SugarCRM Supports Smart Phones, Including Windows Mobile

May 13, 2008 Alex Woodie

SugarCRM, developer of the popular open source CRM software that runs in the i-based Power Systems server, is enabling users to wirelessly access Web-based reports using their smart phones and SugarCRM 5.1, the company announced recently. While SugarCRM highlighted the capability to work with BlackBerrys and iPhones–the smart phones packing the most panache with business users and consumers these days–company officials confirmed the CRM system also works with Windows Mobile smart phones, too.

The Cupertino, California, software company unveiled a collection of wireless mobility and business intelligence enhancements with the release of version 5.1 last week. At the top of the list is support for smart phones through the introduction of a new “rich” HTML client interface. The new interface should enable users to access SugarCRM applications and data from a standard Web browser on most smart phones.

The wireless capability in version 5.1 breaks down old barriers, says John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM. “SugarCRM’s new wireless offering eliminates the traditional tradeoff between mobility and usability,” he says. “Salespeople can now get the true Web-based experience of SugarCRM on their mobile phones.”

SugarCRM chose to highlight the two most popular smart phones–the mega-popular RIM BlackBerry and the über-hip Apple iPhone–in its announcement. But a quick call to SugarCRM clarified that, yes, SugarCRM 5.1 will also work with Windows Mobile smart phone.

The company also made several enhancements to SugarCRM’s analytical features, including a new report generation wizard, the capability to create complex reports (i.e. composed of data residing in different modules through the use of inner and outer joins), and new “matrix” reports, which utilize HTML-based pivot tables to display operations like sum, average, count, and percentage (similar to Excel pivot tables, but in HTML, Sugar says).

This release also brings better facilities for importing data from Excel, Act, Outlook, and Salesforce.com into SugarCRM; new tracking capabilities that show how people are using the application and how it’s performing; and enhancements to the module builder component for customizing SugarCRM.

A beta of SugarCRM 5.1 is available now. For more information visit www.sugarcrm.com.