Do you know that by the time you have finished reading this post, many businesses around the world would be disrupted in many ways? Many of them would decide to close down and others might fundamentally alter the way they operate. So what is the reason that most of these businesses are facing this disruption?
Let me tell you! Most of these businesses are fundamentally flawed in one sense; their businesses are built around the motive of profitability and growth and may even be providing great products and services. But what they lack is one thing, their business strategy is not centered on customer experience management (CXM). And for this purpose, many consider that having a robust CRM solution is their best bet to survive and compete. Learn the difference between CXM and CRM.
Chances are that you already have a CRM strategy implemented across your business platforms. If not, trust me, you are soon going to be looking for a viable CRM solution for your business, so as to remain relevant in your industry. But this is where the whole story gets a little tricky. Which CRM solution should you adopt? Would you adopt the one which the majority are using, and simply jump into the bandwagon? Or would you assess the whole market and find a solution that fits your organization like a glove?
When you look for a CRM solution, Salesforce is bound to come to your mind – given that they have a good marketing presence online. They will also promise a great pricing model for you. But would you take their word for it or do some research yourself?
Here is exactly where this post comes into play. I have created this helpful infographic for you, which takes into account the recent Forrester Survey and shows the comparative analysis of SugarCRM vs Salesforce pricing. I assure you that after going through this infographic, you will be able to make an informed decision on your future CRM strategy. Spending a couple of minutes on this infographic can save you from spending thousands of dollars on hidden costs on your CRM later.
Hidden Costs: SugarCRM vs Salesforce
So what are these hidden costs that you might end up paying for certain CRM systems that you did not account for earlier?
When it comes to buying a new CRM system, smart organizations do more analysis than simply looking at the up-front costs of the software. However, many software vendors downplay the actual cost of the proposed system in order to quickly seal the deal. As a result of this, organizations end up paying extra charges for third party products or essential business features not included in the off-the-shelf CRM solution.
Therefore, when choosing a CRM, do not just consider the list price. Since CRM software substantially impacts the performance of an organization, customers ought to know all the additional costs or upcharges that might arise as a result of required functionalities or support delivered to their businesses.
Salesforce Pricing Model
Customers of Salesforce – the largest CRM SaaS vendor in North America – tend to pay more than the customers of any other CRM. This is not only the result of the premium pricing of Salesforce services but also due to additional fees for features such as application support, application administration, offline usage, data archiving and restoration. Due to this, hidden costs, such as CRM data migration or building custom mobile applications, can easily amount up to $300 per application, per month for the users.
Moreover, Salesforce customers incur costs for user productivity as well as subscription, if important functionalities such as workflow/processes, beyond a basic version, are implemented. The pricing of Salesforce also includes various upcharges, such as storage-based fees and API calls, for system usage, which is often hard to determine and budget beforehand. Because of these hidden charges and other limitations, the actual cost of using Salesforce tends to exceed the list price. Therefore, having considered the prices charged by Salesforce, it seems that Salesforce would be more suited to larger enterprises, who can not only afford an industry-standard solution but can better benefit from the checks and balances that Salesforce has applied in its virtual product.
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SugarCRM Pricing Model
The exemplary success of Sugar makes people wonder what the cause of the popularity of the CRM solution is. Many users proudly believe that Sugar is the most cost-effective CRM system that is available right now in the market. This might be the case due to the PurePrice™ pricing model that SugarCRM follows. This pricing model implies that the subscription fee is inclusive of deployment, maintenance, mobile access, application support, and reporting. Hence, users can easily make any number of SugarCRM customization and integrations that are deemed fit for their businesses without any additional charges or fees.
Furthermore, SugarCRM won’t alter the pricing of its products on the basis of deployment methods. Hence, regardless of your choice of an on-demand deployment, SaaS, or even deployment on your own servers, Sugar will be priced the same. As Sugar aims to limit the ‘hidden fees’, the costs incurred for implementing it in your organization often come in at less than half of that of Salesforce. Hence, even if you go for a Professional Edition, Sugar has no hidden charges that might come as a surprise to you. For example, it does not force you to either add more user licenses or to upgrade all existing users to a new, expensive edition.
Organizations that select Sugar can derive even more value from investments that they have already made in Sugar products. SugarCRM partners with hundreds of technology providers to offer simple yet powerful connections to leading business applications and tools as well as SugarCRM plugins. Many vendors will charge a premium to access their community boards but the diverse knowledge of the SugarCRM community is available for all of its users. Therefore, Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) tend to prefer Sugar as their CRM solution. This popularity of SugarCRM can be linked to the fact that it offers high potential in terms of functionality, that too, at market competitive prices.
Key Takeaways!
A lot of consideration, in terms of the prices charged, should go into deciding between the alternative CRM solutions. As already established, the list-price is not the only price that Salesforce customers have to pay for the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). If you are planning to implement Salesforce in your business organization, do make sure to list down all the software solutions, customization as well as other changes that you would want in the CRM. Once this is done, only then would you get a more accurate cost estimate for the software solution. Nevertheless, the higher costs do ensure strong features as well as functionality that Salesforce offers through its cloud solutions. In the case of Sugar, however, you need not be so careful, since SugarCRM is a little more transparent in terms of its prices, resulting in little to no hidden costs charged in getting a Sugar solution. Therefore, by understanding the difference caused by the additional costs or upcharges that might have to be incurred beforehand, and the SugarCRM vs Salesforce pricing, organizations should make informed and more cost-effective decisions when going for CRMs.
In its decade long journey, Rolustech has helped more than 600 firms across the globe in successfully implementing CRM solutions including SugarCRM and Salesforce. Rolustech holds immense experience in SugarCRM Integration, Customization and Support while it is also capable of Salesforce Implementation, Migration and Training. Get in touch for a FREE Business Analysis nowhttps://www.rolustech.com/sugarcrm/sugarcrm-integration
