Sage CRM Software Review

Sage CRM & Sage SalesLogix

 

Sage Group offers three Customer Relationship Management software products—Sage ACT! for small businesses seeking simple contact management, Sage SalesLogix for small and midsize businesses (SMB) aspiring to full featured CRM objectives and SageCRM for global SMBs desiring a native cloud CRM solution.

 

Many customers considering a Sage CRM solution for the first time have difficulty in determining whether Sage CRM or SalesLogix is the better fit for their business requirements. Both Sage CRM products address an overlapping SMB customer market and are available on premise or in the cloud, so identifying more specific criteria is necessary. To that end, this Sage CRM review will focus on sharing the more material differences between these two SMB CRM solutions.

 

Sage CRM, many times called SageCRM.com, is a more globally friendly CRM application. It offers more languages and outsells SalesLogix on a global basis. It's also more cloud friendly, with a multi-tenant database architecture, native thin client browser delivery and an underlying development environment that uses multiple web languages including Java/JavaScript.

 

SageCRM also delivers a smaller functional footprint than SalesLogix, and therefore often caters to the smaller half of the SMB market, while SalesLogix steps up to accommodate deeper functionality and larger middle market businesses. SageCRM is also positioned as part of an integrated suite which includes Sages ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software solutions. SageCRM offers packaged integration with Accpac ERP, Sage MAS90 ERP, MAS200 ERP, Sage 1000 (UK), Sage 100 (France), Classic Line (Germany) and Office Line (Germany). For existing Sage customers with these ERP software products, SageCRM should be the first CRM system to consider.

 

 

SalesLogix is the North America flagship CRM software solution and outsells Sage CRM in the U.S.—Sage's largest global market. SalesLogix normally targets middle market customers with 50 to 500 user seats, and is also a popular choice for departments or divisions of larger enterprise companies.

 

This product is known for robust Sales Force Automation (SFA), deeper functionality, rich configuration options and is more readily adaptable to software customization. While SalesLogix CRM integration to back office ERP software can be accommodated, it is not delivered with the same near seamless bundling as is SageCRM. SalesLogix CRM can be delivered in the cloud as a single-tenant CRM application hosted on the Amazon EC2 public cloud. However, SalesLogix is more 'cloud-enabled' than cloud native and most customers operate the software on premises. SalesLogix is better suited for companies seeking best of breed CRM functionality without needed integration to back office Sage ERP products.

 

Finally, probably stemming from their origins, SageCRM tends to be a more popular option in Europe while SalesLogix continues to be more prevalent in the U.S. SageCRM's heritage is from Ireland, while SalesLogix is from the U.S. We expect this regional heritage issue to subside over time.

 

Both Sage CRM and SalesLogix offer a number of advantages. Parent company Sage Group plc is a strong and viable business with a 30 year track record, making it a relatively safe buy. Both Sage CRM software applications offer choice in both cloud and on-premise deployments, and because both deployment options use the same CRM code set, customers can also migrate from one delivery option to the other. Both systems are also easy to use and particularly strong in SFA. SageCRM.com is a low cost, low risk and quick to deploy CRM solution while SalesLogix offers more functionality and customization options.

 

Top Sage CRM weaknesses include narrow feature sets in marketing and customer support software modules, which limit the CRM software to small and midsize businesses. A lack of social media and social CRM tools hinder companies looking to leverage social monitors and engage prospects and customers in social networks and other online social channels. Finally, the Sage CRM software is in need of a technology refresh and the Sage brand is not well marketed, and not a strong brand, particularly in the U.S. This may result in Sage CRM software products continuing to fall further behind cloud CRM competitors such as Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM on Demand and SugarCRM.

 

When evaluating Sage CRM or SalesLogix, or identifying and recommending the most relevant and direct Sage CRM competitors for comparison purposes, we typically first align specific company objectives to Sage CRM or SalesLogix software functionality (to assess fit) and then consider customer factors such as company size, user count, user types/roles, vertical market, geo-locations, internal resources, constraints such as budget and technical considerations such as integration and customization.