Sage Rolls Out SageCRM Version 6

Sage Software has introduced SageCRM Version 6, with upgrades that enhance the usability and productivity of the application, as well as new administrative capabilities.

Much of the development that went into this release targeted end-user adoption, said Chris Reich, the group's director of CRM product management. "We have focused our efforts on delivering a meaningful user experience to our clients."

Back-End Integration

Sage also tightened the linkages between its applications in this release, enabling bidirectional front- and back-office integration with Sage Accpac ERP, Sage Pro ERP, Sage MAS 90 ERP and Sage Timberline Office, and other third-party back-office systems.

"The value-add the new application offers is all around ease of use, ease of customization and integration," Yankee Group analyst Sheryl Kingstone told CRM Buyer.

The tighter integration will be a selling point with resellers of both the front- and back-end products, she said. "The prepackaged integration points will help them configure applications for their own customers."

Next, Sage will have to work on creating seamless workflows to further facilitate the integration, she continued. "That is to come."

Features and Functionality

Among multiple new features in this release:

• A "quick start" tab that gives users access to on-screen training and coaching tools, including instructional videos, user preference setup wizards, feature summary captions and other quick tips;
• A search engine that allows users to search for keywords within communications such as e-mails and phone logs. Query-building supports "and/or" searches, and allows users to specify search fields and values.
• New data-segmentation capabilities allow users to create static or dynamically updated groups of people, companies, opportunities and other data categories.
• Tighter integration with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Outlook. SageCRM can now be used within the Outlook folder navigation pane or through a SageCRM toolbar in Outlook. The new features allow users to create a record in SageCRM when adding a contact to Outlook. Users can also file individual e-mails or batches of e-mails sent from Outlook in SageCRM, and attach global documents in new Outlook e-mails.

Among the administration enhancements:

• An improved territory tree means records can be moved from one sales territory to another. Shared data fields and multiple records can be easily updated.
• Field-level security can be applied using check boxes for granting or restricting data access for individual users, specific user-type profiles and teams.
• There is new support for the telephony server application programming interface and for computer-supported telecommunications applications.