings break down the silos between different systems and departments, creating a seamless and unified approach to managing and enhancing CX.
This past May, Sugar acquired sales-i, adding AI-powered revenue intelligence capabilities to the platform to drive intelligent account management. Revenue intelligence data provides insights into customer behavior and preferences. This insight, combined with CRM information, helps businesses create impactful sales strategies that drive upsell, cross-sell, and switch-sell initiatives and bring to the surface potential churn risk – ensuring salespeople always focus on the right actions that will drive company, personal, and customer success at all times.
The acquisition underscores Sugar’s focus on enhancing synergy with ERP solutions, with over 180 out-of-the-box ERP integrations and strategic partnerships with leading ERP vendors. Combining CRM and ERP data provides a 360-degree view of the customer. This includes purchase history, service interactions, and financial transactions. With this holistic view, customer service reps and sales teams can offer more personalized and informed interactions, addressing customer needs more effectively.
In addition, Sugar continues making generative AI capabilities approachable and accessible to the midmarket with its latest GenAI features for opportunity summarization and case summarization, improving customer intelligence and productivity for sales and service professionals.
While other CRM vendors are integrating generative AI capabilities into their platforms at a substantial cost, Sugar offers these capabilities at a price point that enables midmarket enterprises to ably realize the power and potential of generative AI for sales and service.
Additional innovations include verticalized capabilities, notably to support the robust and complex customer engagement needs of manufacturers, which earned Sugar “Leader” placement in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2B CRM Platform Software for Industrial Manufacturing 2024 Vendor Assessment.
- Outline the market performance, critical reception, and customer satisfaction with the product or service to date. State monetary or unit sales figures to date, if possible, and how they compare to expectations or past performance. Provide links to laudatory product or service reviews. Include some customer testimonials, if applicable (up to 350 words):
Total 329 words used.
Sugar customers worldwide are highly satisfied with the company’s products and services, reporting a 95.78% CSAT for the last 12 months. This, along with a retention rate of +90% and one-third of customers using more than one product in the platform to align sales, marketing, and service teams, demonstrates that Sugar’s focus on product innovation to make the hard things easier is paying off.
Dubbed “the world’s most loved CRM platform”, nearly 3,000 companies in over 120 countries rely on Sugar. With a Net Promoter Score of 87+, customer satisfaction for Sugar is far above industry average for the CRM sector.
Companies worldwide achieving breakthrough business outcomes with Sugar include:
- Creative Foam – World-class foam fabricator increased its business per vehicle by 14 percent, grew its sales pipeline by 42 percent since implementation, and exceeded its sales goal by 44 percent in its most recent fiscal year with Sugar.
- FSIoffice – The nation’s leading independent office supply company achieved 40 percent improved sales efficiency with Sugar Sell’s AI-powered sales automation and sales-i revenue intelligence.
- Moeller Precision Tool – Global manufacturer is forging the trio of CRM, ERP, and sales-i revenue intelligence to help make, move, and sell more products while driving automation from the top floor to the shop floor and building customer relationships for life.
- Kreato – Colombia’s premier prefab concrete manufacturer unlocked 8,800 growth opportunities with Sugar’s AI-powered sales automation.
- Niftylift – Global manufacturer of industrial lift platforms empowers sales reps to sell anywhere, anytime through cloud and mobile access to critical customer data and sales information.
- Jayco Corporation – Australia’s largest RV manufacturer powers sales, marketing, and service across 29 dealerships with the Sugar platform.
- Eden Exchange – Australia’s leading digital deal makers save countless hours with Sugar’s best-in-class automation, workflows, and extensibility.
Above all, Sugar’s continued investments in AI, machine learning, and GenAI reflect the company’s commitment to unlocking the full potential of business intelligence to revolutionize sales, marketing, and customer service.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
Sugar’s approach to CRM innovations is validated by third-party industry analysts:
Regarding the sales-i acquisition, Stephen Hurrell at ISG’s Ventana Research, says “The current business focus on margin and the increasing adoption of subscription and usage-based pricing models are changing the economics of business. Relying only on CRM data sells account management short. Upselling and cross selling to the same customers is more profitable than finding and selling to new customers, but it requires a fuller understanding of your customer gained from building and sustaining a long-term relationship. This new announcement from SugarCRM seeks to address this need across many types of industries and enterprises.”
Additionally, Sugar has increased its focus on verticalized capabilities. Global manufacturers are increasingly choosing Sugar to handle the complexities and extended sales cycles inherent in B2B industrial manufacturing. Sugar’s targeted approach is noted in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2B CRM Platform Software for Industrial Manufacturing 2024 Vendor Assessment.
Per the report, “SugarCRM focuses on the midmarket segment and considers manufacturing as a strategic vertical, with the company’s solutions adopted by over 1,200 B2B industrial manufacturing customers. SugarCRM’s offering for manufacturing focuses on providing data-driven insights to accelerate sales cycles, identify cross-selling opportunities, and provide differentiated service.
Furthermore, Nucleus Research interviewed Sugar manufacturing customers, who reported choosing Sugar for its process automation capabilities, adaptability and scalability, and ability to help strengthen customer relationships. These features translate to 11% average revenue increase, 17% improvement in employee productivity, and 32% reduction in software customization costs.
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