As some of you might have noticed, I’ve been playing around with SugarCRM a bit the last months. I was all new to this, so it took me some time to get myself familiar with CRM practices in general. It seems to me as a very powerful web application, however 
I was a bit intimidated at first sight by all its functionalities, resulting in many modules, form fields, buttons and texts at the home screen (as are most first-time users as a matter of fact).
However it is (almost) fully customizable, most of this clutter is likely to remain. Why? Well, you are likely to use most of the functionality of the system, since it is very easy to configure, and intuitive to use – once you’ve get used to it, and that may take some time. Is it worth it? Well, I’d say it depends on how easy you learn, what this time is worth to you and the company, and what the benefits of using a CRM system and SugarCRM in particular are to the company. Yes, the guru’s tell us that the CRM systems are a valuable asset to almost all companies, ranging from small to huge(!) companies, but in my humble opinion not all CRM systems are fit for all companies, and not all companies benefit from a CRM system, or at least not in all growth stages. You might consider implementing costs, risks, time, maintenance, training and even vendor lock-in (I’ve chosen to use SugarCRM as it is Open Source, enabling me to migrate data with more ease if I ever decide to switch to another CRM system for whatever reason).
Once it has been properly implemented and aligned with your company processes, it however is unlikely to be a bad investment. Having all the latest intelligence available to all employees wherever they are, increased responsiveness to clients, comprehensive insights in your opportunities and business growth at a glance, is a not to be underestimated asset for management decisions.
