SugarCRM Acquires Lotus Notes CRM Firm, Snuggles Up to IBM
SugarCRM today strengthened its ties with IBM (NYSE: IBM), acquiring Lotus Notes CRM product iExtensions CRM from iEnterprises Inc. and deepening its integration with other IBM offerings.
The iExtensions CRM acquisition and deeper integration with IBM LotusLive, Cognos business intelligence and Websphere Cast Iron were just a few of the announcements coming out of SugarCRM's SugarCon conference in San Francisco.
SugarCRM also announced integration with Cisco WebEx, Google Docs, Citrix GoTo Meeting, HubSpot and EchoSign, additional support for Facebook, Twitter, 22 languages and offline data sync, enhanced collaboration features with Sugar Activity Streams, mobile support for Android, BlackBerry and the iPad, and support for InsideView social CRM and sales intelligence. That last feature will also be included in the latest open source community edition of Sugar 6.
iExtensions CRM will give SugarCRM greater support for IBM collaboration tools inside Sugar 6. The added features include native Lotus Notes support, Notes email and calendar plugins, and a connector to the IBM Domino product line. As part of the acquisition, iEnterprises CEO John Carini will join SugarCRM as vice president of collaboration solutions, and iEnterprises will continue to sell its iExtensions framework as a certified value-added reseller in the SugarCRM Open+ Partner Network.
The iExtensions functionality will be available in the Spring 2011 release of Sugar 6.
Available now, SugarCRM for LotusLive combines CRM and collaboration capabilities like Web conferencing and document sharing inside the Sugar system for joint customers. As part of the launch, IBM is offering SugarCRM users a 30-day free trial of LotusLive.
Integration between IBM's Cognos Business Intelligence Suite and SugarCRM will give users of the combined systems advanced reporting, analytics, dashboarding and scorecarding around their CRM data. SugarCRM said the combined solution will give organizations greater insight and predictability into sales, marketing and customer support.
The deepening ties between SugarCRM and IBM could also benefit IBM, which has no CRM product of its own.
Pricing for Sugar 6 starts at $30 a user per month for the Professional Edition and $50 for the Enterprise Edition.
For more on SugarCRM, see Mobile CRM Review: Sugar Mobile for iPhone
Paul Ferrill has been writing for over 15 years about computers and network technology. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering as well as a MS in Electrical Engineering. He is a regular contributor to the computer trade press. He has a specialization in complex data analysis and storage. He has written hundreds of articles and two books for various outlets over the years. His articles have appeared in Enterprise Apps Today and InfoWorld, Network World, PC Magazine, Forbes, and many other publications.
