SugarCRM Sizing Guidelines

Simon Leek — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:35:42 +0100

The following is an extract from SugarCRM inc. which we would like to share with customers. As your operation grows you should keep in mind the performance of your database. If your follow this guide your SugarCRM instance should perform well and keep your users satisfied.

General Guidelines

Sugar Professional and Sugar Enterprise are designed to scale without needing significant additional resources. Internal tests have shown that a single high power server with eight 86x64CPURead More...

How to work out if you’re doing the right kind of business

Simon Leek — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:10:24 +0100

One way to determine if you are focusing on profitable customers is to use a simple matrix where by you categorise each of your customers based on value and effort. I have attempted to demonstrate how this might look for a business but it can be adapted to suit your own particular business.

In the following chart we have two axis. The vertical axis showing the amount of EFFORT from low to high. The horizontal axis showing VALUE low to high. By plotting your custRead More...

The hidden cost of moving CRM system

Simon Leek — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:06:23 +0100

Naturally, the last thing on your mind when you're buying a new CRM system is how the data and associated information can be extracted when you want to move to another CRM system.

Ok, so by and large your decision today is based on a long term implementation that should stay with you for the forseeable future. Right? Maybe, but new technologies come along all the time that can steer a business away from its current system. Notwithstanding change of course. ARead More...

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Devon

Simon Leek — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Whether you are looking to improve your customer service or simply find new customers, SouthwestCRM offers IT-based sales and marketing support to all Devon-based businesses. We are a CRM company in the Southwest delivering software solutions. We specialise in CRM and Social Media marketing, email marketing campaigns and customer relationship marketing activity.

What is CRM and "Social CRM"?

CRM is an approach to doing business (It is not a technology). "CRRead More...

CRM Top Tips

Simon Leek — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:50:22 +0100

We thought we'd share some tips with anyone who is about to embark on a new CRM project (or any type of project for that matter).

Tip 1: Like a good Carpenter - measure twice, cut once

We cannot emphasise enough about the need for good planning and design BEFORE you start implementation. Have all your processes mapped out beforehand and ensure that you know the reason for doing the process and its benefit to the business and individual who will be using the process.

We made the front page of the business section!

Simon Leek — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:35:12 +0100

Ok so it may not be a national paper but the local newspaper (Falmouth Packet) picked up on our ShelterBox story and published it recently. Here's a scan of the article...

A pretty hectic photo session due to the Venezuela Disaster. The team in the background are packing vital supplies for Venezuela. We're proud to be part of such a great cause. Read More...

Whats the difference between SugarCRM Professional and Community Edition?

Simon Leek — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100

We’ve pulled together some of the key functional differences between the Professional and Community Editions of SugarCRM. Certainly for small organisations with less than 20 users it makes a lot of sense to go Pro. Not only will it cost less in the early years it will be a lot simpler to implement and maintain and your users will be a lot happier.

Download PDF

Caveat: SuRead More...

ShelterBox Response Team selects Hedron4 from SouthwestCRM

Simon Leek — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

We are pleased to announce that the ShelterBox charity has selected Hedron4 to help co-ordinate 160 members of its International Response Team.

See the full press release here

More information about ShelterBox can be fond on their website: http://www.shelterbox.org

8 Reasons Why Document Management Should be at the Top of the Agenda

Simon Leek — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:59:16 +0100

This article should be of interest to anyone struggling to keep control of their organisations documents. Typically this means finding documents on network file stores and within emails.

1. So you find a document on the network, copy it to your PC and start editing it. A little later a colleague does exactly the same thing. You save the document and replace the existing one. So does your colleague.

2. &Read More...

Whale, Oil, Beef, Hooked. 4 innocent looking words but not if you're Irish...

Simon Leek — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Ok so this is a little tongue in cheek but these words when strung together can take on a completely different - and sometimes unintended - meaning. This simple example of what is said by one person to another can often be misinterpreted. In business situations, it is the single biggest reason for project failure and fall outs.

Over the 20+ years I have been consulting around the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems the gap between what the buyer asks for aRead More...

Enhanced reporting across info@hand and SugarCRM

Simon Leek — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Many SugarCRM and info@hand users are just not aware of the value and capabilities an external reporting system can bring to their business. A reporting tool can integrate seamlessly with the CRM database so we thought we'd post some examples to wet your appetite.

is one report example that shows some of the charting capabilities from JasperServer. TRead More...

SugarCRM vs Salesforce

Simon Leek — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

So these days it seems that SugarCRM is stepping on the toes of Salesforce.com. The small to medium sized market (SMEs) is becoming Sugar’s territory.
You just have to see a SugarCRM demo to realise that the feature set is more or less the same but with one big difference…License Price.

With Sugar the money you save on licensingRead More...

CRM Success: The 7 Pitfalls to Avoid

Simon Leek — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:47:10 +0100

CRM Success: 7 Pitfalls To AvoidAvoiding User Acceptance IssuesOne of the biggest issues facing companies that deploy a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is user acceptance. This document outlines what we see as the top seven reasons why user acceptance is still a big problem for so many companies. The decision to purchase and deploy a CRM system is usually based on solid business logic. But once the decision has been made to deploy, many projects go off track. Here aRead More...

Twitter: A Key Part of a CRM Strategy

Simon Leek — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

So many people I speak with don't know why they use Twitter. Most site the fact that it seems to be the in-thing to do or that others use it so therefore so should "I". Then what happens? People start writing 140 characters about what they have done that day or they advertise a product asking people to buy it. The former, they decide, being mind-numbingly pointless and the latter bearing no fruit whatsoever.

Eventually with only a few close friends and famiRead More...

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Cornwall

Simon Leek — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Whether you are looking to improve your customer service or simply find new customers, South West ICT offers IT-based sales and marketing support to all Cornish businesses. We are a CRM company in Cornwall delivering software solutions that make light work of email management, email marketing campaigns and customer relationship marketing activity.

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